ANDROS, Dee G(us) 1924-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 17, 1924, in Oklahoma City, OK; died October 22, 2003, in Corvallis, OR. Athletic coach and author. Andros is best remembered as the former head football coach for the Oregon State University Beavers. Born Demosthenes Konstandies Andrecopoulos, before attending university he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. As a sergeant, he saw action in the Pacific theater, including at Iwo Jima, and earned a Bronze Star. After the war, he played football for the University of Oklahoma, earning a B.A. in 1950 and a master's degree in 1952. His coaching career also began at his alma mater, where he was an assistant football coach from 1950 to 1952. This was followed by a succession of coaching jobs during the 1950s and early 1960s, including for the University of Kansas, Texas Tech University, University of Nebraska, University of California at Berkeley, and University of Illinois. His first job as a head coach was at the University of Idaho, where he worked from 1962 to 1965. In 1965 he joined the faculty at Oregon State as a professor of education and head coach. For the next eleven seasons, Andros, nicknamed "the Great Pumpkin" because he liked to wear orange jackets and black pants over his rotund body, was a beloved coach at Oregon State. He gained national attention in 1967 when he led his team to beat number-one-ranked University of Southern California, which at the time had O. J. Simpson among its stars, and number-two-ranked UCLA and Purdue. He also took his team to several bowl games, including the 1950 and 1951 Sugar Bowls, the 1959 Rose Bowl, and the 1968 and 1971 Hula Bowls. Resigning in 1975, he served as athletic director for Oregon State until his retirement ten years later. Andros was the coauthor of Power T Football (1971) and contributed writing to sports manuals.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2003, p. B14.

Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), October 23, 2003, p. D1.