E Sid Gillman (NFL Hall of Fame)

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Gillman had ties to Buckeyes, Bearcats
By Jack Park
BuckeyeXtra.com
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

FILE PHOTO Sid Gillman as head coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1964
Sid Gillman was one of football's most innovative coaches and dynamic administrators. He became a pioneer in stretching the football field through the development of the deep, downfield passing game. His passing theories and tactics became the foundation for what is known today as the "west-coast offense."

Gillman was raised in Minneapolis and played college football at Ohio State, where he was an All-America end in 1932 and a team co-captain in 1933. The '33 Buckeyes went 7-1 and outscored their eight opponents 161-26.
After a short stint in the NFL with the Cleveland Rams in 1934 and three seasons as an assistant coach at Denison University, Gillman returned to Ohio State as an assistant to head coach Francis Schmidt from 1938 through 1940. Schmidt was known for his offensive innovations, and he brought to Ohio State a very wide-open style of attack that featured about 300 different plays run from seven different formations. Gillman's foundation for offensive creativity was established during his seasons under Schmidt at Ohio State.

Gillman was head coach four seasons at Miami (Ohio) from 1944 through 1947, where his record was 31-6-1. He spent 1948 as an assistant to head coach Red Blake at Army. When Gillman left West Point for the Cincinnati position in 1949, Blake replaced him at Army with a very energetic young assistant named Vince Lombardi.

Gillman put together a six-year record of 50-13-1 with the Bearcats. Cincinnati was then a member of the Mid-American Conference, and Gillman's teams captured three league championships, in 1949, '50, and '53. His 1949 team defeated Coach Woody Hayes' Miami (Ohio) squad 27-6, but Hayes' 1950 team shut out Gillman's Bearcats 28-0.
Gillman was a strong candidate to replace Wes Fesler after Fesler resigned from the Ohio State position following the 1950 season. The OSU search committee viewed films of Miami's one-sided victory over Cincinnati in 1950, and this was believed to have been a factor in selecting Hayes as the Buckeyes' new head coach in 1951.
Following the 1954 season, Gillman left Cincinnati to coach 19 years in professional football with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers and Houston Oilers of the new American Football League. He was a major catalyst in building the AFL, and in 1963 he suggested to NFL commissioner Pete Roselle the concept of having the champions of the AFL and NFL play one final game at the end of the season. His idea was finally implemented with the first Super Bowl in January 1967.
Gillman was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 91.
Listen for the "Buckeye Flashback with Jack Park" every day each season on SportsRadio 1460 The Fan, and throughout Ohio on the Ohio State Football Radio Network. Go to www.jackpark.com for information on Jack's books and speaking appearances.

 

[Bucklion]

One of the greatest minds in football history...he doesn't get nearly enough credit.

 

[BB73]

Sid Gillman was an All-Big Ten end in 1932, and a team captain at tOSU in 1933 under coach Sam Willaman. (It is often misreported that he played under Francis "close the Gates of Mercy" Schmidt, but Schmidt was at TCU through the 1933 season).

Gillman played one NFL season with the Cleveland Rams in 1936. After serving as an assistant at Denison, Ohio State, and Army; he served as head coach of Miami University from 1944-47 (31-6-1) and at Cincinnati from 1949-'54 (50-13-1).

He coached the NFL's L.A. Rams from '55-'59 including a championship game loss to the Browns in his first season. From 1960 until 1971, he was the head coach of the Chargers, winning an AFL title in 1963.

He also served as an assistant (QB coach) for the Philadelphia Eagles team that played in Super Bowl XV.

He is credited with being a pioneer in using film study for football. He worked as a projectionist in his family's theater business in Minneapolis, and according to his wife, once spent half a week's pay on a projector while on his honermoon.

He is also known as an innovator in the passing game, stressing downfield routes over shorter ones. The Raiders Al Davis, known for a "vertical passing game", worked under Gillman in San Diego.

He passed away in Carlsbad, California on Jan. 3rd, 2003, the day that Ohio State defeated Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

 

[calibuck]

Correct me if I'm wrong BB, but wasn't Sid Gillman the first of the Miami University coaches at the 'Cradle of Coaches' lineage, which featured Woody, Bo, Ara, Gary Walker (at Northwestern), and two at Indiana, plus more I'm probably forgetting.......

:gobucks3::gobucks4:

 

[BB73]

Correct me if I'm wrong BB, but wasn't Sid Gillman the first of the Miami University coaches at the 'Cradle of Coaches' lineage, which featured Woody, Bo, Ara, Gary Walker (at Northwestern), and two at Indiana, plus more I'm probably forgetting.......

:gobucks3::gobucks4:

He was the first well-known coach in that group. The guys that went to Indiana after coaching at Miami include John Pont, Bill Mallory, and Terry Hoeppner. Dick Crum went on to North Carolina and had some good years there in the early '80s.

 

[Bucklion]

He was the first well-known coach in that group. The guys that went to Indiana after coaching at Miami include John Post, Bill Mallory, and Terry Hoeppner. Dick Crum went on to North Carolina and had some good years there in the early '80s.

Or John Pont, as the case may be

Seriously I think Gillman is one of the most underappreciated minds in the history of football. He never gets mentioned in the same sentence with coaches like Halas and Lombardi, or Shula and Landry, but his offensive innovations and grasp of what would become the modern game were way, way ahead of his time.

 

[Jake]

One of the nice things about the NFL recognizing the AFL on its 50th anniversary is Sid Gillman being brought up whenever the Chargers don the old unis in one of the legacy games.

 

[Steve19]

I knew he was a former Ohio State assistant but I had absolutely no idea he played for Ohio State. A real innovator. This thread is a great idea.

 

[Buckskin86]

Best of the rest
Sid Gillman

With the Buckeyes: Three-year letter-winner (1931-33) and All-American end in 1932, Gillman gave up playing football soon after he was run over by Bronko Nagurski in the 1934 College All-Star Game. He joined Schmidt's staff at Ohio State and served as an assistant for three seasons.

In the pros: After a stint coaching under Red Blaik at Army and then 10 years as a coach at Miami University and Cincinnati, Gillman got the job coaching the Los Angeles Rams in 1955. Five years later, Gillman became coach and general manager of the Los Angeles (soon to be San Diego) Chargers, and won five division titles in his first six seasons and an AFL championship in 1963. Overall, he won 122 games in 18 seasons.

The skinny: Gillman, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1983, helped revolutionize pro football by embracing the downfield pass. "If you want to ring the cash register, you have to pass," he once said, and the AFL gladly followed his lead. Like Brown, Gillman was a finalist for the OSU job in 1951. He is said to have long suspected that his being Jewish hurt his chances of becoming Ohio State's coach.

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