Weeb Ewbank

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Weeb Ewbank
Weeb Ewbank.jpg
Head Coach
Personal information
Date of birth: (1907-05-06)May 6, 1907
Place of birth: Richmond, Indiana
Date of death: November 17, 1998(1998-11-17) (aged 91)
Career information
College: Miami (Ohio)
No regular season or postseason appearances
Made coaching debut in 1954 for the Baltimore Colts
Last coached in 1973 for the New York Jets
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Win-Loss Record 130-129-7
Winning % .502
Games 266
Coaching stats at pro-football-reference.com
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Wilbur Charles "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.

Contents

Early years [edit]

Ewbank was born in Richmond, Indiana, and lived there through high school. He then attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he played quarterback[1] 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 when Miami’s basketball coach left for another job, Ewbank agreed to coach both the McGuffey High School and the Miami University basketball team .[2]

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[2]

Ewbank was the head coach of Washington University in St. Louis for the 1947 and 1948 seasons[3] 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 [edit]

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

Baltimore Colts [edit]

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 [edit]

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 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 [edit]

AFL/NFL [edit]

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 Super Bowl 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 [edit]

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 [edit]

Portal icon Biography portal

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ Gifford and Richmond, pg. 168
  2. ^ a b Kurz, Bob (1983) "Miami of Ohio, the Cradle of Coaches" p. 37 Library of Congress Catalog Card number 83-50645
  3. ^ [1], Washington University in St. Louis 2009 Media Guide, p. 88

References [edit]

  • 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 [edit]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
John Rauch		 AFL Championship winning Head Coach
1968		 Succeeded by
Hank Stram
Preceded by
Vince Lombardi		 Super Bowl Winning Head Coach
Super Bowl III, 1969		 Succeeded by
Hank Stram
Authority control
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