Frank Broyles, Decatur native and former Georgia Tech athlete, died Monday at age 92.
Broyles was best known for his time with the Arkansas Razorbacks, where he brought the football team to its only title. According to Arkansas Online, Broyles spent 57 years with the University of Arkansas at different levels until his full-time retirement in 2014 as a fund-raiser.
Broyles died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a statement from his family. “He passed peacefully in his home surrounded by his loved ones,” the statement said.
RELATED: Read and sign the online guestbook for Coach Frank Broyles
At Georgia Tech, Broyles played quarterback under Coach Bobby Dodd, which the stadium is named after. He won 10 letters in three sports at Georgia Tech and was the All-SEC quarterback in 1944 and 1946.
He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1947 with an industrial management degree.
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Broyles served as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech from 1951-56 under head coach Bobby Dodd.
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Before Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia Tech, Broyles was a high school sports star in football, basketball and baseball at Decatur High School.
Broyles is on the high school’s Wall of Honor, and back in 2013 –– 71 years after his graduation –– Broyles had not forgotten what Decatur did for him.
“I don't know if I can get across what Decatur meant to me,” he said by phone from his home in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2013. “I know I had a charmed life growing up there. My whole life was sports, and it was Decatur that gave me an athletic life.”
Longtime fans expressed their condolences on Twitter:
