Former Assistant Football Coach Jerry Long Dies

Jerry Long spent over a decade in athletic administration prior to retiring in 1990, working in the areas of fundraising, event management and booster club development.

Former OSU Coach Jerry Long Courtesy UCLA Athletics

(LOS ANGELES) - Jerry Long, assistant football coach for Ted Ogdahl from 1955-1960, died Wednesday at the age of 79. Coach Long served as an assistant football coach at Oregon State and UCLA and also spent over a decade in athletic administration at UCLA. Long, who had been in a hospice for several months, died from a heart attack with his wife Dorothy at his side.

Jerry Long played football at Oregon State, earning three letters as a guard and graduating in 1950. After five years as a high school coach, he spent six years as an assistant at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

In 1961, he was hired as an assistant at Oregon State under Tommy Prothro. In 1964, the Beavers won the AAWU to earn a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Jerry Long moved to UCLA in 1965 as a member of Prothro's staff. In his first year in Westwood, the Bruins earned their first win in a Rose Bowl, defeating Michigan State. Overall, he spent 11 years as a Bruin assistant under Prothro, Pepper Rodgers and Dick Vermeil - 10 as coach of the defensive line and his last (1975) working with Terry Donahue on the offensive line.

In his final year, the Bruins won the Pac-8 title and defeated Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Jerry Long spent over a decade in athletic administration prior to retiring in 1990, working in the areas of fundraising, event management and booster club development. He and his wife Dorothy lived in Northridge.

Services are scheduled for Monday, December 22nd at 11:00 AM at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Griffin Memorial Park, 5600 Lindero Canyon Road , Westlake Village 91362.

Courtesy UCLA Athletics