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Former KC Chiefs coach Hank Stram dies

N

nunusguy

Hall of Fame
I had the opportunity to meet Stram about 5 years ago in Hobby airport. He
was already in poor health and being pushed from one gate to another in
a wheelchair by a SouthWest attendant. When I went up to him and asked was he Hank Stram, he said "the last guy that asked me that, I punched him in the nose", and had the attendant start wheeling him at a fast pace to his connecting flight. I was undeterred, took off after him and caught up with him, and told him I was from the KC area and along with other family members had followed the Chiefs for many decades, including most of all their SB year. He was then very cordial, shook my hand, and we had a nice chat.
The Chiefs were of course origionally the Texans before moving from Dallas to
KC. They also have a tremendous owner, as we do, in Dallasite Lamar Hunt.
http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2005-07-04-stram-obit_x.htm
 
Stram was definately an entertaining coach from what little I've seen of him. His banter with the refs as he paced the sideline was enough to bring a smile to my face many years later. He may not have been the most successful coach, but he definately brought alot to the NFL.
 
Yeah I realized he's in the HOF, but I guess I didn't make my post very clear. I just meant he may not have won 200 games like some of the other HOF coaches did, but he still brought a lot to the NFL. Perhaps I should've said 'the winningest coach' as opposed to 'the most successful coach'. I can see how that gives the wrong impression.
 
Didn't he also prefer bigger lineman in an era of "relatively small" lineman? I think the purpose was to allow the smaller RBs he had to hide behind the big guys.
 
"I think about him on the sideline," Stenerud said late Monday after he received a call that Hank Stram had died. "In the early training camps. I think about how full of life he was."

As word of Stram's death filtered through the Chiefs' organization, at least two Hall of Famers wondered Monday where their football careers would have gone had it not been for Stram. Stenerud was golfing in Colorado Springs and waxing nostalgic about how Stram used to hold for him that summer before his rookie season in 1967, when soccer-style kickers were an unknown quantity in pro football.

Willie Lanier was clicking between calls when he talked about how Stram took a chance on a small-college middle linebacker from Morgan State.

"If Hank Stram is not in Kansas City … the outcome of my future might have been different," Lanier said. "At that point and time, the doors were not quite as open as they are now. He created opportunities that I am very thankful for."
Click to expand...

Some of Hank Stram's former players shared their thoughts on his passing, and what he meant to them and their careers.

link
 
Something else ... Hank Stram and Jack Buck handled a very colorful and entertaining radio broadcast of Monday Night Football some 20 years back.
 
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