Ralph Kohl

Ralph Anson Kohl (August 21, 1923 – June 11, 1997) was an American football player, coach and scout. He played at the tackle position on the University of Michigan's undefeated 1947 and 1948 football teams. He signed to play with the Baltimore Colts, but a knee injury prevented him from playing in the NFL. He was an assistant football coach at Eastern Michigan University (1952–1954) and a head coach at Franklin College (1955–1956) and Eastern Illinois University (1957–1964). From 1964 until his retirement in 1993, Kohl worked as a professional football scout. He was considered the top scout in the BLESTO NFL scouting combine in the 1960s and 1970s and served as the head scout for the Minnesota Vikings for two decades.

Early years Kohl was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio and grew up in University Heights. He attended high school in Cleveland Heights and prep school at the Kentucky Military Institute. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and served in Italy and Africa during World War II. He also played right tackle for Bennie Oosterbaan's undefeated 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team. Kohl played on Crisler's offensive squad in 1947, and he was switched to a defensive tackle in 1948. His "alert recovery of a fumble" in the third quarter of the 1948 Ohio State game was credited with helping Michigan "cling to a precarious seven to three lead." The 1949 Michiganensian (the University of Michigan yearbook) said, "Ralph Kohl, gigantic tackle, was the power man in the offensive line. Transferring from the defensive spot which he held down in 1947, the big Cleveland boy was a vital cog in the front line of the Michigan attack."

During Kohl's two years playing for the Wolverines, the team won 19 games and lost none, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 646 to 97 and won an undisputed national championship in 1948 and a contested national championship in 1947. Kohl was selected to participate in two of the post-season college all-star games, both the East–West Shrine Game played on New Year's Day 1949, and the 1949 Chicago Tribune Charities, Inc. All-Star Game played in the summer of 1949.

Football coach In May 1949, after graduating from Michigan, Kohl signed with the Baltimore Colts, but a knee injury prevented him from playing in the NFL. After two years as the head coach of the Franklin Grizzlies, Kohl was hired by Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, as its head football coach in June 1957. Kohl served as the head football coach for the Eastern Illinois Panthers from 1957 through 1964, compiling a record of 17–49–2.

Football scout After the 1964 season, Kohl resigned his position as the head coach at Eastern Illinois to accept a job as a scout for BLESTO, an NFL scouting combine that was an acronym for the Bears, Lions, Eagles and Steelers Talent Organization. The four teams, later joined by the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, combined their scouting resources under the BLESTO banner. Kohl began as a scout for talent at Big Eight and then Big Ten universities. He was considered BLESTO's best scout and became the combine's Eastern supervisor scout in 1968. In September 1984, Kohl was one of the first scouts to tout Randall Cunningham, then a little-known quarterback at UNLV. In 1981, Kohl recommended that the Vikings draft Villanova defensive lineman Howie Long. Vikings general manager Mike Lynn recalled his response: "Howie Long? We said, 'What are you talking about, Ralph? You've got to be out of your mind,'"

Family and later years Kohl and his wife, Dorothy Kohl, had a daughter, Jackie, who was born in approximately 1954. Kohl and his wife had been married for 45 years at the time of his death.

Head coaching record