Chuck Knox
| Chuck Knox | |
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Position: Tackle / Head Coach |
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| Date of birth: April 27, 1932 | |
| Death date May 13, 2018 | |
| Career information | |
| Active: 1951–1954 | |
| Teams | |
Trainer
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| Career statistics | |
| 193 wins - 158 losses - 1 draw | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Charles Robert "Chuck" Knox (born April 27, 1932 in Sewickley , Pennsylvania - † May 13, 2018 ) was an American American football player and coach. He was head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams , the Buffalo Bills and the Seattle Seahawks .
Personal
Chuck Knox was born in Sewickley, a suburb of Pittsburgh . He was the son of Charlie Knox, an Irish steel worker, and Helen Knox, a Scottish housewife. He played the tackle position at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He graduated from college there in 1954.
He lived in La Quinta , California with his wife . Knox had three daughters and a son who gave him six grandchildren. His son Chuck Knox Jr. also became a football coach, including with the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings . Chuck Knox died on May 13, 2018 after a long period of dementia .
Coaching career
Early stations
Knox began his coaching career in 1954 as an assistant coach for Juniata College. Other coaching positions in the high school area were Tyrone and Elwood City, in the college area Wake Forrest and Kentucky , each in different positions as assistant coaches.
AFL and NFL
Offensive line coach
On May 8, 1963, Weeb Ewbank hired him as an offensive line coach for the New York Jets , which were then still playing in the American Football League (AFL). There he helped build a functioning offensive line for four seasons, which, after Knox 'departure, contributed to the victory in Super Bowl III .
On February 13, 1967, he signed a contract with the Detroit Lions , which was his first job in the National Football League (NFL). There he made a novelty when he nominated the African American Bill Cotrell as a center . Cotrell said in the documentary Hard Knox: The Life of an NFL Coach , Knox had " broken the unwritten rule: no black quarterbacks, no black middle linebackers and no black centers."
Head coach
Knox got his first job as head coach on January 21, 1973 with the Los Angeles Rams . Knox was nicknamed Ground Knox during this time for his love of the running game . He led the Rams in his first season with a record of 12 wins and 2 defeats to the NFC West title. But they were eliminated in the first play-off game against the Dallas Cowboys . He was awarded the NFL Coach of the Year Award for the first time that season . In 1974 Knox set another novelty when he named James Harris the first African-American starting quarterback .
After five years of always winning the NFC West title, Knox left the Rams as criticism of him grew louder for never leading the team to the Super Bowl . His next coaching station was the Buffalo Bills , a team that could only achieve five wins in the previous two seasons. In his first season with the Bills, Knox had five wins in sixteen games. Two years later, Knox won the AFC East title with the Bills , but then lost to the San Diego Chargers in the Divisional Play-offs. In the following year, the Bills succeeded in winning the wild cards, but lost again in the divisional play-offs.
After Knox could not agree on a new contract with the Bills, he hired the Seattle Seahawks . There he made some changes, for example he replaced quarterback Jim Zorn with Dave Krieg . There he made it possible for the Seahawks to participate in their first play-off . After victories over the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins , they then failed in the AFC Championship Game at the Los Angeles Raiders . The following season, Knox changed its game system and went from Ground Knox to Air Knox . 1985 and 1986, the Seahawks did not qualify for the play-offs, but reached them again in 1987, where they lost the first game against the Houston Oilers . In 1988 he won the first AFC West title in franchise history with the Seahawks and Knox became the first coach to win division titles with three different teams. After three more unsuccessful seasons, Knox resigned in 1991.
Following this, Knox returned to the Rams as head coach in 1992, but remained there unsuccessfully and was released on January 9, 1995.
Web links
- Statistics at pro-football-reference.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.scout.com/nfl/seahawks/story/353559-chuck-knox-the-last-hard-man?s=114
- ↑ http://www.post-gazette.com/steelers/2010/11/21/On-the-Steelers-Tomlin-no-stranger-to-6-2/stories/201011210179
- ↑ a b http://www.juniata.edu/services/news/?action=SHOWARTICLE&id=1295
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/27/sports/sp-knox27
- ^ Former Seahawks, Rams, Bills coach Chuck Knox dies. ESPN, accessed May 14, 2018 .
- ↑ There was an unwritten rule back then: No black quarterbacks, no black middle linebackers, no black centers.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from August 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ A b Brian Lester: Seattle Seahawks (Inside the NFL). All Sports, Indianapolis 2010, 20
- ^ Brian Lester: Seattle Seahawks (Inside the NFL). All Sports, Indianapolis 2010, 22
- ^ Brian Lester: Seattle Seahawks (Inside the NFL). All Sports, Indianapolis 2010, 23
- ↑ From 'Ground Chuck' to 'Air Knox'. Accessed April 20, 2019 .
- ^ Brian Lester: Seattle Seahawks (Inside the NFL). All Sports, Indianapolis 2010, p. 24
- ^ Brian Lester: Seattle Seahawks (Inside the NFL). All Sports, Indianapolis 2010, 27
- ↑ http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950109&slug=2098597
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Knox, Chuck |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Knox, Charles Robert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football coach and player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 27, 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sewickley , Pennsylvania , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 13, 2018 |