CHUCK KNOX
Head Coach
HOW A $400,000 MISSION LED TO EVENTUAL PRO MERGER
Signing of Namath By Jets Saved Old AFL From Destruction
"The scene is a darkened briefing room in the war ministry, New York division.
Stark photographs of various contracts are on the walls. At the table are two members of the cabinet and a young acolyte who has been summoned for a dangerous mission. Ordinarily the acolyte is a drill sergeant for the troops. But he possesses special backgrounding which makes him invaluable for the forthcoming mission.
The mission is to rendezvous with a certain Hungarian expert who has the armament to bring a quick and victorious end to the war.
'Make no slip, do not let him out of your sight, make contact in the distant location, accompany him across the continent and deliver him to us. Price is no object. The other side is after him just as desperately.'
Fadeout ...
Chuck Knox talks wistfully about the stranger than fiction caper just described in what perhaps is only a slight over-dramatization. Knox had a vital role in it.
Pro football today is one giant and hugely profitable brotherhood. The expensive signing war is long over.
But it never would have happened ... the American Football League would have been destroyed ... if the Jets had failed to sign the $400,000 quarterback. This signing of Joe Namath was the catalyst leading to pro football's peace treaty and merger, and a radical change in the economy of all sports.
The man commissioned with bringing Namath into the AFL camp was Knox.
He, then, in 1964 was the young line coach of the Jets. Today he is the man credited with revitalizing the Lions' offensive line.
'I was assigned to it because I had known Joe from western Pennsylvania,' Knox recalls.
'I'd coached football in Ellwood City, Pa., against Beaver Falls while Joe was in junior high there. The first time I ever saw Joe was in Beaver Falls. He was playing junior high basketball. He was in the eighth grade then. I saw him play football his senior year. He played on an undefeated team. His coach, Larry Bruno, was an old friend of mine.
'I was coaching at the University of Kentucky then and I tried to recruit him out of high school, but he decided to go to Alabama. I'd known his brother Frank well, too, because he'd gone to Kentucky.'
With this intelligence on file, Sonny Werblin, owner of the Jets, settled on line coach Knox as his liaison man with Namath in December of 1964. Knox was dispatched south to the Alabama campus after briefing from Werblin and Coach Weeb Ewbank.
'Sonny Werblin had been in the talent business for many, many years,' said Knox. 'He'd handled top entertainment. He knew the value of a buy like Namath. He knew what a guy like Namath would mean to the Jets and to the AFL. What Werblin said in effect was we had to have him regardless of price.'
The St. Louis Cardinals, of the more powerful National Football League, had also drafted Namath. If they got him, the AFL likely could have gone under. The AFL had to get a player of Namath's magnitude to escalate the war and hasten the peace.
'It was before Alabama was going to play in the Orange Bowl and Bear Bryant had given Joe 10 days off along with the rest of the team,' said Knox. 'Joe was free to talk then and we were going to play in San Diego on the next Sunday.
'On Friday I flew to Birmingham and on to Tuscaloosa, picked up Joe Namath and Mike Bite, Joe's attorney, and flew back to Birmingham. On Saturday morning we flew from Birmingham to Los Angeles. We checked into the Beverly Wilshire, went to Chasen's. We met out there with Werblin, Ewbank and Bob Schulman, a tax expert from Washington, D.C., who was there to determine the best way to set up the money.
'Then we flew to San Diego and Joe went to the game with us. Then he went back to Alabama.
'The week prior to the Orange Bowl I went down to Miami to keep tabs on Joe. As soon as the Orange Bowl game was over we signed him and had the press conference the next day.'
Namath was signed for $427,000, a figure so shocking because it was four times more than any other draft choice had ever received. It shocked especially the NFL. Suddenly prices for college draft choices zoomed and the war became more intense- and the merger by treaty was the only solution.
'Teams were hiding out players at that time and there were all kinds of shenanigans,' said Knox. 'But Namath had given us assurances he wouldn't sign with the Cardinals until he talked to us and got our figure. He kept his word.'
Knox recalled there was one near snafu during his mission. There was a fear Namath had been spirited by the Cardinals during the night.
'Joe at that particular time liked to sleep in the morning,' said Knox. 'He almost missed the plane out of Birmingham. We had to rush for the plane carrying our own bags.
'I wonder what would have happened if I'd showed in L.A. without Joe.'
Maybe Pete Rozelle can find the answer hidden in the Pentagon Papers."
-Jerry Green, The Detroit News (Football Digest, November 1971)
TIP FROM THE COACH
"The four teams that made it to the conference finals were all fine defensive teams,' says new coach Chuck Knox. "If you have a fine defensive team, you will have a chance to win every game you play because your defensive will keep you within range of your goal."
-The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1973 Edition)
"One of the intriguing sequences of migrating coaches began with Chuck Knox, who after five NFC West titles in as many seasons at Los Angeles, went shuffling off to Buffalo with Ram owner Carroll Rosenbloom's blessings.
While Knox was successful in the relatively weak NFC West, he was less than formidable in the playoffs with an overall 3-5 record, including 0-3 in NFC title games. Most disturbing to the 70-year-old Rosenbloom was that the Rams didn't reach the Super Bowl once. The Rams were all but assured of playing in the NFL title game, it appeared, in 1975 when they entertained NFC Wild Card Dallas in Los Angeles. The week before, L.A. had demolished St. Louis, 35-23, which had won the NFC East over the Cowboys. Dallas, however, who had slipped past Minnesota, 17-14, in the playoffs' first round, stunned Carroll's club, 37-7.
After the 1976 season, which ended in another title game loss for L.A., this time 24-13 at Minnesota, there was speculation Knox would jump ship and take the head job at Detroit. That further dismayed Rosenbloom. When the Rams were upset by Minnesota, 14-7, at home in the first round of the '77 playoffs, Rosenbloom was happy to let Knox go anywhere he pleased. To show how much Knox wanted to get away from the Ram owner, he chose Buffalo.
Interestingly, Rosenbloom, who acquired burned-out quarterback Joe Namath from the New York Jets prior to last season, also tried, to no avail, to get Super Juice, O.J. Simpson. The first deal Knox made in Buffalo was to swap Simpson to Ram-rival San Francisco for future draft choices.
Knox will have his work cut out for him rebuilding the Bills, who have won only five of their last 25 games. One of Knox's drawbacks was his conservatism on offense. 'The secret of his failure (in L.A.),' opined Ram linebacker Isiah Robertson, who 'was sorry' to see Knox leave, 'was in not bringing some creativity to the offense, in not being able to score points.'
There's no question his Bills will have to field a more open attack to be competitive in the very offensive-minded AFC Eastern Division.
'Our immediate goal,' says Knox, 'is to be competive, so week in and week out we'll play good, consistent football.' "
-Dave Payne, from The Reason Behind So Many Coaching Changes, Football Digest (July-August 1978)
"Many football fans were disappointed and mystified as to why Chuck Knox, then coach of the Rams, failed to insert Joe Namath in the line-up when Knox's team was being beaten by the Vikings, 14-7, in the NFC playoffs in December.
'The score was 14-0,' Ram quarterback coach Kay Stephenson told the New York Post, 'and the rain was really coming down hard. Pat's (Haden) hands just aren't that big and the ball was wet. He was having trouble holding the ball, let alone passing it. Knox had both Vince (Ferragamo) and Joe warm up. I told Knox three times that Namath was throwing the better of the two on the sidelines, and he was ready to go in.
'Every time I told him, he just nodded and walked away. I told Joe to keep loose, and it should only be a few minutes, but Chuck never called on him. I don't know why.'
L.A.'s offensive assistant and receivers coach Lionel Taylor says, 'Everybody on the team thought Namath would play if Pat continued to have problems. I was shocked Joe didn't get the call.' "
-from Did You Know That ..., Football Digest (September 1978)
But what, for heaven's sake, can he expect in Buffalo, where Lou Saban dismantled a good team? 'I'm not a miracle worker,' said Knox. 'But hard work can make up for a lot of things. I guarantee that no coaching staff will out-work us.' Whether that is enough remains to be seen.
Born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Knox won't have the expert advice of Don Klosterman on scouting college talent. But Chuck is now in charge of the entire football operation in Buffalo, so all is not all lost."
-Dave Newhouse, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football, 1978 Edition
"We can structure the kind of program here that will again make Buffalo a force in the AFC. We're going to take the players here and build around their capabilities. The current personnel gives us an excellent start toward the future."
Chuck Knox, from News, Quotes & Comments (Football Digest, October 1978)
TOM CAITLIN
Defensive Coordinator
"One of the most sought after players in football, All-American Caitlin came to the Browns by way of a trade with Baltimore involving 15 players. A great defensive prospect, Caitlin is a lightning play analyst and has the speed and agility to match his reactions. He is considered top linebacking material."
-1953 Bowman No. 35
"Tom was drafted by Baltimore but dealt to the Browns in 1953 when he became a regular linebacker. He called the defensive signals in '54 and then went into military service as a pilot. He rejoined the club in '57.
Tom was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, where he works as a salesman."
-Pro Football Handbook 1959
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