Three weeks after making this celebrated catch, Tyrone Prothro suffered a complete fracture of both major bones of his lower left leg in a win against Florida, effectively ending his football career.
But when it came time a few years ago to get surgery on the leg he broke during a 2005 game ― his 10th surgery for the injury ― he was told by a trainer that his college benefits were about to run out.
“He said he would do it, but kind of mentioned that it would be the last time,” Prothro said.
Prothro took the witness stand Wednesday as one of the plaintiffs in a landmark antitrust suit against the NCAA, detailing the highs and lows of his life as a football player at a school he always wanted to attend while growing up in Alabama.
Wearing a shirt with a ’Bama logo, he said he still loves the school, and loves the attention he gets for “The Catch.” But the general studies degree he finally got from Alabama in 2008 hasn’t led to the riches he once thought would await him in the NFL.
And he’s still trying to pay back $10,000 in student loans taken out for living expenses in summer school.
“I felt like I was good enough to make it to the next level and I could pay it back six months after I graduated,” Prothro said. “I figured that if I made it to the NFL it would be easy to pay it back.”
