 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| No. 63, 70 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Defensive tackle Defensive end Guard | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1925-04-20)April 20, 1925 Prienzing nearCham,Bavaria,Germany | ||||||||||||
| Died | February 16, 2006(2006-02-16) (aged 80) Carbondale, Colorado, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 230 lb (104 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Vincentian Institute(Albany, New York, U.S.) Columbia (East Greenbush, New York) | ||||||||||||
| College | Boston College | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1950: 2nd round, 22nd overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Coaching profile at Pro Football Reference | |||||||||||||
Ernest Alfred Stautner (April 20, 1925 – February 16, 2006) was a German-American professionalfootball player andcoach. He played as adefensive tackle in theNational Football League (NFL) for thePittsburgh Steelers. He also served as a coach for the Steelers,Washington Redskins andDallas Cowboys. He playedcollege football for theBoston College Eagles. Stautner was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
Stautner was born on April 20, 1925, in Prienzing nearCham,Bavaria inGermany. Stautner's family immigrated toAlbany or nearbyEast Greenbush, New York, when he was three years old. He attendedColumbia High School and the Vincentian Institute. He served in theUnited States Marine Corps duringWorld War II (1943–46).[1][2][3] At age 17, he fought in theBattle of Okinawa.[4]
After the war, he enrolled atBoston College, where he was a four-year starter as anoffensive and defensive tackle, and was selected All-New England and All-Catholic.[1] He was a third-teamCentral PressAll American in 1948.[5] He also handled the team's kickoff and extra point duties.[6] One of his teammates was futurePro Football Hall of FamerArt Donovan, who played defensive tackle next to Stautner. Donovan entered the Hall of Fame one year before Stautner.[7][8] He earned abachelor's degree inpsychology in 1950.[9]
In 1973, he was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame.[6]
Stautner was selected by thePittsburgh Steelers in the second round (22nd overall) of the1950 NFL draft. He played his entire career with the Steelers, from 1950 to 1963. Despite being small even for his day at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) and 235 pounds (106.6 kg), he distinguished himself as one of the bestdefensive linemen of his era. He became the cornerstone of the Steelers' bruising defense.[10]
Stautner was named to ninePro Bowls in his 14-year career and only missed six games. He also made All-NFL in 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959. He retired as the career leader in safeties with three and ranked third in fumble recoveries with 23. He moved todefensive end in the later years of his career and also saw spot service at offensive guard.[11][12] In 1957, he won the NFL's Best Lineman Award.[13]
In the bookPassion for Sports, a compilation of sports figure interviews published byThe Sporting News,[14] former teammateAndy Russell shares an anecdote that highlights Stautner's toughness. Russell, then a rookie playing on a team that would eventually finish in fourth place in what would be Stautner's final season, sees the grizzled veteran return to the huddle holding one of his hands in the other. Russell looks down and sees that Stautner has a compound fracture of the thumb; one of his thumb bones is visibly sticking out of his skin. Russell is the only one who notices, and Stautner says only, "What's the play?" Then he plays the rest of the defensive series. When the defense returns to the sideline, Russell watches Stautner, thinking that surely he must seek medical attention now. Instead, Stautner says to someone, "Give me some tape." Then Stautner taped up his hand into a club, and he played the rest of the game.[15][4]
Before a 1958 game against the Browns, the team doctor was supposed to give Stautner a shot of Novocain to numb an injured shoulder. Instead, the doctor injected him with a dangerously high 1,200 milligrams of Demerol.[8]
TheNFL did not recognizequarterback sacks as an official statistic at the time he retired (only becoming an official statistic in 1982[16]), but in his last three years Stautner has been unofficially credited with 15.5 sacks, including eight in 1962 at the age of 37.[12] Stautner finished his career with three career safeties[12] (at one time tied for the lead in league history, and now second in league history as of 2024[17]) and 23 recovered fumbles[12] (tied for thirteenth in league history among defensive players as of 2024[18]). The Steelers never made the playoffs during his career, and were only above .500 three times,[19] though during his career there were only two NFL divisions and one playoff game a year (the NFL championship game).[20] He only missed six games during his 14-year career,[13] despite suffering multiple cracked ribs, nose fractures, broken fingers and two broken shoulders.[2]
On September 13, 1969, Stautner was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.[21][1]
On October 25, 1964, Stautner became the first player to have his number (70) formally retired by the Steelers.[13] He was elected to the Steelers 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1982[22] and posthumously by the Pittsburgh Steeler fans to the Steelers 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in November 2007.[23] He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Steelers' Hall of Honor in 2017.[24]
From 1963 to 1964 he was a player-coach (defensive line coach) and then defensive line coach/assistant coach with thePittsburgh Steelers. In 1965 he was thedefensive line coach for theWashington Redskins.[25][12]
From 1966 to 1988, he was an assistant coach with theDallas Cowboys, serving as the team's defensive line coach from 1966 to 1972, and then as the team'sdefensive coordinator from 1973 to 1988.[25][26] Cowboys personnel directorGil Brandt considered Stautner the unsung hero of the Cowboys defense, and observed Stautner's role in developing young players with hard work and patience. He was instrumental in the development of defensive players such asRandy White,Ed "Too Tall" Jones, andHarvey Martin.[27]
He also devised in large part and contributed to the emergence of the team's famed "Doomsday" defense (built around Hall of Fame tackleBob Lilly[28]),[29] and "Doomsday II" defense that won the 1977 Super Bowl title.[22] Under head coachTom Landry, Stautner would call the defense alignments during games.[27] As a player, Stautner had once broken Landry's nose when Landry was filling in at quarterback for theNew York Giants. The Giants had told Stautner before he was drafted that he was too small to play tackle for them.[8]
The Cowboys were in five Super Bowls during Stautner's tenure with the team (Super BowlsV,VI,X,XII, andXIII), winning two.[30] From 1966 to 1975, Stautner's defenses led the entire league or their conference in rushing defense six times.[8]
Stautner stayed on with the Cowboys in 1989 as ascout.[31] He coached theDallas Texans, anArena Football League team in their first season of play in1990, guiding the franchise to an appearance in theArenaBowl IV and earning the league's Coach-of-the-Year award.[32]
Stautner was the defensive line coach for theDenver Broncos from 1991 to 1993.[25][33] While with the Broncos, he coached under bothDan Reeves andWade Phillips.[34][35] From 1995 to 1997, he returned toGermany to becomehead coach of theFrankfurt Galaxy ofNFL Europe. He would guide the team to two consecutiveWorld Bowls in1995 and1996, winning in 1995.[2]
During his NFL coaching career, Stautner's teams had a record of 272-149-5.[21]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Texans(AFL)(1990) | |||||||||
| 1990 | Dallas Texans | 7–3 | 2nd | LArenaBowl IV | |||||
| Frankfurt Galaxy(WLAF)(1995–1997) | |||||||||
| 1995 | Frankfurt Galaxy | 6–4 | 2nd | WWorld Bowl '95 | |||||
| 1996 | Frankfurt Galaxy | 6–4 | 2nd | LWorld Bowl '96 | |||||
| 1997 | Frankfurt Galaxy | 4–6 | 5th | ||||||
| Frankfurt Galaxy: | 17–15 | ||||||||
| Total: | 17–15 | ||||||||
According toCinema Treasures, Stautner is a former owner of the Sara-Placid Drive-In Theater inNorth Elba, New York.[36]
Stautner,Matt Snell,Mickey Spillane, and drummerBuddy Rich each appeared in their own Miller Lite Beer commercial as the product was launched in 1973. This was the first set of ads that spawned the wildly successful Less Filling, Tastes Great campaign.
Stautner died at aCarbondale, Colorado nursing home at age 80 from complications ofAlzheimer's disease. He is buried in Texas.[37]