Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1994
JOHN BRIDGERS, Birmingham, Ala. (Head Football Coach & Athletic Director, 1959-68) – 1994
Serving as both the head football coach and athletic director, Bridgers led the Bears to one of their best four-year runs in program history, losing a 13-12 heartbreaker to No. 18 Florida in the 1960 Gator Bowl and posting victories over 10th-ranked Utah State in the 1961 Gotham Bowl and LSU in the 1963 Bluebonnet Bowl.
An assistant coach for the NFL champion Baltimore Colts, Bridgers brought in a wide-open passing attack that was ahead of his time and helped develop the All-America pass-and-catch combo of quarterback Don Trull and Lawrence Elkins. He also broke the color barrier in the Southwest Conference when he sent in sophomore running back John Hill Westbrook late in the fourth quarter of the 1966 season opener against Syracuse.
After leaving Baylor, Bridgers went back to the NFL as an assistant under Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh and urged the Steelers to draft a quarterback named Terry Bradshaw with the first overall pick. Going the administration route, he established a reputation as one of the top athletic directors in the country by turning around struggling programs at Florida State and New Mexico.
Inducted in the Baylor Hall of Fame in 1994, Bridgers died in 2006 of congestive heart failure at the age of 84.
