LOGAN, Utah – Former Utah State football great Dave Kragthorpe passed away on Sunday, Aug. 23. He was 93 years old.
Kragthorpe excelled as a two-way tackle for the Aggies from 1951 to 1954. He was a two-time All-Skyline Conference Eight performer and is a member of Utah State's All-Century team.
During his collegiate career, he also spent two seasons as a catcher on USU's baseball team.
Despite all his athletic obligations, Kragthorpe graduated with double bachelor's degrees in physical education and recreation education in 1955. After spending two years in the United States Navy, he returned to Utah State and earned his master's degree in secondary education in 1963.
After graduating from USU, Kragthorpe was drafted in the 16th round of the 1955 NFL Draft, where he played one season for the New York Giants.
Kragthrope began his coaching career as an assistant at Montana for two seasons (1965-66) and two seasons at South Dakota State (1967-68) before being named the head coach in 1969. He then served as assistant head coach, offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at BYU, under former USU teammate LaVell Edwards from 1970 to 1979.
Kragthrope later served as the head coach at Idaho State from 1980 to 1982 and led the Bengals to a 12-1 record and a Big Sky Conference Championship and the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship as ISU outscored its opponents 422-172 during the 1981 season. He later spent six years at the head coach at Oregon State and was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1989.
Kragthorpe began his coaching career as an assistant at Idaho Falls (Idaho) High School and later head coach at Roosevelt (Mich.) High School.
In 1983, Kragthorpe stepped away from coaching and became the Athletics Director at Utah State University.
Kragthorpe returned to coaching in 1985 as the head coach at Oregon State and was named the Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year in 1989.
In 1994, Kragthorpe was hired by the Utah State University Alumni Association to resurrect the university's alumni chapters program.
Kragthorpe was a member of the Old Main Society, Alumni Sustaining Membership program, Big Blue Scholarship Fund, and the Emeriti Association. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and in 2009 he was inducted into the Utah State Athletics Hall of Fame.
