Hank Stram

Hank Stram (January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005), was a former American Football coach. He is best known for his 14-year tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs (formerly the Dallas Texans) of the American Football League (later the American Football Conference of the National Football League). Stram won three AFL Championships (more than any other coach in the league's history) and Super Bowl IV with the Chiefs. He also coached for the most victories (87), most post-season appearances (6) and the best post-season record in the AFL (5-1).

Early life and career

Stram was born Henry Louis Stram in Chicago, IL in 1923. His Polish-born father, Henry Wilczek, wrestled professionally under the name Stram and the family name was changed accordingly. He earned seven letters playing football and baseball at Purdue in the 1940s playing in 1942 and again in 1946 and 1947. Stram volunteered for the US defense forces during World War II interrupting his university career.

He was an assistant football coach for the Boilermakers in 1948-1955 and the head baseball coach from 1951-1955. In 1996, Stram and Len Dawson were inducted into the Purdue Athletic Hall of Fame. After coaching at Purdue, Stram was an assistant at Notre Dame, Southern Methodist University, and Miami.

Professional coaching career (1960-1977)

Lamar Hunt recruited Stram to coach his Dallas Texans in 1959. Hunt had previously been a bench player at SMU when Stram had been coaching there and the position had been turned down by Bud Wilkinson and Tom Landry, then an assistant at the New York Giants. 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 the Houston Oilers 20-17 in what was then the longest American football game ever played. Tommy Brooker kicked a field goal after nearly 16 minutes 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 the Buffalo Bills 31-7 in Buffalo. The Chiefs played the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I with the Packers winning 35-10. Packers coach Vince Lombardi used a short passing game to overcome the Chiefs defense which proved successful with quarterback Bart Starr becoming the first Super Bowl MVP.

The Kansas Chiefs won the AFL championship again in 1969. In Super Bowl IV, his ingenious innovations, the "moving pocket" and the "triple-stack defense", dominated the Minnesota Vikings on both sides of the ball. In the Super Bowl, Stram became the first professional football coach to wear a microphone. Stram's recorded comments from that game have become classics: "Let's matriculate the ball down the field, boys.", and his assessment of the Vikings' ineffectual play: "You can't do that in OUR league!". 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 the AFC Western Division championship. The Miami Dolphins defeated the Chiefs on Christmas Day 1971 with the teams playing the longest game in the history of the NFL. After that, the Chiefs did not enjoy the same success resulting in Stram leaving the franchise. He was head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 1976 and 1977. The Saints posted losing records in both seasons, 4-10-0 & 3-11-0. The 1977 campaign culminated in an historic home loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were riding a 26 game losing streak over two seasons. Stram took the loss hard; he burned the game film. 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 develop Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier and many others like Johnny Robinson, Ed Budde and Otis Taylor.

Stram was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. At the Hall of Fame ceremonies, Stram was so weakened by the effects of diabetes 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.

Like other AFL pioneers, Stram's contributions to the game helped change the face of professional football.

Broadcasting career

Following his retirement from coaching, he enjoyed a long and successful career as a color commentator on the CBS network's television and radio broadcasts of NFL games. As a broadcaster, Hank Stram was best remembered for his near 20 year stint (beginning in 1978) with the late Jack Buck on radio broadcasts of Monday Night Football games. Stram's key broadcasting trademark was his habit of predicting the next play before it happened.

During a 1988 broadcasting trip to Indianapolis for a Chicago 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.

Hank Stram retired to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he built a home in the town of Covington. He died at St. Tammany Parish hospital in Covington, from complications due to diabetes, on July 4, 2005. He was 82 years old.

Career highlights

1960 Head Coach Dallas Texans
1962 Dallas Texans AFL champions
1966 Kansas City Chiefs AFL champions
1968 American Football League Coach of the Year
1969 Kansas City Chiefs AFL champions
1970 Chiefs win Super Bowl IV
1971 Chiefs win AFC West
1974 Coaching career ends at Kansas City Chiefs
1977 End of Coaching Career with 134-97-10 record and 5-3 postseason record
2003 Inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame

References

Internet references

Printed references

Hank Stram with Lou Sahadi, They're Playing My Game, Morrow, New York 1986 ISBN 0-688-06080-3
Edward Gruver, The American Football League: A Year-by-Year History 1960-1969 McFarland & Company 1997 ISBN 0786403993
Brad Adler, Coaching Matters: Leadership & Tactics of the NFL's Ten Greatest Coaches Brassey's Inc 2003 pages 56-57 ISBN 1574886134
"Stram gets Texan post", Dallas Morning News December 21, 1959
"Texans now rule AFL kingdom", Dallas Morning News December 24, 1962

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