Rick Tolley
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born | January 6, 1940 Mullens, West Virginia |
| Died | November 14, 1970 Kenova, West Virginia |
| Playing career | |
| 1958–1961 | Virginia Tech |
| Position(s) | Center, linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1965–1966 | Ferrum (assistant) |
| 1968 | Wake Forest (DL) |
| 1969–1970 | Marshall |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 6–13 |
Rickey Dale Tolley (January 6, 1940 – November 14, 1970) was the head coach of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He died in the 1970 plane crash that killed all of the crew and passengers, including most of the Marshall football team and coaching staff and several team boosters.
Tolley played basketball, baseball and football at Mullens High School in Mullens, West Virginia. Tolley played college football as a center and linebacker at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Tolley started his coaching career during the years in 1962 at John S. Battle High School in Bristol, Virginia as an assistant football coach for two years and then as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Virginia for another year. He then joined the football coaching staff at Ferrum Junior College for three years, one of which they won the National Junior College Championship. He then left to become the defensive line coach at Wake Forest University in 1968.
He joined Perry Moss's Marshall football staff as defensive line coach in early 1969 replacing Ken Cooper who resigned to coach in Florida He was interior line coach at the time of Moss's removal from the head coaching duties.
Tolley became the interim head coach of Marshall just four days before the start of fall practice for the 1969 season. He started the season with over 40 players but through attrition, the number of players dropped to just 32 player after the team lost the first six games. The team was on its way to a collegiate record losing streak. Tolley was able to turn things around and managed to win three straight games against Bowling Green (21–16), Kent State (31–20) and East Carolina (38–7). The final game of the 1969 season was a loss against Ohio (38–35) with the Bobcats scoring their winning touchdown with five seconds left.
...
Wikipedia