Pillars of the NFL and Notre Dame Connections --Second in a Series

Chicago Lithograph Image of Notre Dame-Library of Congress

Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships is published by Sporting Chance Press and written by Chicago Bears Senior Director Patrick McCaskey.  The Pillars themselves are the greatest coaches in NFL history--determined strictly by the number of championships.  Ten coaches have won three or more championships: George Halas, Guy Chamberlin, Curly Lambeau, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Belichick.  

This is the second post in which we recall the greatest coaches in the NFL connections to Notre Dame. It is taken from Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships. 

Chicago Bears Training Camp at Notre Dame, 1933 Season

George Halas picked up Notre Dame graduates early and often in his career coaching and managing the Chicago Bears.   In the last post, we discussed Hunk Anderson and George Trafton.  In 1933, Halas had a very good team and he held the Bears Training at Notre Dame in 1933.  That year the Bears won the West Division with a 10–2–1 record and played the Giants in the first scheduled championship game. It turned out to be the most spectacular game of the season featuring a trick play by the Giants early on and one by the Bears late in the game. It would also feature six lead changes.   

On a damp cool foggy December 17, 26,000 fans showed up at Wrigley Field to see the championship battle. In the early goings, the Giants center Mel Hein reported as an eligible receiver. Harry Newman took the ball under center from Hein and handed it right back to him with a slight of hand. While the defense watched Newman fall back as if he was going to pass, Hein hid the ball under his jersey and quietly started to make his way up field. Not a particularly good actor, Hein got anxious and began to run. The Bears tackled him on the 15-yard line and although the play worked beautifully, the Bears held and the Giants did not score on that series.

The contest swung back and forth and late in the game the Bears found themselves behind 21–16.  It was time for the Bears’ trick play.  Fullback Bronko Nagurski faked a run and threw a 14-yard jump pass to Bill Hewitt who was attracting Giants.  Hewitt lateraled to Bill Karr who then made his way to the end zone.  The Bears won 23–21 to take top honors in 1933. 

Chamberlin’s Big Day at Notre Dame, Knute Rockne

In at least one way, the Notre Dame connections to the Pillars of the NFL even predated the NFL! 

Perhaps the most obscure Pillar is Guy Chamberlin.  Chamberlin came off a Nebraska farm and played tremendous football for two Nebraska schools –Nebraska Wesleyan for his first two years and then the University of Nebraska to finish off his college years.  In the 1915 season, Chamberlin and the Huskers started out strong by clobbering Drake, Kansas State, and Washburn on their way to a showdown with a strong Notre Dame team coached by Jesse Harper.  On staff for Notre Dame was Assistant Coach Knute Rockne who would go on to a legendary head coaching career starting in 1918.  Rockne had famously scouted the Huskers.  Notre Dame’s defense was instructed on apparent weaknesses in Chamberlin’s running game that Rockne had discovered.  Rockne also noted that Chamberlin licked his fingers before any passing play.  Rockne’s scouting report did not help—Chamberlin displayed no weaknesses at all.  Long after the game, Rockne laughed when he recalled his predictions on Chamberlin’s play.  Chamberlin joked that he licked his fingers regardless of what he was going to do with the ball, but on that day, he fingered a wet sponge that he somehow affixed to his uniform to fight off the dryness. The Nebraska-Notre Dame game was a tight match from beginning to end, but Nebraska prevailed 20–19.  

During the game, Nebraska fans across the state gathered at railroad stations to hear the latest game news read by telegraph operators coming over the wires while the contest was being played.  Chamberlin scored on two end-around plays and he passed for another touchdown.  Notre Dame missed two extra points while Nebraska made two of three.

Chamberlin moved on as a player-coach in the pro ranks where he won two championships with the Canton Bulldogs and one with the Cleveland Bulldogs, and one more with the Frankford Yellow Jackets—all in the 1920s.  None of Chamberlin’s teams have survived into the modern era, which may be why most modern sports analysts rarely mention him in debates about the greatest coaches. 

Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press

 

Pillars of the NFL and Notre Dame Connections --First in a Series

Patrick McCaskey

The Pillars of the NFL is published by Sporting Chance Press and written by Chicago Bears Senior Director Patrick McCaskey.  The Pillars themselves are the greatest coaches in NFL history--determined strictly by the number of championships.  Ten coaches have won three or more championships: George Halas, Guy Chamberlin, Curly Lambeau, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Belichick.  

In this post,  we recall here the Pillars connections to that great school taken from Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships.  

The first Pillar is George Halas,  who coached for 40 seasons and accumulated 324 wins, 151 losses, and 31 ties. The Bears won six NFL Championships with Halas as coach. He had two more championships as owner for a total of eight. He was enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame’s charter class of 17 members on September 7, 1963. Halas was named AP Coach of the Year, the Sporting News Coach of the Year, and the UPI NFL Coach of the Year for the 1963 and the 1965 seasons.  If anyone could be called the Father of the NFL, it would be George Halas. In this way, his nickname, Papa Bear says it all. He loved the fans and was dedicated to his friends, family, and faith.

There are many professional football associations with Notre Dame football and its coaches and players. The Bears have often added Notre Dame graduates to their roster and Halas started the practice very early on. Two of Halas’s favorite Fighting Irish were George Trafton and Hunk Anderson.

George Trafton

By most accounts, players in the early days of football were very rugged men.  Hall of Famer George Trafton certainly fits this description—he was a 6-foot-2, 230 pound bull who loved to mix it up. Hated by opposing teams for his aggressive play and loved by his teammates for his winning contributions, Trafton played center for the Staleys/Bears right from the start, 1920-1932.  He was known around the league for his aggressive style of play.  According to Trafton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame biography:

Trafton was strongly disliked in every NFL city, with the exception of Green Bay and Rock Island. In those places, he was hated.

Hunk Andersen

A contemporary of George Halas, Notre Dame alum Hunk Anderson played guard and center for the Bears from 1922-1925. When his playing days ended, he became one of the most innovative coaches in football.  His blocking techniques and schemes helped modernize football and power the modified T formation that the Bears used so successfully when it dominated the league in the 1940s.  He was also creative with defense and an early proponent of the blitz.  Halas said, “When it came to line play or defense, Hunk was a genius.”

Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press.  

Weeb Ewbank is a Pillar of the NFL

Weeb Ewbank is one of the coaches who is often overlooked in discussions about the greatest coaches in NFL history.  He was not overlooked in Sporting Chance Press's book, Pillars of the NFL, by Patrick McCaskey, Senior Director of the Chicago Bears. 

I believe there are 2 reasons why Weeb Ewbank is often overlooked in discussions about the greatest coaches in nfl history.

1. When Ewbank won his Championships he had two superstar quarterbacks in Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath.

 2. His overall NFL record was 134-130-7. 

The criteria used in our book  Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Won Three or More Championships to rate the top coaches was pure and simple--who won the most championships.  Ewbank won two championships with the Colts--1958 and 1959, and he won with the Jets in 1969 (for the 1968 season). There are only ten coaches to win three or more championships and Weeb Ewbank is one of the them.

Oddly enough, in ESPN's Greatest Coaches in NFL History, Ewbank is not even in the top 20! 

Ewbank signed Johnny Unitas to play in 1956 after the Steelers let him go.  The Steelers are often blamed mercilessly for this, but Unitas was a tall skinny kid who had been overlooked by many other football teams.

Ewbank had just taken over the reigns of the Colts in 1954 -- they were essentially a new team.  The 1953 Colts had replaced the Dallas Texans expansion team that folded after one season. Of the 39 players on the 1953 Colts, Ewbank kept only 19 for 1954.  He had to build from the ground-up. Building an expansion team takes time and it also adds many losses to a coach's career record. 

Once he had Unitas, at least a big part of Ewbank's offense was in good hands.  Working with Unitas must have been a joy in some ways.  He was not only committed to becoming the best, but he was one of those players who had high expectations for his teammates and would work hard with them to help them achieve.  But by the same token, Unitas would not have been an easy man to manage if you were a coach who had a large ego.  But to his credit, Ewbank was results driven and patient.  He didn't seem to mind that Unitas would be the  larger than life figure for the Colts.  Johnny U. was the archetype quarterback, the hardest working man on the field with tremendous leadership qualities. 

Ewbank had to build up what was essentially an expansion team and it took three miserable years for his team to become respectable. In Ewbank's fourth year, the Colts notched a 7-5 season.  In 1958 and 1959, the Colts were the best of the best--the NFL Champions.  Three decent seasons (6-6, 8-6, and 7-7) followed in part because Unitas's interceptions jumped way up, but it also had something to do with the Colts defense that was in need of rebuilding.  Ewbank was fired, but he was welcomed in New York where another new team needed to built from the ground up.

The American League New York Titans football team that began in 1960 was a financial flop and a syndicate of five men purchased the team, changed the name, and hired Weeb Ewbank as coach and general manager. Ewbank was able to pick up some players he knew from his days with the Colts, but he relied mostly on the draft to build a winning team in New York.  His first Jets' season was 1963.  The Jets building process would take a little longer than the Colts although the Jets managed a respectable record before Ewbank's arrival. In Ewbank's third season, Jets President Sonny Werblin signed Joe Namath in New York fashion--Namath received big money and a big car to boot--a Lincoln Continental.  In 1968, the Jets won the Super Bowl and thus the championship.

And although Namath certainly  had much to do with the success of the team, he could be inconsistent.  But it was a tough defense and a ball control conservative offense that would win the day for the Jets in Super Bowl III.  The Jets had a good 10-4 season in 1969, but a tight budget and aging stars helped make the next four seasons half mediocre and half bad.  Namath had more than his share of injuries, but not enough to cause the team to replace him.

When Ewbank retired from Coaching after the 1973 season, the Jets limped along until their next winning season in 1981.  Competing in New York was not easy for the franchise then and is not easy for the Jets now.

Weeb Ewbank had worked for two organizations who were struggling right from the start.  He was able to develop a championship program at each one.  He won three championships and he was an exceptional team-builder.  Weeb Ewbank was one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and he was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1978.

Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press 

Sporting Chance Press publishes fine books on sports that easily accessible for all readers and entertaining to read.  Take a look. 

Greatest Coaches in NFL History Had Different Approaches

Patrick McCaskey, Author of Pillars of the NFL

One thing that many people want to know about the top NFL coaches is just how are they alike and how they differ.  In an recent radio interview, Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships author Patrick McCaskey talked about how all the great coaches were dedicated  and they worked very  hard to recruit good players and apply themselves to preparation.  In this way, McCaskey suggested that the great coaches who practiced their craft in the early days of professional football would likely be successful today.

Yet, the differences in the great coaches are many.

For example, Paul Brown was a man who had great confidence in his ability to organize and run an organization.  He believed very strongly that players needed intelligence to play at a high level and they needed to focus on learning--whether it was developing skills, learning his play book (he was an early proponent of such books at every level of play), or operating with precision on a highly disciplined team.  He also wanted men of character and he famously said:

“If you are a bum, a boozer or a chaser, I have no interest in you making our team.” 

Brown accomplished these things in his own style.  He laid out his program in a long lecture at the beginning of each year. Much of his approach, he used when coaching at every level: high school, college, military, and the pros.  He stayed away from attempting to motivate players so much with emotional talks.  Few of the greatest NFL coaches were good at it.  He kept to tight schedules and respected everyone's time in the organization.  He demanded excellent behavior on and off the field.  He maintained an emotional distance from his players.  Essentially, his program was highly organized and disciplined to an extend that had not been seen in professional football before his entry into it.  

When the great Doug Atkins rebelled against Brown's authoritarian ways and parted company with the great disciplinarian, he was signed by George Halas, another of the greatest coaches in NFL history.  Halas was able to essentially manage the big man very well and they worked together for many years.

Weeb Ewbank was an assistant under Brown who learned a great deal about organization and coaching from Brown.  But, Ewbank, another one of the greatest coaches in NFL history,  was an extremely patient man and his management of two very different quarterbacks, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath, demonstrated his desire to coach and manage under a very flexible approach.  

Chuck Noll who played for Paul Brown was exposed to his methods and he certainly applied many of them albeit in his own way.  Yet, Noll's approach was very different. When Noll began his work with the Steelers, he insisted that they draft Joe Greene first.  Greene had a temper, he could get frustrated with teammates early on, and he did not bring a calming influence to the Steelers.  But Noll knew that Greene was a player who would make everyone better--he would insist on it.  Noll was willing to have  Greene act as a catalyst for change--as a coaching assistant in some ways. Noll was also a lineman and linebacker--more of a physical presence to the team, where Brown had played quarterback in college and was small.  Brown could intimidate, but it was in what he said. 

Joe Gibbs was another great coach, but he was very different from Paul Brown.  Gibbs's assistants would say that when they went to work for Gibbs, their nights were like nights in LasVegas--no clocks because the time didn't matter.  Gibbs was so intense that his staff needed to dedicate themselves entirely for months at a time.  Brown and his staff were in bed and fast asleep about the time Gibb's staff was just warming up.

Bill Walsh was cerebral like Brown and his military background along with certain hardships in his early life helped make him a very tough coach.  However, he was also prone to doubts about his own abilities, certainly early in his professional head coaching career.  Walsh had worked with Brown in Cincinnati when Brown had started up the Bengals.  Walsh had earned a reputation there as a good coach with quarterbacks. Temperamentally, the men were so different in fact that according to some sources, Brown would not recommend Walsh as a head coach.  

Vince Lombardi is an excellent coach to compare with Brown.  Lombardi motivated his men with emotion.  Lombardi, like Brown, was a successful coach at the high school and college levels before entering he pros.  And like Brown, he insisted on a high level of discipline.  Lombardi believed he could take players with the right attitude and character and mold them into a high-achieving team.  This seems common enough for great coaches, but in Lombardi's case, talent was secondary.  You have to wonder whether anyone other than Lombardi would have had the patience and confidence in Bart Starr to keep him leading the team in the early days. 

Similarly, Curly Lambeau approached the game as more of an athletic exercise of will at times.  He was hard driving and made frequent changes to his roster, but he did not appear to view it so much as a mental exercise.  But like Brown, Lambeau was in control of his team--at least for most of his tenure in Green Bay.

Perhaps most similar to Brown is Bill Belichick who was raised in a kind of military environment at the Naval Academy at Annapolis where his dad taught PE while coaching and scouting for the football team.  Belichick is in some ways a throwback to Brown in his super disciplined "just do your job" organization.  Yet in some ways, Belichick calls for a kind of 360 degrees constant evaluation of team and organization that would probably seem odd to Brown.   

And perhaps least like Brown was Guy Chamberlin who won four championships in the first decade of the NFL.  Chamberlin was more of a purest in his athletic interests.  Chamberlin was tall and tough--the kind of player who loved playing hard on both defense and offense.  He was a player coach for almost his entire career and each win had stains, bruises, and blood that recorded his efforts.  Within a year of when  Chamberlin could no longer play football any longer, he ended his football career.  He did not see professional football as a viable career choice.  Brown on the other hand was at  home with coaching as a long term career choice.  Most all of Ohio paid homage to Paul Brown as the greatest of coaches in what was the capital of football. Chamberlin returned to his family farm in Nebraska and for the most part, lived out his life in relative obscurity.

You can look at any one of the top ten coaches in Pillars of the NFL and compare their coaching approach to the other nine and you would see certain basic shared fundamentals, but there are very many working variations on just how the job got done.  Perhaps that's one of those things that makes sports very interesting and engaging. In the end, each coach took his own approach and was true to his own personal beliefs in what it takes to win.  

Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press

Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships by Patrick McCaskey, grandson of Papa Bear George Halas. More information.

 

Patrick McCaskey's Pillars of the NFL Covers the Greatest Coaches in NFL History

Pillars of the NFL

Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships is an ambitious book that examines the football lives of the ten greatest coaches in NFL history.  It looks at each coach's early life, their careers, and the teams they coached.  A final contribution to the game feature and a highlights feature closes each coach's coverage out.  Championship lists provide an appendix and a generous table of contents makes the book easier to use.  Bill Potter illustrations of each coach give readers a visual at the beginning of each chapter. 

Certainly some people will want to read the book from cover to cover, but most will likely start at least with their favorite coaches and teams and move around quite a bit.  Eventually, the author and publisher sincerely hope our book will reside on good spot on reader's favorite book shelf.  We hope commuters will bring the book with them on airplanes and trains--you can't do work every minute and Pillars can give you something fun to help break the time.  These day, a "great airplane ride" book is one of the highest of compliments. 

McCaskey's Pillars coaches were not selected by himself or a special task force, rather they are the ten coaches who have won the most NFL championships.  NFL championships in the pre Super Bowl days were decided in various ways. Initially, the records of the teams were reviewed and a champion selected in the annual league meeting. Rules were created to help make that decision more objective and eventually the league was broken up into two divisions and a championship game was created.  Today's Super Bowl Champion holds the NFL championship today.  

Perhaps what will make Pillars most interesting is reading about the different approaches the coaches' took to the top of the NFL peak.  Readers will see such a variety of approaches from the extremely well-organized Paul Brown to the ferocious perfection-seeker and motivator, Vince Lombardi.  They can read about Joe Gibbs who learned under one of the most innovative passing coach in history, Don Coryell, but quickly adjusted to a power running game based on his team's talent. 

Man's man and exemplary leader Chuck Noll builds one of the finest toughest football teams of the 20th Century and the superbly patient and practical Weeb Ewbank, works with two superstar quarterbacks who could not have been more different.  George Halas who lived like a Spartan warrior and was every bit the equal of men half his age carried on for six decades leading both the Bears and the NFL to unimaginable success.  Belichick, the son of a great football man, was brought up from the crib to become one of the best football minds in the history of the game.  No one in his camp has been spared criticism and every small defect is addressed in a program where responsibility is faced by everyone, every minute of the day.  

Lambeau was an exceptional athlete and a larger-than-life personality in the  small city of Green Bay.  He was able to not only will the survival of Packers, but turn them into champions and top challengers most every year of his long career. Perhaps the most difficult coach to understand was Bill Walsh--the one they called genius. Walsh was able to outplan and prepare most any coach of his era, but doubted his own powers when criticized.  Perhaps it was those doubts that led him to such heights.  

And then there was Guy Chamberlin, a man from the earliest days of the NFL who won his championships in the first decade of the league in the 1920s.  Chamberlin returned to the farm after his playing-coaching career because he did not believe pro football coaching could provide a long-term job.  In fact he did not believe pro football would last at all.  Chamberlin has become an obscure figure, but he had one of the greatest weapons in the early days--himself.  Chamberlin played offensive and defensive end and was as tough as the guns he taught his soldiers how to fire in his duty in World War I.  As a defensive end, Chamberlin was known to bring chaos into the opposing team's backfield.  When his team had the ball, he was frequently called to run an end around and if his speed wasn't too much for the opposition, his legs that moved like pistons were nearly impossible to stop.  

Pillars of the NFL was written to give football fans a birds-eye view of the NFL and the greatest coaches in the game.