Tyrone Prothro (born May 24, 1984) is a former

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football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

wide receiver who played for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

between 2003 and 2005.

High school career

Tyrone was an all state selection as Junior (2001) and Senior (2002). As a Junior, Tyrone played in the 2001 AHSAA Super Six 4-A Championship in 2002 they lost to State Champion UMS-Wright. In 2002, his senior year, Tyrone led Cleburne County back to the 4-A Semi-Finals where they lost to the North Jackson Chiefs.

Collegiate career

Prior to the 2005 season, Prothro was named second-team All- SEC for return specialist and, despite his injury, was named to the second-team All-SEC for wide receiver at the end of the season. Prothro won an award for Best Play at the 2006

ESPY Awards An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

, as well as the Pontiac Game Changing Award of the Year for his outstanding catch, labeled by many as "the Catch", in which he caught the ball behind the head of

Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

's Jasper Faulk on a long pass from quarterback

Brodie Croyle John Brodie Croyle (; born February 6, 1983) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL) in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football for the Un ...

right before half-time in the game on September 10, 2005, in

Bryant–Denny Stadium Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Opene ...

. Prothro's catch helped the Tide defeat Southern Mississippi 30–21. This play also has been rated by ''

The Best Damn Sports Show Period ''The Best Damn Sports Show Period'' was an American sports television show that aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertai ...

'' as the Eighth Greatest Catch of All Time. It was the highest ranked college play on the list, and ranked even higher than such memorable plays as "The Catch". In August 2008, Prothro received his bachelor's degree in the College of Human and Environmental Sciences.

Injury

Prothro suffered a season and ultimately career-ending injury in a game against the Florida Gators on October 1, 2005. Prothro made a leaping attempt to catch a pass from Brodie Croyle. As Prothro came back down to the turf, Florida Gators cornerback Dee Webb, while attempting to break up the pass, landed on Prothro's lower left leg which snapped it completely in half. This resulted in a complete break of Prothro's

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. During the game's broadcast, play-by-play announcer

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compared the injury to former NFL quarterback

Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian ...

's infamous leg break suffered during a

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

game in 1985. After 11 extensive surgeries, doctors were not able to repair Prothro's leg to the extent of furthering his playing career. On August 3, 2007, he was placed on a medical hardship scholarship and taken off the football roster with coach

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

saying there was no way Prothro could play again.

Post-football career

Prothro has worked for Regions Bank, an Account Manager for Coca-Cola, and a Toyota dealership in Tuscaloosa. On July 27, 2016, it was reported that Tyrone Prothro was hired by the Carolina Panthers as an intern coach for training camp, working with his former head coach and current offensive coordinator Mike Shula. He is now back in Tuscaloosa working at Wagners. He served as Grand Marshal for the Homecoming game against Ole Miss on October 16, 2010. Prothro is a plaintiff in ''

O'Bannon v. NCAA ''O'Bannon v. NCAA'', 802 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir. 2015) was an United States antitrust law, antitrust class action lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The lawsuit, which former UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCL ...

'', an anti-trust suit against the NCAA that went to trial in 2014. In June 2017, Prothro was hired as a WR coach and JV Basketball Coach at

Spanish Fort High School Spanish Fort High School is a high school in Spanish Fort, Alabama, United States that was founded in 2005 and graduated its first class in 2008. The school serves grades 9- 12 and is part of the Baldwin County Public Schools. Campus The camp ...

in Spanish Fort, Alabama. On June 28, 2018, Tyrone Prothro was hired to coach receivers at 5A Jasper High school. He will also serve as a JV basketball coach.

References

External links