| Clyde Propst | |
| Birth Date: | May 12, 1898 |
| Birth Place: | Ohatchee, Alabama, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Player Team1: | Birmingham–Southern |
| Player Years1: | ? |
| Player Years2: | 1922–1924 |
| Player Team2: | Alabama |
| Player Positions: | Center |
| Coach Years1: | 1925–1932 |
| Coach Team1: | Alabama (assistant) |
| Coach Years2: | 1934 |
| Coach Team2: | Howard (AL) |
| Coach Years3: | 1935–1937 |
| Coach Team3: | Southwestern (TN) |
| Coach Years4: | 1944–1947 |
| Coach Team4: | Auburn (assistant) |
| Admin Years1: | 1935–1937 |
| Admin Team1: | Southwestern (TN) |
| Overall Record: | 19–14–6 |
| Championships: | 1 SoCon (1924) |
| Awards: | 3× All-Southern (1922, 1923, 1924) |
Ralph Clyde "Shorty" Propst (May 12, 1898 – October 13, 1959) was an American college football player and coach. He served as head coach at both Howard and Southwestern from 1934 to 1937. During his tenure as a head coach, Propst had an overall record of 19 wins, 14 losses and 6 ties (19–14–6).
Propst was a prominent center for the Alabama Crimson Tide football teams of the University of Alabama coached by Xen C. Scott and Wallace Wade. In three different years he was selected All-Southern. He recovered Pooley Hubert's fumble in the endzone which was the deciding score in the 9 to 7 victory over Penn in 1922, arguably the biggest win in the era of Scott's coaching tenure.[1] He won the Porter Loving Cup three times.[2] He also played center on Alabama's basketball team.[3]
After he graduated from Alabama, Propst began his coaching career under Wallace Wade with the Crimson Tide in 1925.[4] At Alabama, Propst served as an assistant with the varsity in 1925, led the freshmen team in 1926 and 1927 before returning as a varsity assistant from 1928 to 1932.[5] After the 1932 season, he left coaching briefly to enter private business.[5] On March 21, 1934, Propst was hired to serve as head coach at Howard College (now Samford University) after Eddie McLane resigned to take the same position at Louisiana Tech.[6] During his one season with the Bulldogs, Propst led Howard to an overall record of three wins, four losses and two ties (3–4–2).[7]
He resigned his position at Howard one year later on March 7, 1935 to become both the head coach and athletic director at Southwestern College of Memphis (now Rhodes College).[8] The position came available after the death of James DeHart who was hired, but never coached a game at Southwestern in February 1935.[8] [9] During his three-year tenure with the Lynx, his most notable victory came in 1936 when he led Southwestern to a 12–0 upset over Vanderbilt.[10] Propst later resigned both as head coach and athletic director at Southwestern on December 3, 1937.[11] He chose to resign after he learned his contract was not to be renewed in March 1938 by university officials.[5] During his three-year tenure at Southwestern, Propst led the Lynx to an overall record of sixteen wins, ten losses and four ties (16–10–4).[5] [11] Propst later served as line coach at Auburn University from 1944 to 1947.[12]
After he resigned from Auburn, Propst was recommended by Sam Hobbs in 1948 to serve as postmaster in Ohatchee, Alabama.[13] He later died on October 13, 1959, at the home of his daughter in Philadelphia where he had resided since 1957.[14]