Surprisingly, Al Simpson did not play football when he was in high school in Eureka, Calif.
After graduation he worked in a mill while attending the Southern Oregon College of Education and the University of Oregon. Graduating in 1939 with a physical education degree, he taught and coached at Ashland Junior High.
After serving in the military during World War II, he returned home with his wife and children to Ashland, where he became the head football and basketball coach at the high school. By season’s end the football team had beaten the league’s top teams while amassing a seven-game winning streak. Simpson coached the basketball team to the 1944 state championship.
Hired by Medford High the following fall, he led its football team to a state championship. Simpson had produced two state championships at two schools in two different sports in the same year.
In 1946, Simpson got the job of reestablishing the Southern Oregon State College football program, dormant since 1938. The team ended the season undefeated.
Simpson continued coaching at the renamed Southern Oregon College and several other schools. In 1963 he was named Oregon football coach of the year.
Sources: Trower, Tim. "Al Simpson had some great teams." Sports Insiders. Mail Tribune, 18 June 2011. Web. 6 July 2016.
