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.jpg) Stram from the 1955 Purdue yearbook | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born: | (1923-01-03)January 3, 1923 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died: | July 4, 2005(2005-07-04) (aged 82) Covington, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Lew Wallace (Gary, Indiana) |
| College: | Purdue |
| Career history | |
As a coach: | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season: | 131–97–10 (.571) |
| Postseason: | 5–3 (.625) |
| Career: | 136–100–10(.573) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
Henry Louis Stram (/ˈstræm/; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an Americanfootball coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with theDallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of theAmerican Football League (AFL) andNational Football League (NFL).
Stram won three AFL championships, more than any other coach in the league's history. He then wonSuper Bowl IV with the Chiefs. He also coached the most victories (87), had the most post-season games (7) and the best post-season record in the AFL (5–2). Stram is largely responsible for the introduction ofGatorade to the NFL due to his close association withRay Graves, coach at the University of Florida during Gatorade's development and infancy. Stram never had an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, or special teams coach during his career with the Chiefs.
Stram was born inChicago as Henry Louis Wilczek[1] on January 3, 1923.[2] His Polish-born father, Henry Wilczek, a tailor, had wrestled professionally under the name Stramm, the German word for "sturdy," and the family's surname was eventually changed to Stram.[1] He later grew up inGary, Indiana, and graduated fromLew Wallace High School class of 1941. (The football stadium press box was renamed in his honor.) He earned seven letters playing football and baseball and joined theSigma Chi fraternity atPurdue in the 1940s, playing in 1942 and again in 1946 and 1947. Stram served in theUnited States Army Air Forces during World War II, interrupting his university career.[3]
He was an assistant football coach for theBoilermakers from 1948 to 1955 and the head baseball coach from 1951 to 1955. In 1996, Stram andLen Dawson were inducted into the Purdue Athletic Hall of Fame. After coaching at Purdue, Stram was an assistant atNotre Dame,Southern Methodist University, andMiami. Stram was Miami's backfield coach and credited with installing themultiple offense that helped lead the team to a 6–4 record in1959.[4]
In 1959,Lamar Hunt recruited Stram to coach his Dallas Texans in the new AFL, which commenced play in1960. Hunt had previously been a bench player at SMU when Stram had been coaching there and the Texans' position had been turned down by Oklahoma Sooners head coachBud Wilkinson andNew York Giants defensive coordinatorTom Landry. The Texans played their first game in the new AFL in September 1960 and proved to be successful from the beginning.
In 1962, the Texans won the AFL Western Division and the AFL championship. The Texans won the championship against theHouston Oilers 20–17 in what was the longest professional football championship game ever played.Tommy Brooker kicked a field goal at 17:54 of overtime to win the game for the Texans and stop the Oilers from winning their third straight title.
The Dallas Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963 and continued their success. In 1966, they won the AFL title again on the back of one of the best defensive teams in the history of professional football featuring three hall of famers and eight all star players. The Chiefs defeated theBuffalo Bills 31–7 in Buffalo. The Chiefs played theGreen Bay Packers inSuper Bowl I with the Packers winning 35–10. To overcome the Chiefs' defense, Packers' coachVince Lombardi used a short passing game which proved successful, with quarterbackBart Starr becoming the first Super Bowl MVP.
In a 1968 game against theOakland Raiders in Kansas City, the Chiefs entered the game without a healthy wide receiver ready to play. Stram went in to pro football's past and resurrected theT formation. The Chiefs won the game 24–10 running the ball 60 times for over 300 yards while passing only three times for 16 yards.
The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFL championship again in 1969. InSuper Bowl IV, his ingenious innovations, the "moving pocket" and the "triple-stack defense", dominated theMinnesota Vikings on both sides of the ball. In the Super Bowl, Stram became the first professional football coach to wear amicrophone. Stram's recorded comments from that game have become classics:"Just keep matriculatin' the ball down the field, boys.","How could all six of you miss that play?""65 Toss Power Trap","Kassulke was running around there like it was a Chinese fire drill", and his assessment of the Vikings' confusion and ineffective play:"They look like they're flat as hell.". In the clip where he asks an official"How could all six of you miss that play?" the official's response, not about the play, but about Stram not being allowed on the field during a game, leads the confused Stram to mutter,"No. What?" The Super Bowl victory was the second straight by a team from the AFL and added credibility to the newer league, which would complete a planned merger with the NFL the following season.
In 1971, the Chiefs won theAFC West championship. TheMiami Dolphins defeated the Chiefs on Christmas Day 1971. The teams played the longest game in the history of professional football. After that, the Chiefs did not enjoy the same success, resulting in Stram leaving the franchise. Stram's tenure in Kansas City ended with a 35–15 loss at home to the sameViking team the Chiefs defeated in Super Bowl IV.
Following a 5–9 finish in the 1974 season, which was at the time the worst record in franchise history (and only the third losing season it had suffered), Stram was fired.
Stram's 129 victories were the most in Chiefs history until 2023 whenAndy Reid surpassed him with his 130th win.[5]
Stram became the head coach of theNew Orleans Saints in 1976, but posted losing records in his two seasons, 4–10 and 3–11. Hampering Stram's efforts to rebuild the typically struggling Saints was a severe elbow injury to quarterbackArchie Manning, who missed the entire 1976 season and parts of the 1977 campaign. Stram also had to deal with continuous discipline problems caused by his leading rusher,Chuck Muncie, who was in the early stages of acocaine addiction which would lead to his trade in 1980 from New Orleans to theSan Diego Chargers.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of his New Orleans tenure was a 27–17 win over his former team, theKansas City Chiefs, atArrowhead Stadium in 1976, Stram's first victory with the Saints. The 1977 campaign culminated in an historic home loss to the previously winlessTampa Bay Buccaneers who were riding a 26-game losing streak over two seasons. Stram took the loss hard, burning the game film.[6] He was fired after the final game of the season.
Stram was an innovator, a shrewd judge of talent, and an excellent teacher. He helped developHall of FamersLen Dawson,Bobby Bell,Buck Buchanan,Curley Culp,Willie Lanier,Jan Stenerud,Emmitt Thomas, andJohnny Robinson, and others likeEd Budde andOtis Taylor. He would take players that had been unsuccessful on other teams, such as Len Dawson, who had failed to catch on with both the Steelers and the Browns, and help them develop their potential. Stram recruited heavily from historically black colleges, so his teams were always diverse, and he also instituted weight-training and off-season mini-camps.[1] He was also the first coach in professional football to useGatorade on his sidelines and run both theI formation and two-tight end offense, still used in professional football today. On defense, the Chiefs employed a triple-stack defense, hiding the three linebackers behind defensive linemen.
He was considered a motivational genius, and his emphasis on the Chiefs' wearing of apatch commemorating the AFL in Super Bowl IV was one of his typical ploys, extracting maximum effort from players who had been derided by proponents of the NFL. Stram was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2003, nine yearsafterBud Grant, the man whose team he had convincingly defeated in Super Bowl IV, had been enshrined. At the Hall of Fame ceremonies, Stram was so weakened by the effects ofdiabetes that Len Dawson pushed his former coach onto the stage in a wheelchair. Stram's induction speech was then played from a previously recorded videotape.
Stram was the only head coach who lasted the entire history of the AFL (1960 – 1969).[1]
Following his retirement from coaching, Stram enjoyed a long and successful career as acolor commentator onCBS'television andradio broadcasts of NFL games. Stram began broadcasting games for CBS in1975, originally calling games withFrank Glieber. After a brief hiatus so he could return to coaching, Stram returned to call games withGary Bender in 1978. His other broadcast partners wereJack Buck,Vin Scully,Curt Gowdy,Dick Stockton,Tim Brant,Steve Zabriskie,Jim Henderson,Sean McDonough, andJim Nantz, along with various others. From 1979 through 1989 he called theTampa Bay Buccaneers' preseason football games forWTOG-TV in Tampa, Florida, and from 1993 through 1996 he called preseasonLos Angeles/Oakland Raiders' games forKCAL.
As a broadcaster, Stram is best remembered for his near-20-year stint (beginning in1978 and lasting through the1995 season) with Jack Buck on CBS Radio broadcasts ofMonday Night Football games. Stram's key broadcasting trademark was his habit of predicting the next play before it happened.
On January 10, 1982, Stram, along withVin Scully, called the famousNFC Championship Game between theSan Francisco 49ers and theDallas Cowboys. The game in question was immortalized byDwight Clark'stouchdown catch which elevated the 49ers into their firstSuper Bowl appearance (the first of four during the 1980s).
During a1988 broadcasting trip toIndianapolis for aChicago Bears–Colts game, Stram collapsed with a severely blocked aortic valve and underwent open heart surgery. He was hospitalized in Indianapolis for a week and later resumed his career with CBS.
He remained a part of CBS' television broadcast team until1993. His last game as a broadcaster wasSuper Bowl XXX for CBS Radio in 1996.
Stram married Phyllis Marie Pesha in 1953 and they stayed together as husband and wife until his death due to complications from diabetes in 2005. They had six children, four sons and two daughters, including actorHenry Stram.[7]
Stram made a guest appearance as himself on the TV showCoach. In the episode, Stram was attending a coaching convention with fellow coachesBarry Switzer andGeorge Allen. Hayden Fox, the fictional protagonist of the show, also attended the conference.
Hank Stram retired toNew Orleans,Louisiana, where he built a home in the town ofCovington. He died at St. Tammany Parish hospital in Covington, from complications due todiabetes, on July 4, 2005.
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Post Season | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| DAT | 1960 | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 2nd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| DAT | 1961 | 6 | 8 | 0 | .429 | 2nd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| DAT | 1962 | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 1st in AFL West | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | AFL champions |
| KC | 1963 | 5 | 7 | 2 | .417 | 3rd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1964 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 2nd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1965 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 3rd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1966 | 11 | 2 | 1 | .846 | 1st in AFL West | 1 | 1 | .500 | AFL champions.Lost toGreen Bay Packers inSuper Bowl I |
| KC | 1967 | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 2nd in AFL West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1968 | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 1st in AFL West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toOakland Raiders inAFL Division Playoff |
| KC | 1969 | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 2nd in AFL West | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | AFL champions.Super Bowl IV champions |
| KC | 1970 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 2nd in AFC West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1971 | 10 | 3 | 1 | .769 | 1st in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toMiami Dolphins inAFC Divisional Game |
| KC | 1972 | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 2nd in AFC West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1973 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 2nd in AFC West | — | — | — | — |
| KC | 1974 | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 3rd in AFC West | — | — | — | — |
| DAT/KC Total | 124 | 76 | 10 | .620 | 5 | 3 | .625 | |||
| NO | 1976 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 3rd in NFC West | — | — | — | — |
| NO | 1977 | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 4th in NFC West | — | — | — | — |
| NO Total | 7 | 21 | 0 | .250 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Total[8] | 131 | 97 | 10 | .575 | 5 | 3 | .625 | |||
football Hall of Fame Coach Hank Stram in 1923
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
