Weeb Ewbank

Weeb Ewbank

File:Weeb Ewbank.jpg
Personal information
Born:	(1907-05-06)May 6, 1907 Richmond, Indiana
Died:	November 17, 1998(1998-11-17) (aged 91)
Career information
College:	Miami (Ohio)
Position:	Head Coach
Career history
NFL Baltimore Colts (1954-1962) AFL New York Jets (1963-1969) NFL New York Jets (1970-1973)
Career highlights and awards
AP NFL Coach of the Year (1958) UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1958) 2 NFL Championships (1958, 1959) AFL Championship (1968) World Champion (1968 season) 130-129-7 (regular season record) 4-1 (playoff record) 134-130-7 (overall record)
Career NFL statistics
Win-Loss Record: 130-129-7 Winning %: .502 Games: 266
Record at Pro Football Reference
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank (May 6, 1907 – November 17, 1998) was an American professional football coach. He coached the New York Jets to victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969, as well as leading the latter to two NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959.

Early years

Ewbank was born in Richmond, Indiana, and lived there through high school. He then attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he played quarterback under head coach Chester Pittser and was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Ewbank's first football coaching job was in 1928 at Van Wert High School in Van Wert, Ohio. He soon moved back to Oxford, Ohio, and took a position to coach all sports at McGuffey High School. McGuffey was a school run by Miami University, separate from Oxford's public high school. In 1939, Ewbank agreed to coach both the McGuffey High School and the Miami University basketball team when Miami’s basketball coach left for another job.

During World War II Ewbank joined the Navy and was assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes, where he was reunited with his Miami teammate Paul Brown who was the base football coach. At Great Lakes, he assisted Brown with the football team and coached the basketball team

Ewbank was the head coach of Washington University in St. Louis for the 1947 and 1948 seasons before moving on to become the backfield coach for Charles "Rip" Engle at Brown University. The Brown quarterback in 1949 was Joe Paterno. Brown went 8-1 in that season. Ewbank also was the J.V. basketball coach at Brown.

Cleveland Browns

Ewbank entered the pro ranks in 1949 as assistant under Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns.

Baltimore Colts

Ewbank joined the Colts at the recommendation of Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown. Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom had called Brown, asking for a coaching tip, as he was interested in Browns assistant Blanton Collier. Brown suggested Ewbank instead and Rosenbloom took the offer.

As coach of the Colts, Ewbank won the 1958 and 1959 NFL championships. The 1958 game is often referred to as "The Greatest Game Ever Played". By the end of the 1962 NFL season, Rosenbloom thought that the Colts had slipped and Ewbank was fired. Rosenbloom replaced him with the then-youngest head coach in NFL history, Don Shula.

New York Jets

When Sonny Werblin bought the New York Titans franchise of the American Football League in 1963, he changed both the team's name (to the New York Jets) and its coach. Ewbank took over a team that had not had a winning record in its first three years, and made them into a winning team.

Werblin signed Matt Snell away from the NFL in 1964, and in 1965, the Jets' signing of Joe Namath added to the arsenal which would eventually pit Ewbank against his former team in the third AFL-NFL World Championship game (Super Bowl III).

Ewbank's Jets won the American Football League Championship in 1968 with a victory over the Oakland Raiders. In the third World Championship Game, the Colts (proclaimed by some to be "the greatest pro football team of all time") were heavily favored over the AFL's "overmatched" Jets. But with Ewbank's confident planning the Jets ran a game plan that mystified the Colts and came out with a 16-7 victory.

After the 1972 season, Ewbank announced that at the end of the 1973 season he would retire as head coach in favor of his son-in-law, Charley Winner, though he would continue as general manager. The 1973 Jets season is the subject of the book The Last Season of Weeb Ewbank by Paul Zimmerman.

Head Coaching Record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
BAL	1954	3	9	0	.250	6th NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1955	5	6	1	.455	4th NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1956	5	7	0	.417	4th NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1957	7	5	0	.583	3rd NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1958	9	3	0	.750	1st NFL Western	1	0	1.000	1958 NFL Championship Game winners.
BAL	1959	9	3	0	.750	1st NFL Western	1	0	1.000	1959 NFL Championship Game winners.
BAL	1960	6	6	0	.500	4th NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1961	8	6	0	.571	T-3rd NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL	1962	7	7	0	.500	4th NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BAL Total		59	52	1	.532		2	0	1.000
NYJ	1963	5	8	1	.385	4th AFL East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1964	5	8	1	.385	3rd AFL East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1965	5	8	1	.385	2nd AFL East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1966	6	6	2	.500	3rd AFL East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1967	8	5	1	.615	2nd AFL East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1968	11	3	0	.786	1st AFL East	2	0	1.000	Superbowl III Champions.
NYJ	1969	10	4	0	.714	1st AFL East	0	1	.000	Lost to Kansas City Chiefs 13-6 in Interdivisional Playoffs
NYJ	1970	4	10	0	.286	3rd AFC East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1971	6	8	0	.429	3rd AFC East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1972	7	7	0	.500	2nd AFC East	-	-	-	-
NYJ	1973	4	10	0	.286	4th AFC East	-	-	-	-
NYJ Total		71	77	6	.480		2	1	.667
Total [2]		130	129	7	.502		4	1	.800

Hall of Fame

Ewbank is the only man ever to coach two different American Professional Football teams to victory in a championship game, and the only man to coach winners of NFL, AFL, and World Championships: (NFL championships in 1958 and 1959 with the Colts, an AFL championship in 1968 with the Jets, and a World Championship in Super Bowl III in 1969 with the Jets). His record in the AFL was 50-42-6 (71-77-6 all-time with the Jets); his career regular season record in the NFL and AFL was 130-129-7; and his playoff record was 4-1. Ewbank was selected as the Head Coach of the AFL All-Time Team.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.

He is a member of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and the Miami University Athletic Hall of Fame.

See also

• American Football League players, coaches, and contributors

References

• Gifford, Frank and Richmond, Peter, The Glory Game:How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever

Harper Collins e-books ISBN ISBN 978-0-06-171659-1

External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
• Weeb Ewbank at Find a Grave