Kansas: Former football coach Don Fambrough dies

Published Sep. 3, 2011 11:46 p.m. ET

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Don Fambrough, the former Kansas football coach who played or coached in five of the nine bowl games the Jayhawks ever participated in, died Saturday. He was 88.

Associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said a family member informed the school that Fambrough, who served two four-year stints as head coach, died following a fall in his home in Lawrence.

Blunt and colorful, Fambrough was famed for his passionate devotion to Kansas and its football program. Long after retiring, he would frequently show up at practice.

He was an all-Big Six guard for the Jayhawks in 1946 and 1947 and served as an assistant coach of his alma mater for 19 years before becoming head coach in 1971. After four seasons, he became one of the Kansas' chief fund-raisers and then returned as head coach from 1979-82. He was Big Eight coach of the year in 1981 after taking the Jayhawks to the Hall of Fame Bowl.

His eight-year overall record as head coach was 37-48-5.

In a fan poll conducted by the Lawrence Journal-World, Fambrough was a first-team choice at guard.

"Don Fambrough is a Jayhawk legend," Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said. "As an alumnus and a storied and salty football coach, Fambrough had an unbridled passion for the University of Kansas. On behalf of the entire Jayhawk nation, I honor his memory and extend the deepest condolences to his family, friends and generation after generation of KU fans he touched."

Athletic director Sheahon Zenger called Fambrough "an icon not just on the KU campus but across the state of Kansas."

"He wore his passion for KU on his sleeve, and every day he proudly demonstrated his love for Kansas football and Kansas athletics," Zenger said. "He loved his players, and they played their hearts out for him. We will all miss him greatly."

Fambrough was particularly noted for his passionate dislike of Missouri, Kansas' archrival. After he retired, Kansas coaches would often ask him to deliver a pep talk to the squad the night before playing the Tigers.

Former Kansas coach Mark Mangino, who was the national coach of the year in 2007 after taking the Jayhawks to an Orange Bowl victory, called Fambrough the school's "biggest supporter and greatest ambassador."

"He dedicated his life to the program as a coach, administrator and loyal fan," Mangino said in a statement. "Our players and coaches greatly appreciated his enthusiasm and words of wisdom. Each practice day for eight seasons he greeted me on the practice field, told a good joke and said, 'have a great practice.'

"I will always remember how much he enjoyed being on the practice field every single day."

Fambrough is survived by his two sons, Preston and Robert, along with several grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were pending.