Norm Van Brocklin

==Final years==
Following his dismissal, Van Brocklin returned to his [[pecan]] farm in [[Social Circle, Georgia]], east of [[Atlanta]]. His only connections to football during this era were as a running backs coach for [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]] under head coach [[Pepper Rodgers]] in 1979,<ref name=vbioffhr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oYYHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zzIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4702%2C168432 |newspaper=Robe News-Tribune |location=Georgia |agency=Associated Press |title=Van Brocklin is officially hired |date=March 2, 1979 |page=7A}}</ref> who was fired that December.<ref name=vbsbg>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2pxjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5OEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6616%2C4478287 |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |agency=Associated Press |title=Van Brocklin says goodbye to college life |date=January 17, 1980 |page=4B}}</ref> It was his only stint as an assistant coach. Rodgers's successor [[Bill Curry]] brought in a new staff in 1980 and Van Brocklin then was a college football analyst on "Superstation" [[TBS (U.S. TV channel)|WTBS]] in Atlanta.<ref name=shjobitap /><ref name=uogvbdi>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G8cUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MOIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4782%2C423093 |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |agency=wire services |title=Former UO great Van Brocklin dies |date=May 2, 1983 |page=1B}}</ref>

Van Brocklin, a heavy cigarette smoker, suffered a number of illnesses, including a [[brain tumor]].  After it was removed, he told the press, "It was a brain transplant. They gave me a sportswriter's brain, to make sure I got one that hadn't been used."<ref name=bestwt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gYsqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fF0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6895%2C4195617 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |agency=UPI |title=Best and worst of 1981 sports quotes |date=December 27, 1981 |page=D9}}</ref> He died of a heart attack in 1983 at age 57,<!--the day after suffering a [[stroke]],--><ref name=shjobitap /><ref name=uogvbdi /> five weeks after former teammate Bob Waterfield.<ref name=twnoldmn>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gmcaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9CkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6679%2C4231326 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |last=Johnson |first=Chuck |title=there's was no one like the Dutchman |date=May 5, 1983 |page=3, part 3}}</ref><ref name=frswtfdi>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=os1OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hxMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4807%2C7300995 |newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star |location=North Carolina |agency=Associated Press |title=Former Rams star Waterfield dies |date=March 26, 1983 |page=4D}}</ref>

Van Brocklin was posthumously elected to the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23959128 |title=Norm "The Dutchman" Van Brocklin |publisher=Find A Grave |accessdate=September 6, 2012}}</ref>