Jerry Tolley
Jerry R. Tolley is the former head football coach at Elon University. Under his guidance, Elon achieved a 49-11-2 record, claiming consecutive national titles in 1980 and 1981. His 1977 and 1978 squads were also nationally ranked—reaching number six and number two, respectively. During his five-year head coaching career, his teams garnered an 8-1 record in playoff bowl competition and won an impressive 80.6 % of all games played. During his career, Tolley was accorded numerous coaching honors, including conference, district, state, area, and national coach of the year awards. In 2003, he was a recipient of a 35-year membership award from the American Football Coaches Association. He has also received the State of North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine award and the Laurel Wreath award, the highest honors bestowed by the State of North Carolina in the area of sports and athletics. He has written numerous football-related articles for Coach and Athlete, The Athletic Journal, The Coaching Clinic, and the Journal of Health Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Since his retirement from coaching, Dr. Tolley continues to serve Elon University as the institution’s director of annual giving. In addition, he is extensively involved in a number of community activities, having served four terms as mayor of the town of Elon, as well as being a member of many local boards, including The Alamance Foundation, The Thomas E. Powell Jr. Biology Foundation, The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, The Alamance Education Alliance, and BEACTIVE North Carolina.
