John Marrow; Longtime Coach at Beverly Hills High

John Marrow, 83, veteran coach at Beverly Hills High School and a former National Football League guard. Marrow, a native of Nebraska, played from 1937 to 1940 with the Chicago Bears in an era when players provided their own pads and helmets, working without contracts and earning only $90 to $120 a game. He supplemented his earnings on the pro wrestling circuit, appearing under the names White Mountain and Swede Nelson. Marrow earned his bachelor’s degree at Kearney State College in Kearney, Neb., where he was a standout in football and the shotput. He was the school’s first athlete to play in the College All-Star Game, which pitted collegians against NFL champions in Chicago, and he was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. After coaching briefly in Missouri and Nebraska, Marrow served as captain of a Navy ship that participated in several South Pacific invasions during World War II. He began his 32-year career at Beverly Hills High School in 1946, coaching football, basketball, wrestling and swimming and serving as athletic director. The school honored him in 1980 by naming its annual swimming and diving contest the John Marrow Invitational. The teacher and coach earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in education at USC during his Beverly Hills tenure, and was active in the Kiwanis Club. On Sunday in San Diego of complications after heart surgery.