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| winningest coach nfl history: Don Shula Carlo DeVito, 2018-10-16 In Don Shula: A Biography of the Winningest Coach in NFL History, acclaimed sports historian Carlo DeVito captures the story of one of the greatest coaches in sports history. First distinguishing himself as a player with the Cleveland Browns (under the great Paul Brown), Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskins, Donald Francis Shula went on to be the boy wonder of the NFL as a coach. After serving for three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, where he oversaw one of the NFL’s toughest units, Shula was named the youngest head coach in NFL history when he took over the Baltimore Colts in 1963. But after public feuding with star quarterback Johnny Unitas and owner Carroll Rosenbloom, and despite leading the team to two NFL championship games, Shula accepted the job as head coach of the perennial doormat Miami Dolphins in 1970. Within a few seasons, he took the Dolphins to three straight Super Bowls, winning twice, including the only undefeated Super Bowl championship season in 1972 behind a bruising running attack led by two 1,000 yard rushers, Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris, as well as the unheralded “No-Name Defense.” Shula won more games (328) than any other coach in NFL history, led his teams to six Super Bowls, and only posted a losing record twice in thirty-three seasons on the sideline. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Don Shula chronicles the life of one of the greatest minds ever to be involved with the game, from the dawn of modern football to the close of the twentieth century. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Winning the NFL Way Bob LaMonte, Robert L. Shook, 2009-03-17 Being an NFL coach is the ultimate high-pressure job. Every Sunday a coach makes split-second decisions that will not only decide the fate of a game, but also his team's season and, ultimately, his own job. Meet Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, John Fox, Andy Reid, and Mike Sherman -- top NFL head coaches whose careers rest on their ability to lead other men to win in the fiercely competitive world of professional football. In this extraordinary collaboration with their agent Bob LaMonte, each of these five coaches shares his leadership principles. LaMonte takes you behind the scenes, where you'll be a fly on the wall as these men reveal how to win beyond the X's and O's. You will see how these successful leaders communicate with different personalities, develop vision, build trust in their people, and win loyalty, as well as overcome adversity and adapt to change. Through their colorful and motivational anecdotes, you'll gain unprecedented insights into the minds of some of the best coaches today and valuable lessons on what it means to be a leader and a champion. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Game Plans for Success Ray Didinger, 1997 In the NFL and corporate America, winning is the bottom line: like head coaches, executives must perform under intense pressure, motivate their team, and make crucial split-second decisions. Game Plans for Success takes the reader insider the mind of ten current and former NFL head coaches--including Mike Ditka, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh--to show how to apply the principles of effective coaching to the business world. Photos. |
| winningest coach nfl history: The Game Before the Money Jackson Michael, 2014-09-01 Oral history from players and coaches detailing the NFL from the late 1930s through the 1970s-- |
| winningest coach nfl history: Finding the Winning Edge Bill Walsh, Brian Billick, James A. Peterson, 1997-10 NFL coaching legend Bill Walsh offers his unique blueprint and conceptual insights for coaches at all levels of play. Among the topics covered in this comprehensive 560-page, hardcover book are: Understanding the role of head coach; Strategies and tactics for dealing with a highly competitive adversary; Designing a winning game plan; Organising the staff; The importance of being able to focus and concentrate; Evaluating players; Game-day responsibilities; And much, much more. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Gridiron Genius Michael Lombardi, 2018-09-11 Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi reveals what makes football organizations tick at the championship level. From personnel to practice to game-day decisions that win titles, Lombardi shares what he learned working with coaching legends Bill Walsh of the 49ers, Al Davis of the Raiders, and Bill Belichick of the Patriots, among others, during his three decades in football. Why do some NFL franchises dominate year after year while others can never crack the code of success? For 30 years Michael Lombardi had a front-row seat and full access as three titans--Bill Walsh, Al Davis, and Bill Belichick--reinvented the game, turning it into a national obsession while piling up Super Bowl trophies. Now, in Gridiron Genius, Lombardi provides the blueprint that makes a successful organization click and win--and the mistakes unsuccessful organizations make that keep them on the losing side time and again. In reality, very few coaches understand the philosophies, attention to detail, and massive commitment that defined NFL juggernauts like the 49ers and the Patriots. The best organizations are not just employing players, they are building something bigger. Gridiron Genius will explain how the best leaders evaluate, acquire, and utilize personnel in ways other professional minds, football and otherwise, won't even contemplate. How do you know when to trade a player? How do you create a positive atmosphere when everyone is out to maximize his own paycheck? And why is the tight end like the knight on a chessboard? To some, game planning consists only of designing an attack for the next opponent. But Lombardi explains how the smartest leaders script everything: from an afternoon's special-teams practice to a season's playoff run to a decade-long organizational blueprint. Readers will delight in the Lombardi tour of an NFL weekend, including what really goes on during the game on and off the field and inside the headset. First stop: Belichick's Saturday night staff meeting, where he announces how the game will go the next day. Spoiler alert: He always nails it. Football dynasties are built through massive attention to detail and unwavering commitment. From how to build a team, to how to watch a game, to understanding the essential qualities of great leaders, Gridiron Genius gives football fans the knowledge to be the smartest person in the room every Sunday. |
| winningest coach nfl history: What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leaders Vince Lombardi, 2003-09-22 Legendary leadership lessons from the greatest football coach of all time Leadership continues to be one of the most trained-for skills in business today. And no figure so fully embodies the leadership qualities managers hope to cultivate in their professional and personal lives than Vince Lombardi, the greatest NFL coach of all time. In What It Takes to Be #1, author Vince Lombardi Jr.--America's most sought-after motivational speaker-- examines the leadership qualities that his father considered essential to success. He explores the leadership philosophy of Vince Lombardi, extracts powerful lessons about what it takes to bean effective leader, and shows how to apply those qualities to one's own life and career. For all business leaders, or those who aspire to leadership, What It Takes to Be #1 is a blueprint for achieving Lombardi-like success in virtually any endeavor. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Winning Every Day Lou Holtz, 1998-07-08 Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it. -- Lou Holtz Meet Lou Holtz, the motivational miracle worker who revitalized the Notre Dame football program by leading the legendary Fighting Irish to nine bowl games and a national championship. During his twenty-seven years as a head football coach, Holtz garnered a 216-95-7 career record. Each new assignment brought a different team with different players, but, invariably, the same result--success. How did he do it? By designing a game plan for his players that minimized obstacles while maximizing opportunities. Now he wants to pass his game plan on to you. In Winning Every Day, you'll discover ten strategies that will drive you to the top of your professional and personal life. Coach Holtz will reveal how you can acquire the focus and commitment it takes to be a champion. It won't be easy; it takes sacrifice to be the best. But now you'll have a proven winner alongside you in the trenches. Winning Every Day demonstrates how you can elevate your performance while raising the standards of everyone around you. Follow Coach's strategies and winning becomes habitual. You will learn to welcome sacrifice as you dedicate yourself to excellence. He will show you how to clearly define your short-term and long-term goals, to develop an unwavering sense of purpose without compromising flexibility. Through it all, Coach Holtz will help you discover the courage you need to live a life of unremitting triumph. You couldn't have a better guide. He will provide you with the strategies he has shared with Fortune 500 companies, groups, and organizations. Voted the top motivational speaker two years running by a survey of speakers' bureaus, Coach is going to present you with all the Xs and Os, the basics of his game plan for success in life and business. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Bill Belichick vs. the NFL Erik Frenz, Mike Mayock, 2016-10-15 Bill Belichick started collecting Lombardi Trophies like some people collect coasters and won his fourth Super Bowl title in 2015. No other NFL team has been as successful since Belichick became the Patriots' head coach in 2000, winning titles after the 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014 seasons, along with Super Bowl appearances after the 2007 and 2011 seasons. But is Belichick the best NFL coach of all time? In Bill Belichick vs. the NFL, author Erik Frenz not only explains what separates Belichick from his peers and compares his accomplishments to some of the all-time legends, but tells why, if there were a Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches, Belichick's face would already be on it. From his upbringing as a coach's son to learning under Bill Parcells to creating his own coaching tree, he has established a new standard that may be unparalleled in football history. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Collision of Wills Jack Gilden, 2018-10 In their seven years together, quarterback Johnny Unitas and coach Don Shula, kings of the fabled Baltimore Colts of the 1960s, created one of the most successful franchises in sports. Unitas and Shula had a higher winning percentage than Lombardi's Packers, but together they never won the championship. Baltimore lost the big game to the Browns in 1964 and to Joe Namath and the Jets in Super Bowl III--both in stunning upsets. The Colts' near misses in the Shula era were among the most confounding losses any sports franchise ever suffered. Rarely had a team in any league performed so well, over such an extended period, only to come up empty. The two men had a complex relationship stretching back to their time as young teammates competing for their professional lives. Their personal conflict mirrored their tumultuous times. As they elevated the brutal game of football, the world around them clashed about Vietnam, civil rights, and sex. Collision of Wills looks at the complicated relationship between Don Shula, the league's winningest coach of all time, and his star player Johnny Unitas, and how their secret animosity fueled the Colts in an era when their losses were as memorable as their victories. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Martyball Marty Schottenheimer, Jeffrey Flanagan, 2012-09-01 No coach in National Football League history endured more playoff heartache than Marty Schottenheimer. Despite racking up two hundred regular-season victories (only five coaches in the entire ninety-year history of the NFL ever won more games), Marty never reached the Super Bowl during his coaching career. Martyball tells the story of a man who persevered through an avalanche of misfortune and playoff agony that would have brought most men to their knees. But Marty never lost sight of why he fell in love with coaching in the first place: he wanted to teach and mold men through the game of football. Based on more than one hundred hours of interviews with Marty, his players, assistants, family, and friends, this book will give readers a look into the mind of an exceptional coach, and explain why he never gave up or succumbed to self-pity despite a long streak of bad luck. Get the background on Schottenheimer’s life, from his childhood in rural Pennsylvania to his playing and coaching careers in pro football, and learn why he kept believing in the game he loved—and how he found valuable lessons about life and football beyond each and every loss. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Now You Know Absolutely Everything Doug Lennox, 2013-12-06 This bundle presents Doug Lennox’s popular trivia book series in its entirety. These books will provide years and years of fun, with countless questions to be asked and tons of knowledge to be learned. The books cover general trivia but also such topics as sports (baseball, hockey, football, golf, soccer, among others), Christmas and the Bible, disasters and harsh weather, royal figures, crime and criminology, important people in Canada’s history, and so much more! Along the way we find out the answers to such questions as: Why do the British drive on the left and North Americans on the right? What football team was named after a Burt Reynolds character? Who started the first forensics laboratory? Which member of the British royal family competed at the Olympics? Lennox’s exhaustive series is fun for all ages. Includes Now You Know Now You Know More Now You Know Almost Everything Now You Know, Volume 4 Now You Know Big Book of Answers Now You Know Christmas Now You Know Big Book of Answers 2 Now You Know Golf Now You Know Hockey Now You Know Soccer Now You Know Football Now You Know Big Book of Sports Now You Know Baseball Now You Know Crime Scenes Now You Know Extreme Weather Now You Know Disasters Now You Know Pirates Now You Know Royalty Now You Know Canada’s Heroes Now You Know The Bible |
| winningest coach nfl history: Chasing Perfection Bob Ladouceur, Neil Hayes, 2015-10-01 A coaching legend shares techniques, philosophies, and team-building exercises applicable beyond the playing field In 1979, when Bob Ladouceur took over the head football coaching job at De La Salle high school, the program had never once had a winning season. By the time he stepped down in 2013 and after posting an unprecedented 399–25–3 record, De La Salle was regarded as one of the great dynasties in the history of high school football. In When the Game Stands Tall: Coaches' Playbook, Ladouceur shares, for the first time, the coaching philosophies he employed at De La Salle. Far more than a book on the Xs and Os of football, this resource focuses on how Ladouceur created a culture based on accountability, work ethic, humility, and commitment that made his teams greater than the sum of their parts. This book not only include details on the nuances of the game and the techniques that made the Spartans the most celebrated high school football team in history, it also has chapters on creating what Ladouceur calls an authentic team experience, which include lessons as valuable in a board room as in a locker room. |
| winningest coach nfl history: The Score Takes Care of Itself Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison, Craig Walsh, 2010-06-29 The last lecture on leadership by the NFL's greatest coach: Bill Walsh Bill Walsh is a towering figure in the history of the NFL. His advanced leadership transformed the San Francisco 49ers from the worst franchise in sports to a legendary dynasty. In the process, he changed the way football is played. Prior to his death, Walsh granted a series of exclusive interviews to bestselling author Steve Jamison. These became his ultimate lecture on leadership. Additional insights and perspective are provided by Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana and others. Bill Walsh taught that the requirements of successful leadership are the same whether you run an NFL franchise, a fortune 500 company, or a hardware store with 12 employees. These final words of 'wisdom by Walsh' will inspire, inform, and enlighten leaders in all professions. |
| winningest coach nfl history: NFL Head Coaches John Maxymuk, 2012-08-07 The 466 men who have held the increasingly demanding and prestigious position of Head Coach in the National Football League and the two leagues that merged into it (the All America Football Conference of the 1940s and the American Football League of the 1960s) form an exclusive club. This book essentially answers three questions about every professional head coach since 1920: Who was he? What were his coaching approach and style, in terms of both leadership and gridiron tactics? How successful was he? Every entry begins with standard background information, followed by each coach's yearly regular season and postseason coaching record, and then his statistical tendencies toward scoring, defense and play calling. The entry then addresses the three questions noted above. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Now You Know Football Doug Lennox, 2009-08-24 It's easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback, but the true football fan has the answers all week long. Doug Lennox, the all-pro of Q&A, leads the drive as he tells us why a touchdown is worth six points, who first decided to pick up the ball and throw it, and how a children's toy changed the sport's biggest championship. Along the way we'll meet players great and not-so-great and encounter the various leagues that have come and gone throughout the world. Why is the sport called football? Who first used the term sack? Why did one American president consider banning football? What football team was named after a Burt Reynolds character? Why are footballs shaped the way they are? How many times have NFL and CFL teams squared off? Which came first - the Ottawa Rough Riders or the Saskatchewan Roughriders? Whose Super Bowl ring is a size 25? |
| winningest coach nfl history: Everyone's a Coach Don Shula, 1996-08-07 For more than 30 years, Shula and Blanchard have motivated teams to peak performances. In this inspiring book, they share five leadership secrets to help anyone inspire their team--whether it's a group of employees, students, or family members--to work hard, play as a team, and perform at their fullest potential. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Earn the Right to Win Tom Coughlin, David Fisher, 2013-03-05 A top NFL coach offers leadership advice that applies from the field to the office Tom Coughlin led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories with his unique system of relentless preparation and resilience. He teaches his players that you can never guarantee a win, but you can always earn the right to win-with focus, hard work, and anticipation of obstacles. Now Coughlin shows how his teachings apply beyond the gridiron, illustrating his points with previously untold stories about players like Eli Manning, Doug Flutie, and Michael Strahan. His wisdom can help leaders in any field rev up their own organizations. 'Tom Coughlin challenged us and prepared us to handle anything that was thrown at us ... The lessons I learned from him weren't limited to football. They were applicable to every aspect of my life' -Michael Strahan Tom Coughlin is one of the most successful coaches in NFL history. Before winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, he coached the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine seasons, leading them to two appearances in the AFC Championship Game. David Fisher is the co-author of seventeen New York Times bestsellers. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Razor Thin: The Difference Between Winning and Losing Luis Valdes, 2012-08-27 This book is about excellence. Winners and champions are fascinating. Whether you are an athlete, a performance artist, or an ambitious businessman, this book is written for you. It is about the hard work and tenacity involved in winning and achieving greatness. Attaining success is difficult, few are able to achieve it, and fewer still are able to sustain it. This book looks at the greatest athletes and teams of our time and identifies the critical factors in their success. Many books discuss the personality factors involved in success, this book identifies the specific behaviors that make a champion. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Now You Know — Giant Sports Trivia Bundle Doug Lennox, 2013-11-19 Presenting five books in the popular and exhaustive trivia series. This one’s for the sports buff in the family! Doug Lennox, the world champion of trivia, is back to score touchdowns, hit homers, win the golden boot, and knock in holes-in-one every time with a colossal compendium of Q&A athletics that has all anyone could possibly want to know from archery and cycling to skiing and wrestling and everything in between. Why does the winner of the Indianapolis 500 drink milk in victory lane? Who was the first player ever to perform a slam dunk in a basketball game? Why are golfers’ shortened pants called plus-fours? When was the Stanley Cup not awarded? Why does the letter k signify a strikeout on a baseball score sheet? Where is the world’s oldest tennis court? What’s more, Doug goes for gold with a wealth of Winter and Summer Olympics lore and legend that will amaze and captivate armchair fans and fervent competitors alike. Includes Now You Know Golf Now You Know Hockey Now You Know Soccer Now You Know Football Now You Know Baseball |
| winningest coach nfl history: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sports History & Trivia Mike McGovern, 2001-09-01 For the sports fan, this guide offers fascinating facts and tidbits on baseball, football, basketball, hockey, the Olympic Games, tennis, figure skating, soccer, and more. It contains special sections on women's sports, young people's sports, and the Special Olympics, and includes listings of winners of the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, and other major competetions. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Belichick Ian O'Connor, 2018 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The definitive biography of the NFL's most enigmatic, controversial, and yet successful coach Bill Belichick is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the NFL--the infamously dour face of one of the winningest franchises in sports. As head coach of the New England Patriots, he's led the team to five Super Bowl championship trophies. In this revelatory and robust biography, readers will come to understand and see Belichick's full life in football, from watching college games as a kid with his father, a Naval Academy scout, to orchestrating two Super Bowl-winning game plans as defensive coordinator for the Giants, to his dramatic leap to New England, where he has made history. Award-winning columnist and New York Times best-selling author Ian O'Connor delves into the mind of the man who has earned a place among coaching legends like Lombardi, Halas, and Paul Brown, presenting sides of Belichick that have been previously unexplored. O'Connor discovers how this legendary coach shaped the people he met and worked with in ways perhaps even Belichick himself doesn't know. Those who follow and love pro football know Bill Belichick only as the hooded genius of the Patriots. But there is so much more--from the hidden tensions and deep layers to his relationship with Tom Brady to his sometimes frosty dealings with owner Robert Kraft to his ability to earn the unmitigated respect of his players--if not their affection. This is a man who has many facets and, ultimately, has created a notorious football dynasty. Based on exhaustive research and countless interviews, this book circles around Belichick to tell his full story for the first time, and presents an incisive portrait of a mastermind at work. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Do You Love Football?! Jon Gruden, Vic Carucci, 2009-10-13 When Jon Gruden asks his Tampa Bay Bucs, Do you love football?! it's to remind them why they pull on their shoulder pads every Sunday morning. It's not about the money or the fame; it's about their passion for what they do. And passion is something that has fueled Gruden's entire career. From his college playing days and his climb through the coaching ranks -- from college to assistant coaching jobs with the NFL's elite teams, to his first head coach job with the Oakland Raiders, and finally, with the Tampa Bay Bucs -- his meteoric rise is unparalleled. Underneath it all, though, he's just a humble, hardworking, no-nonsense guy who has no hobbies: I'm not a scratch golfer. I don't know how to bowl. I can't read the stock market. Hell, I have a hard time remembering my wife's cell phone number. But I can call 'Flip Right Double X Jet 36 Counter Naked Waggle at 7 X Quarter' in my sleep. Now, in this motivational memoir, Gruden provides insight into what makes him tick. Do You Love Football?! is an intimate look at his life as a player, coach, and head coach, as well as the principles that have made him the hottest coach in the NFL. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Football Thematic Unit Teacher Created Resources, 2002-09 |
| winningest coach nfl history: George Allen Michael Richman, 2023-11 George Allen was a fascinating and eccentric figure in the world of football coaching. His remarkable career spanned six decades, from the late 1940s until his sudden death in 1990 at the age of seventy-three. Although he never won a Super Bowl, he never had a losing season as an NFL head coach and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. In George Allen: A Football Life, Mike Richman captures the life and accomplishments of one of the most successful NFL coaches of all time and one of the greatest innovators in the game. A player’s coach, Allen was a tremendous motivator and game strategist, as well as a defensive mastermind, and is credited with making special teams a critical focus in an era in which they were an afterthought. He had a keen eye for talent and pulled off masterful trades, often for veteran players who were viewed to be past their prime, who then had great seasons and made his teams much better. In addition to his coaching feats, Allen had an idiosyncratic and controversial personality. His life revolved around football 24-7. One of his quirks was to minimize chewing time by consuming soft foods, giving himself more time to prepare for games and study opponents. He lived and breathed football; he compared losing to death. Allen had contentious relationships with the owners of the two NFL teams for which he was the head coach, the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams. Richman explores why he was fired by those teams and whether he was blackballed from coaching again in the NFL. Based on detailed research and interviews with family, former players, and coaches, George Allen is the definitive biography of the football coach who lived to win, loved a good challenge, and left a lasting legacy on pro football history. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Chicago: America's Best Sports Town Brian Sandalow, 2018-06-12 Chicago: America’s Best Sports Town tells the stories of the athletes and beloved sports teams of this Midwestern metropolis. Yes, some losing is involved, but so is plenty of triumph and, most of all, passion. |
| winningest coach nfl history: The Soul of a Team Tony Dungy, Nathan Whitaker, 2019-01-22 Includes a group discussion guide and a list of Vipers personnel character list. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Steroids in Amateur and Professional Sports--the Medical and Social Costs of Steroid Abuse United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, 1990 |
| winningest coach nfl history: Armchair Quarterback: The X's and O's of Football Explained Pasquale De Marco, 2025-05-23 In the electrifying world of football, where strategy meets passion, there lies a hidden universe of tactics, myths, and captivating stories. This book takes you on a journey into the heart of the game, revealing the intricacies of the gridiron like never before. Unravel the secrets of offensive and defensive strategies, as we delve into the minds of legendary coaches and players. Learn how they orchestrate masterful game plans, anticipate opponents' moves, and execute breathtaking plays that leave fans in awe. Relive iconic moments in football history, from the Immaculate Reception to the Minneapolis Miracle, and gain a deeper understanding of the plays that changed the course of the game. Meet the greatest quarterbacks, running backs, and defenders who left an indelible mark on the sport, and discover the stories behind their triumphs and heartbreaks. But football is more than just a game. It's a cultural phenomenon that brings people together from all walks of life, creating a sense of community and shared passion. Explore the unique traditions, rivalries, and rituals that make football so much more than just a sport. Whether you're a seasoned fan looking to enhance your understanding of the game or a newcomer seeking to immerse yourself in its captivating world, this book is your ultimate guide. With its engaging narrative and insightful analysis, it's the perfect companion for any football enthusiast. So step onto the gridiron, embrace the excitement, and let us take you on a journey into the heart of football, where strategy, passion, and unforgettable moments collide. Dive into the pages of this book and experience the electrifying world of football like never before! If you like this book, write a review on google books! |
| winningest coach nfl history: Chuck Noll Michael MacCambridge, 2016-10-28 Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls and presided over one of the greatest football dynasties in history, the Pittsburgh Steelers of the ‘70s. Later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his achievements as a competitor and a coach are the stuff of legend. But Noll always remained an intensely private and introspective man, never revealing much of himself as a person or as a coach, not even to the players and fans who revered him. Chuck Noll did not need a dramatic public profile to be the catalyst for one of the greatest transformations in sports history. In the nearly four decades before he was hired, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the least successful team in professional football, never winning so much as a division title. After Noll’s arrival, his quiet but steely leadership quickly remolded the team into the most accomplished in the history of professional football. And what he built endured well beyond his time with the Steelers – who have remained one of America’s great NFL teams, accumulating a total of six Super Bowls, eight AFC championships, and dozens of division titles and playoff berths. In this penetrating biography, based on deep research and hundreds of interviews, Michael MacCambridge takes the measure of the man, painting an intimate portrait of one of the most important figures in American football history. He traces Noll’s journey from a Depression-era childhood in Cleveland, where he first played the game in a fully integrated neighborhood league led by an African-American coach and then seriously pursued the sport through high school and college. Eventually, Noll played both defensive and offensive positions professionally for the Browns, before discovering that his true calling was coaching. MacCambridge reveals that Noll secretly struggled with and overcame epilepsy to build the career that earned him his place as “the Emperor” of Pittsburgh during the Steelers’ dynastic run in the 1970s, while in his final years, he battled Alzheimer’s in the shelter of his caring and protective family. Noll’s impact went well beyond one football team. When he arrived, the city of steel was facing a deep crisis, as the dramatic decline of Pittsburgh’s lifeblood industry traumatized an entire generation. “Losing,” Noll said on his first day on the job, “has nothing to do with geography.” Through his calm, confident leadership of the Steelers and the success they achieved, the people of Pittsburgh came to believe that winning was possible, and their recovery of confidence owed a lot to the Steeler’s new coach. The famous urban renaissance that followed can only be understood by grasping what Noll and his team meant to the people of the city. The man Pittsburghers could never fully know helped them see themselves better. Chuck Noll: His Life’s Work tells the story of a private man in a very public job. It explores the family ties that built his character, the challenges that defined his course, and the love story that shaped his life. By understanding the man himself, we can at last clearly see Noll’s profound influence on the city, players, coaches, and game he loved. They are all, in a real sense, heirs to the football team Chuck Noll built. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Shula Mark Ribowsky, 2019-08-27 A Publishers Weekly Holiday Gift Guide Selection Spanning seven decades, the notorious loss of Super Bowl III, and an historic undefeated season with the Dolphins, Shula is the definitive biography of a coaching legend. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, Don Shula remains the winningest coach of all time with 347 career victories and the only undefeated season in NFL history. But before he became the architect of the Dolphins dynasty, Shula was a hardworking kid selling fish on the banks of Lake Erie, the eldest of six children born during the Depression to Hungarian immigrant parents. As acclaimed sports biographer Mark Ribowsky shows, Shula met serious resistance at home when he asked to play high school football, but when his parents finally relented, they discovered that their son, though perhaps short on the physical gifts of the truly blessed, had an unmatched mind for the game’s strategy and a stomach for its brutality. With rugged determination, the jut-jawed Shula started as a defensive back in the 1950s, later beginning his thirty-two-year coaching career as the then-youngest coach ever with the Baltimore Colts. The Colts had several successful years, but Shula never quite recovered from the historic loss to the upstart New York Jets in Super Bowl III, and when a lucrative job opened in Miami, he took his talents to South Beach, where he led the Dolphins to the first perfect season in NFL history. Tracing Shula’s singular rise from his blue-collar origins to his glory days in the Miami heat, Ribowsky reveals a man of grit and charisma who never lost sight of a simple creed: “All I’ve ever done is roll up my sleeves, figure out what to do, and start doing it.” |
| winningest coach nfl history: Coach: The Greatest Teachers in Sports and Their Lessons for Us All Justin Spizman, 2022-02-08 Every great sports coach is a life coach. This book identifies 168 outstanding coaches who have much to teach us about optimizing our performance, our character, and our lives. Coaches build winning teams and enable each athlete they mentor, guide, cajole, and nurture to achieve top performance. More than this, every great sports coach is first and last a life coach. Sportswriter Justin Spizman identifies and profiles 168 of the greatest coaches and managers of all time. They have much to teach us about optimizing our performance, our character, and our lives. Coach: The Greatest Teachers in Sports and Their Lessons for Us All profiles coaches in every significant sport, from football, basketball, baseball, and hockey to gymnastics, skating, rowing, rugby, soccer, and more. From field to court, diamond, rink, and pitch, the big leagues to the Olympics, college, and high school, Coach delivers the most teachable moments and methods—for play, for competition, and for life. Rich in quotations, each profile ends with lessons for top performance on and off the field, in and beyond the arena. Justin Spizman tracks all the relevant stats—for every sport keeps score—but he seeks first and last to disclose the mind, the heart, and the force of character that drive each of the indispensable men and women behind the world’s most envied and admired athletes. His profiles range from the likes of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa (already an MLB legend), to Aimee Boorman and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi (who both coached gymnastics phenom Simone Biles), Bill Belichick (the take-no-prisoners field general of the New England Patriots), Pat Summitt (who racked up 1,098 wins as coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012), Marián Vajda (the coach behind tennis titan Novak Djokovic), and David Leadbetter (golf guru to champions Kathy Baker, Nick Faldo, and Michelle Wie). |
| winningest coach nfl history: On Any Given Sunday Robert Lyons, Bert Bell, a native of Philadelphia, has been called the most powerful executive figure in the history of professional football. He was responsible for helping to transform the game from a circus sideshow into what has become the most popular spectator sport in America. In On Any Given Sunday, the first biography of this important sports figure, historian Robert Lyons recounts the remarkable story of how de Benneville “Bert” Bell rejected the gentility of a high society lifestyle in favor of the tougher gridiron, and rose to become the founder of the Philadelphia Eagles and Commissioner of the National Football League. Bell, who arguably saved the league from bankruptcy by conceiving the idea for the annual player draft, later made the historic decision to introduce “sudden death” overtime—a move that propelled professional football into the national consciousness. He coined the phrase “on any given sunday” and negotiated the league’s first national TV contract. Lyons also describes in fascinating detail Bell’s relationships with leading figures ranging from such Philadelphia icons as Walter Annenberg and John B. Kelly to national celebrities and U.S. Presidents. He also provides insight into Bell’s colorful personal life—including his hell-raising early years and his secret marriage to Frances Upton, a golden name in show business. On Any Given Sunday is being published on the 50th anniversary of Bell’s death. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Big Play Allen Barra, 2011-07 In a follow-up to his Clearing the Bases Sports Illustratedas book of the year for 2002syndicated columnist Allen Barra turns his eye from Americaas pastime to Americaas passion. In this collection of essays, Barra delves into the gridironas all-time greats, some of the sportas enduring controversies, and suggests new ways to think about the game that holds our attention from August through January, every year. Barra turns his aggressively intelligent writing to the Heisman Trophy and its controversies and demonstrates why the Bowl Championship Series has not and cannot work. He explains how the infamous tie game between Notre Dame and Michigan State in 1966 changed football forever. He compares the careers of Bear Bryant and Vince Lombardi, George Allen and Don Shula, Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas, and Joe Montana and Steve Young, probing beyond the myths that surround each man and creating a new context to understand their achievements. He explains how Notre Dame embraced a destiny in pads, beyond the Gipper mystique and Rockne speeches. No other writer challenges a sportas myths, untrue truisms, and legends the way Barra does in these essays. The achievement of a writer who manages a balance between establishment insider and outspoken iconoclast, Big Play explores issues and controversies that fire up pigskin fans. Blending statistical commentary with insight and biting commentary with genuine fandom, Barra provides readers with another dose of his passionate, opinionated, and unique analysis of football. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Football and Its Greatest Players Britannica Educational Publishing, 2011-05-01 Anyone who has experienced the thrill of watching his or her team win on Super Bowl Sunday will recognize the exhilaration that the game of football generates. Gridiron football is a complex game that demands both tactical ability and physical skill. This enthralling volume outlines the history and rules of American football, chronicles the rise of some of its greatest players, and illustrates how the game has become such a beloved cultural phenomenon. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Encyclopedia of Sports in America Murry R. Nelson, 2008-12-30 Sports and leisure activities serve as a mirror, allowing us to examine the attitudes and values of everyday people. This new reference explores the development and influence of sports in American culture, as well as how sports icons, commercial enterprises, organizations, sporting events, and even fan culture have changed from decade to decade and from era to era, from the foot races of colonial times to the extreme sports of today. Each chapter focuses on key aspects of sports in American culture, including such topics as ethnicity, gender, and economics. Enhanced with numerous sidebars on the movers and shakers, key sporting trends, as well as the controversies that threatened to tear the sports world apart, this insightful reference is ideal for high school and college students who are interested in tracing the evolution of sports and American culture throughout the nation's history. Features include a timeline of important events, numerous photographs, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for further |
| winningest coach nfl history: Winning Words , 2008-08-01 Arranged in categories from Ability to Zen, this book collects the most inspirational quotes from the world of sports from icons. Winning Words will be a quick reference for a leader in need of shared inspiration or a meditation for any athlete. Benson includes sidebar profiles of some of the most legendary figures in sports, and compiles nearly 1,000 quotes in this stirring collection of sporting wisdom. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Winning in the Trenches Forrest Gregg, 2010-09-14 Forrest Gregg epitomizes the old-school approach to football. During his Hall of Fame career he set an NFL record by playing in 188 consecutive games. His dedication to team success explains why Vince Lombardi called Gregg the finest player I ever coached. |
| winningest coach nfl history: Rooney Rob Ruck, Maggie Jones Patterson, Michael P. Weber, 2010-04-01 The first authoritative look at one of the most iconic figures in the history of the NFL, this book is both a critical chapter in the story of football in America and a thoroughly engaging in-depth introduction to a character unlike any other in the annals of American sports. |
Is "winningest" an acceptable word? What does it mean?
+1, especially for the interesting origin lesson (both here and in your comments with Matt above :)). I don't know that I quite endorse "winninger" as understandable, but can agree to disagree …
Is stupidest a word? - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
May 21, 2020 · Long ago the rule was - single-syllable words (fast, tall, hot, fat) could get the -est ending (fastest, tallest, hottest, fattest), and multi-syllable words would use most (important: …
Is "winningest" an acceptable word? What does it mean?
+1, especially for the interesting origin lesson (both here and in your comments with Matt above :)). I don't know that I quite endorse "winninger" as understandable, but can agree to disagree …
Is stupidest a word? - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
May 21, 2020 · Long ago the rule was - single-syllable words (fast, tall, hot, fat) could get the -est ending (fastest, tallest, hottest, fattest), and multi-syllable words would use most (important: …
