John Ralston (American football)

For other people of the same name, see John Ralston.

John Ralston
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1927-04-26) April 26, 1927 Oakland, California
Playing career
1948–1950	California
Position(s)	Linebacker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1953–1954 1956–1958 1959–1962 1963–1971 1972–1976 1983–1984 1993–1996	San Lorenzo HS (CA) California (assistant) Utah State Stanford Denver Broncos Oakland Invaders San Jose State
Head coaching record
Overall	97–81–4 (college) 34–33–3 (NFL) 9–12 (USFL)
Bowls	2–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 2 Skyline (1960–1961) 2 AAWU/Pac-8 (1970–1971)
Awards Sporting News College Football COY (1970)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1992 (profile)

John R. Ralston (born April 26, 1927) is a former American football player, coach, and sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Utah State University (1959–1962), Stanford University (1963–1971), and San Jose State University (1993–1996), compiling a career college football record of 97–81–4. Ralston also coached the Denver Broncos of the NFL from 1972 to 1976, amassing a record of 34–33–3, and the Oakland Invaders of the USFL in 1983 and part of the 1984 season, tallying a mark of 9–12. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1992.

Early life, education, and playing career

Born in Oakland, California, Ralston and his family moved to Norway, Michigan when he was eight years old. Upon graduating from Norway High School in 1944, he went to the University of California, Berkeley and played linebacker there on two Rose Bowl teams before earning his physical education degree in 1951.

Coaching career

Ralston began his coaching career in 1953 at San Lorenzo High School in San Lorenzo, California, just south of Oakland. He then spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Cal from 1956–1958.

Ralston was then named head coach at Utah State University in 1959. In four years there, he compiled a 31–11–1 record and won Skyline Conference championships.

Ralston turned down the head coaching job at Nebraska in 1962 before he moved to Stanford University in 1963 and helped revive a sagging program. Over nine seasons, Ralston guided the team back to national respectability while building a mark of 55–36–3. In his last two seasons, 1970–1971, Ralston's teams won two Pacific-8 titles and notched back-to-back Rose Bowl victories over Ohio State and Michigan, both of whom were undefeated coming into the Rose Bowl game. Under Ralston's tutelage, Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy in 1970.

In 1972, Ralston departed the San Francisco Bay Area once again, this time for the Rocky Mountains and the Denver Broncos. The Broncos continue to struggle under Ralston finishing with a 5–9 record in 1972. In 1973, a year which included the "Orange Monday" game played in front of a prime-time national television audience in which the Broncos came from behind to earn a tie on Jim Turner's 35-yard field goal, Ralston coached the team into first place with a 6–3–2 record. With their first winning season in franchise history under their belt and with the AFC West title on the line, the Broncos season ended with a 21–17 loss to the Oakland Raiders. Ralston was the UPI's choice as AFC Coach of the Year after Denver achieved its first-ever winning season at 7–5–2.

In 1974, Ralston coached the Broncos to a 7–6–1 record for their second consecutive winning season. The 1975 season was one of mediocre play for the Broncos as the team finished with a disappointing 6–8 record, but the following year the team improved and finished with a 9–5 record. However, the record was not good enough qualify the Broncos for the playoffs. Despite the strong showing, Broncos players issued a protest vote of no confidence in their coach and Ralston resigned following the season. In five seasons with the Broncos, Ralston guided the team to winning seasons three times and an overall record of 34–33–3.

After leaving the Broncos, Ralston held several assistant coaching jobs which included the Philadelphia Eagles, the San Francisco 49ers, the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and as a head coach in the USFL with the Oakland Invaders.

Ralston also coached in Europe. He was the head coach of the Dutch Lions, the national football team of the Netherlands. With the Lions, Ralston won the bronze medal in the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland in 1991.

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Utah State Aggies (Skyline Conference) (1959–1961)
1959	Utah State	5–6	2–5	T–5th
1960	Utah State	9–2	6–1	T–1st	L Sun
1961	Utah State	9–1–1	5–0–1	T–1st	L Gotham	10	10
Utah State Aggies (Independent) (1962)
1962	Utah State	8–2
Utah State:		31–11–1	13–6–1
Stanford Indians (Athletic Association of Western Universities) (1963–1967)
1963	Stanford	3–7	1–4	6th
1964	Stanford	5–5	3–4	5th
1965	Stanford	6–3–1	2–3	T–5th
1966	Stanford	5–5	1–4	8th
1967	Stanford	5–5	3–4	T–4th
Stanford Indians (Pacific-8 Conference) (1968–1971)
1968	Stanford	6–3–1	3–3–1	T–3rd		20
1969	Stanford	7–2–1	5–1–1	T–2nd		14	19
1970	Stanford	9–3	6–1	1st	W Rose	10	8
1971	Stanford	9–3	6–1	1st	W Rose	16	10
Stanford:		55–36–3	30–25–2
San Jose State Spartans (Big West Conference) (1993–1995)
1993	San Jose State	2–9	2–4	T–6th
1994	San Jose State	3–8	3–3	T–5th
1995	San Jose State	3–8	3–4	T–6th
San Jose State Spartans (Western Athletic Conference) (1996)
1996	San Jose State	3–9	3–5	T–5th (Pacific)
San Jose State:		11–34	11–26
Total:		97–81–4
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.