Ed Prohofsky, state basketball coach for five decades from high schools to Timberwolves and Lynx, dead at 90

Ed Prohofsky, who coached basketball in the state at the high school, college and professional levels and helped start the adapted sports program in Minnesota high schools, died on Monday at age 90.

“Coach Prohofsky’s legacy and servant leadership in so many areas runs deep and has had a powerful impact on the lives of students,” the Minnesota State High School League’s Tim Leighton said Friday. “Without his advocacy at the grassroots level, adapted athletics would not be flourishing as it is. The league and the adapted athletics community are grateful for his vision, support and dedication.”

Former MSHSL executive director Dave Stead, who led the MSHSL for more than 30 years, said: “Ed Prohofsky was a key leader, who provided support and guidance for the Minnesota State High School League when adapted athletic programs were approved by the MSHSL Representative Assembly. Because of Ed’s leadership, all adapted athletes in member schools were able to represent their school and community. The Minnesota State High School League was the first-in-the-nation high school athletic association to provide competitive programs in soccer, floor hockey, bowling and softball.”

Prohofsky graduated from St. Paul Humboldt High School before graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1957. He joined the Army, and his coaching career began in 1957 at a base in Killeen, Texas.

That coaching career would span more than 50 years. Prohofsky coached at Minneapolis Marshall University High School, Golden Valley Lutheran College, Hamline and Macalester, the Timberwolves and the Lynx.

In 1974, while teaching physical education at Marshall University in Dinkytown, Prohofsky formed the first adapted floor hockey league, comprised of four teams. Minnesota was the first state to sanction adapted athletics for high school students.

Prohofsky told the Star Tribune in 1996 that one thing he most cherished was getting the MSHSL to sponsor adapted state tournaments, in 1993. While the MSHSL was considering sponsorship of adapted state tournaments, Prohofsky urged the MSHSL to embrace adapted athletics.

“In my life surrounded by a variety of people, some stand out,” former MSHSL associate director Dorothy McIntyre said. “And some stand alone. As a man of principle, a devotion to the well being of young people, and a genuine dedication to serve others, Ed stood alone. It was a privilege to be the recipient of one of his smiles.”

Prohofsky coached the Marshall University boys basketball team for six seasons. The Cardinals went 28-0 in the 1975-76 season en route to the Class 1A state championship. They also reached the state tournament in 1977 and ’80, going 140-10 under Prohofsky overall, including a 53-game winning streak that ended in the first round of the 1977 state tournament.

He spent 34 years as a teacher, coach and administrator in Minneapolis, including seven years as the Minneapolis City Conference’s athletic director. Prohofsky also started an All-City Academic team while leading the conference.

He was an assistant to Flip Saunders at Golden Valley Lutheran in 1980-81. From 1981 to ‘89, he coached at Hamline. Prohofsky rejoined Saunders as an assistant with the Wolves from 1997 to 2004, then joined the Lynx as an assistant under former Wolves colleague Don Zierden in 2006 before retiring in 2009.

“A life lived in service to others is how I will remember Ed Prohofsky,” broadcaster Lea B. Olsen wrote on Facebook.

Prohofsky and Ronnie Henderson, a guard on the Marshall University championship team in 1976, were named to the Minnesota Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. Prohofsky is also a member of the MSHSL, Minnesota State High School Coaches Association, Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association and the Minnesota State High School Athletic Directors Halls of Fame.

Prohofsky lived in St. Louis Park. Services have been held.