Oscar Lofton

Oscar Warren Lofton (April 2, 1938 – January 4, 2026) was an American football player and coach. He played collegiately for the Southeastern Louisiana Lions and professionally as an end for the Boston Patriots of the American Football League (AFL). With the Patriots, Lofton scored the team's second ever touchdown. He became a coach, serving as the head coach for Southeastern Louisiana from 1980 to 1985, compiling a record of 30–34–1. After the end of his coaching career, Lofton became a scout in the National Football League (NFL).

Early life Oscar Warren Lofton was born in McCall Creek, Mississippi, on April 2, 1938 , to Charlie and Ruby Lofton. His father worked as a pipefitter with Exxon. Lofton grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended Istrouma High School, where he was a four-sport letterman. As a forward, Lofton played under head coach James Brown, whose 1955 team had a record of 12–0–1 and won the 3A state championship.

Collegiate career At Southeastern Louisiana University, Lofton competed on the football, basketball, and track and field teams. Lofton joined the university in 1957, and played for three seasons as a tight end in football. returning 11 catches for 292 yards. The team won a conference championship in 1960. and came second place for the SLU PLayer of the Year award his junior season. After playing with the Patriots for two years, Lofton was drafted and served with the United States Army. (One source from 1976 states he served for 21 months Lofton returned to play for the Patriots in 1963 but suffered a hamstring injury in training camp and left the team.)

Coaching career After leaving the Patriots, Lofton was signed by the Holy Cross Crusaders as an end coach. Lofton also coached the receivers from 1963 until 1964, and the offensive line from 1965 until 1966.

Lofton joined Hammond High School near his hometown in Louisiana as head coach in 1967 to near-immediate success.

The University of Tulane hired Lofton as their freshman team coach in 1973.

Lofton became the athletic director for his alma mater Southeastern Louisiana University in 1979. Soon afterward in December of that year, Lofton stepped down from his director position to become head coach of the football team at SLU. He earned Louisiana Coach of the Year for his second season with the team in 1981. The following two seasons with the team were more lackluster, with SLU going 4–7 on 1982. Lofton had even less success with the team's move to the Gulf Star Conference, amassing only four wins in 2 seasons. His final coaching record at Southeastern Louisiana was 30–34–1. Southeastern would reinstate the program in 2003 under head coach Hal Mumme.

Scouting career After being hired as head coach at Southeastern, Lofton began working with the NFL Scouting Combine. Reportedly, Lofton's reports led to the first four draft picks in the 1987 draft. He was hired by the San Francisco 49ers in 1992 to serve as a scout. After 15 years with the team and one Super Bowl championship in 1995, Lofton retired with the 49ers in 2007.

Head coaching record