LSU lost one of the men who spent a lifetime representing what it means to be a Tiger.
Jerry Stovall, the former LSU All American, Heisman Trophy runner up, NFL Pro Bowler and LSU head coach, died Monday, August 31, 2026, at the age of 85. His death was confirmed Monday by Louisiana sports outlets, including WAFB and WBRZ. No cause of death had been publicly announced in the initial reports.
Stovall’s connection to LSU stretched across generations. He was a great player during one of the strongest periods in program history, returned to Baton Rouge as an assistant coach, stepped into the head coaching job after the tragic death of Bo Rein, and later became one of the area’s most recognizable sports ambassadors.
They called him “Mr. Everything.”
Few LSU players ever earned a nickname more honestly.
From West Monroe to LSU
Jerry Lane Stovall was born April 30, 1941, in West Monroe, Louisiana, and starred at West Monroe High School before coming to LSU.
He arrived in Baton Rouge as a freshman in 1959, the same year Billy Cannon won the Heisman Trophy. Freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition at the time, so Stovall’s LSU playing career officially ran from 1960 through 1962.
One of the great stories of his LSU career involved his jersey number.
When Stovall arrived, he asked for No. 20.
There was a problem.
Billy Cannon was wearing it.
Cannon’s No. 20 would eventually become the most famous number in LSU football history. Stovall settled on No. 21.
Nearly six decades later, LSU would retire that number too.
LSU’s “Mr. Everything”
Modern football has become a game of specialists.
Stovall came from a different era.
He played halfback on offense and defensive back on defense. He returned kickoffs and punts. He punted. He could run the football, catch passes, create turnovers and change field position.
The National Football Foundation called him a literal “Mr. Everything,” and the description followed him for the rest of his life.
The surviving statistical record from that era contains inconsistencies in some later biographical summaries, but LSU’s season records and historical statistical databases support career totals of 1,071 rushing yards and 462 receiving yards. Stovall also intercepted seven passes on defense and accumulated nearly 700 return yards. He punted 165 times for 6,477 yards during his LSU career.
In 1960, Stovall averaged 42.1 yards on 64 punts, a mark that stood as an LSU single season record at the time. His career punting total of 6,477 yards remains part of LSU’s record book.
He was not simply versatile.
He was one of the best players in the country.
The 1961 SEC Champions
LSU struggled to a 5 and 4 record with one tie during Stovall’s first varsity season in 1960.
Then everything changed.
The 1961 Tigers lost their opener at Rice before winning 10 consecutive games. LSU finished 10 and 1, went unbeaten in SEC play and won the conference championship. The season ended with a 25 to 7 victory over Colorado in the Orange Bowl.
Stovall was one of the team’s most dangerous offensive weapons. He rushed for 405 yards on only 65 carries during the regular season, an average of 6.2 yards per attempt.
One of his biggest moments came against Ole Miss.
Stovall broke a 57 yard run that helped ignite LSU’s 10 to 7 victory over the Rebels. Across his final two games against Ole Miss, LSU later credited him with 190 rushing yards on only 13 carries.
Stovall earned First Team All SEC honors.
The following season, he became one of the best players in college football.
The 98 Yard Run Against Georgia Tech
Stovall’s senior season produced one of the signature plays of his career.
LSU traveled to Atlanta on October 6, 1962, to face No. 5 Georgia Tech.
The game was scoreless at halftime.
Stovall took the opening kickoff of the second half and raced 98 yards for a touchdown.
LSU eventually won 10 to 7 after Lynn Amedee kicked a 24 yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. It was Charles McClendon’s first victory over a ranked opponent as LSU’s head coach.
The 98 yard return remains tied for one of the longest kickoff returns in LSU history.
It was exactly the type of play for which Stovall became known.
When LSU needed something to happen, No. 21 often made it happen.
One of the Best Players in America
Stovall led LSU in rushing during the 1962 regular season with 368 yards on 89 carries. He also caught nine passes for 213 yards, an average of 23.7 yards per reception.
His value went far beyond those offensive totals.
He played defense.
He returned kicks.
He punted.
And he regularly stayed on the field while other players rotated around him.
Stovall was selected First Team All SEC for the second consecutive season. He was named the SEC’s Most Valuable Player and became a unanimous First Team All American. He also received the Walter Camp honor as the nation’s outstanding player or back, depending on the historical designation used by the awarding organizations.
Then came the Heisman Trophy vote.
How Close Stovall Came to the Heisman
Stovall nearly became LSU’s second Heisman Trophy winner only three years after Billy Cannon.
Oregon State quarterback Terry Baker won the 1962 award with 707 points.
Stovall finished second with 618.
Baker received 172 first place votes. Stovall received 112.
Stovall finished ahead of Minnesota’s Bob Bell, Alabama’s Lee Roy Jordan, Miami quarterback George Mira and the rest of a strong national field.
For decades, his second place finish remained one of the highest Heisman results in LSU history.
The Tigers did not produce another winner until Joe Burrow in 2019.
Ending His LSU Career With a Shutout
LSU finished Stovall’s senior season 9 and 1 with one tie and ranked No. 7 in the final AP Poll.
The Tigers earned a Cotton Bowl matchup against undefeated and No. 4 Texas.
LSU dominated defensively and won 13 to 0.
Stovall rushed for 36 yards and also contributed on defense. On Texas’ final possession, he intercepted quarterback Duke Carlisle’s replacement Virgil Wade to help preserve the shutout.
It was LSU’s second consecutive bowl victory after the Orange Bowl win over Colorado.
Stovall’s college career was over.
The NFL was next.
The No. 2 Pick in the NFL Draft
The St. Louis Cardinals selected Stovall with the second overall pick in the 1963 NFL Draft.
The New York Jets also selected him third overall in the AFL Draft, but Stovall chose the Cardinals.
He spent nine seasons with St. Louis from 1963 through 1971, primarily at safety while also handling punting and return duties.
Stovall played 97 regular season games and started 90. He intercepted 18 passes for 243 yards and returned two for touchdowns. He was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 1966, 1967 and 1969 seasons and earned All Pro recognition during his career.
Stovall also punted 87 times for 3,498 yards in the NFL, averaging 40.2 yards per punt.
His professional career reinforced what LSU fans had already known.
He could do almost anything on a football field.
Coming Home to LSU
After his playing career ended, Stovall moved into coaching.
He eventually returned to LSU and worked as an assistant coach under Charles McClendon, the same man who had coached him during his senior season.
Then LSU football was struck by tragedy.
The Tigers hired Bo Rein to replace McClendon following the 1979 season. Rein never coached a game at LSU. On January 10, 1980, the private plane carrying Rein disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean after veering dramatically off course.
LSU suddenly needed someone to lead the program.
The university turned to Jerry Stovall.
It was an impossible situation.
Stovall accepted it anyway.
LSU’s Head Coach
Stovall coached LSU from 1980 through 1983.
His first team went 7 and 4.
The Tigers slipped to 3 and 7 with one tie in 1981 before Stovall produced the best season of his coaching career in 1982.
LSU went 8 and 3 with one tie, defeated No. 4 Florida, No. 8 Alabama and No. 7 Florida State, and reached the Orange Bowl. The Tigers climbed as high as No. 6 in the AP Poll and finished the season ranked No. 11.
Stovall was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation Coach of the Year and also received SEC Coach of the Year recognition.
The 1983 season ended 4 and 7, and Stovall’s tenure came to a close.
His final LSU head coaching record was 22 wins, 21 losses and two ties.
The record tells only part of the story.
Stovall had been asked to stabilize LSU football after the sudden death of the coach who was supposed to lead the program. Two years later, he had LSU back in a major bowl and was being recognized as one of the best coaches in the country.
A Life in Louisiana Sports
Football remained part of Stovall’s life long after his LSU coaching career ended.
He later served as athletic director at Louisiana Tech, beginning in 1990. He also became president and chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge Area Sports Foundation in 1994 and spent years helping bring sporting events and economic activity to the Baton Rouge area.
Stovall was inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame, Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Louisiana High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
Then came one of the highest honors available to a college football player.
College Football Hall of Fame
Stovall was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
The National Football Foundation highlighted the extraordinary range of his LSU career: halfback, defensive back, return specialist and punter.
He officially joined the Hall alongside some of the greatest players and coaches the sport has produced.
For LSU, the honor confirmed what generations of Tiger fans already understood.
Jerry Stovall was one of the greatest football players the school had ever produced.
No. 21 Goes Up in Tiger Stadium
On October 13, 2018, LSU retired Stovall’s No. 21 jersey during the Tigers’ game against No. 2 Georgia.
The timing turned out to be perfect.
LSU defeated Georgia 36 to 16 that afternoon, giving Stovall another unforgettable Saturday in Tiger Stadium. His No. 21 was placed on the stadium façade alongside the other retired LSU jerseys of that era.
The honor completed a remarkable circle.
The freshman who once asked for Billy Cannon’s No. 20 had become enough of an LSU legend that his own number would be permanently honored.
More Than the Numbers
Stovall’s story was never simply about statistics.
He frequently described himself as an average athlete who succeeded because of work, preparation and persistence.
One of his favorite lessons came from his father: work as hard as possible, for as long as possible, to become the best version of yourself.
That approach carried him a long way.
From West Monroe to LSU.
From an uncertain freshman to a unanimous All American.
From Heisman runner up to the second pick in the NFL Draft.
From professional player to LSU coach.
From coach to administrator.
From Tiger Stadium to the College Football Hall of Fame.
LSU Lost a Legend Today
Jerry Stovall died Monday at 85.
LSU football has produced Heisman Trophy winners, national champions, NFL stars and legendary coaches.
Stovall somehow touched almost every part of that history.
He played offense.
He played defense.
He returned kicks.
He punted.
He became an All American.
He nearly won the Heisman Trophy.
He became an NFL Pro Bowler.
He came back to coach LSU when the program desperately needed someone to lead it.
Then he spent decades continuing to represent Baton Rouge and the university that had become such a large part of his life.
“Mr. Everything” was never just a nickname.
For Jerry Stovall, it was almost a job description.
LSU has lost one of its greatest Tigers.
But every Saturday in Tiger Stadium, No. 21 will remain there as a reminder of the man who wore it.
Sources
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https://www.wafb.com/2026/08/31/former-lsu-football-coach-jerry-stovall-dies/
WBRZ, Former LSU Coach Jerry Stovall, Mr. Everything, Dies at 85
https://www.wbrz.com/news/lsus-jerry-stovall-mr-everything-dies-at-85
LSU Athletics, Jerry Stovall Jersey Retirement
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