College Football Hall of Famer made major impact on Big Orange program
The University of Tennessee football family lost one of its members on Wednesday, June 3, when College Football Hall of Famer Johnny Majors passed away at the age of 85.
Recruited by General Robert Neyland, Majors first came to Rocky Top as a single-wing tailback in 1953. Majors never played for the general, but he did play for Harvey Robinson and the legendary Bowden Wyatt (who also was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach), earning a reputation as a prolific runner and passer in the single-wing offense. He also punted and returned kicks.
One of UT’s all-time greats, Majors was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 1955 and again in 1956, when he suffered one of the biggest injustices in college football history when he placed runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, losing out to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung despite the fact that the Irish finished with a 2-8 record. The Vols, meanwhile, went 10-1, won the SEC title and went a perfect 10-0 in the regular season before losing 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl to Baylor.
Majors had a brief professional career with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes in 1957. Later that year, he returned to Knoxville and joined Wyatt’s coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He went on to become UT’s backfield coach before serving as an defensive backs coach at Mississippi State and as an assistant to the legendary Frank Broyles at Arkansas.
Majors got his first head coaching job at Iowa State. He guided the Cyclones in Ames for five seasons, posting an overall record of 24-30-1. In his final two years at the school, Majors led the Cyclones to a pair of bowl games. In 1971, Iowa State achieved an 8-4 mark before it lost in the Sun Bowl. The following season, ISU went 5-6-1 and finished its season with a loss in the Liberty Bowl.
From there, Majors went to Pittsburgh where he coached 1976 Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. That year, the Panthers went 12-0 and won the national championship. The following year, Majors returned to Big Orange Country. He served as UT’s head coach until he was forced to resign in 1992.
With the Volunteers, Majors won three SEC titles (1985, 1989 and 1990). He went 116-62-8 and coached greats such as Willie Gault, Jimmy Streater, Reggie White and many others.
After being forced out in Knoxville, Majors returned to Pitt for his final four seasons of coaching. There, he went just 12-32 but later served as an athletic administrator.
Majors was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He is also a Legend of the Sun Bowl and a member of Chick-Fil-A/Peach Bowl Hall of Fame and the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
