Don Shula: From Grand River to Grand Feats

Don Shula: From Grand River to Grand Feats

By STEVE KING

The New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick gets a lot of run as being the best head coach in pro football history.

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And there’s a ton of evidence to support that contention. He’s won six Super Bowl rings since 2001 with the Patriots, and the number jumps to eight if you count the two he earned as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants following the 1986 and ’90 seasons, the latter of which propelled him to get the head-coaching job of the Browns.

But, in addition to former Browns and Cincinnati Bengals head coach Paul Brown, who has been mentioned here frequently as an extremely viable candidate for the greatest-coach-ever moniker (Belichick is a big, big fan of Brown), there’s another man who, for whatever reason. often gets overlooked. And, along with Brown and Belichick, he has strong ties to the Browns, and the area as well.

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That’s Don Shula from Grand River, who passed away early Monday morning at the age of 90.

Why?

Because Shula, who was head coach of the Baltimore Colts from 1963-69 and then with the Miami Dolphins from 1970-95, is the all-time wins leader in the NFL with 347, including 328 in the regular season. If you play to win the game, as Herm Edwards so famously said, then Shula is the best.

And keep this in mind: In 33 seasons, Shula had only two losing records, both with the Dolphins, going 6-8 in 1976, including a 17-13 loss at Cleveland late in the season, and going 6-10 in 1988, defeating the Browns 38-31 with a fourth-quarter touchdown in the next-to-last game of the season and nearly knocking Cleveland out of playoff contention. At the end of that latter game, the Browns were quarterbacked by Shula’s former longtime backup quarterback in Miami, Don Strock.

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Ladies and gentlemen, almost – not quite, but almost –as much as the wins, having just two losing seasons in all that time at any level, especially – especially! – the pros, is the most impressive part of Shula’s resume.

Not bad for a local guy. Shula was:

*Born (on Jan. 4, 1930) and raised in Grand River, near Painesville.

*Graduated from Painesville Harvey High School, where he starred in track as well as being a halfback on the football team.

*Played college football at John Carroll University.

*Was taken by the Browns as a cornerback in the ninth round of the 1951 NFL Draft. His John Carroll teammate and friend, two-way back/returner Carl Taseff, a Cleveland East High School product, was also drafted by the Browns in the 22nd round.

*Played two seasons with Cleveland, including getting four interceptions as a rookie, and in 1953 was, along with Taseff and a slew of other Browns, part of a multi-player deal with the Baltimore Colts. In return, the Browns got Pro Football of Fame right tackle Mike McCormack and Don Colo, a fine defensive tackle. Shula played four seasons with the Colts and one with the Washington Redskins before retiring following the 1957 season. Taseff played over a decade in the NFL and, in 1970 when Shula went to Miami, he was hired as an assistant coach and stayed for the first 24 of Shula’s 26 seasons there.

Shula is, then, part of the Paul Brown coaching tree. Also on that tree are Blanton Collier, the head coach of the Browns for eight seasons, including in 1964 when they beat Shula’s Baltimore Colts 27-0 for their last NFL title, after serving as a Cleveland assistant under Brown for nine seasons over two stints; another former Browns assistant under Brown, Weeb Ewbank, who, as a head coach, guided the Colts to back-to-back NFL championships and then the New York Jets to a stunning 16-7 upset of the Shula’s Colts in Super III following the 1968 season; former Browns messenger guard/linebacker and Cleveland Benedictine High School product Chuck Noll, who, as head coach, guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles after having been defensive coordinator of the Colts under Shula from 1966-68; and Brown’s assistant in Cincinnati, Bill Walsh, who was head coach of three San Francisco 49ers teams that won Super Bowls.

Paul Brown’s coaching tree is the biggest, and strongest, in all of pro football, bar none.

Retired Cleveland sportscaster and sports writer Dan Coughlin tells a great story of, while working as a young reporter with the Plain Dealer, covering the Browns’ 27-0 victory over the Colts in the 1964 title game. His job was to cover the opposing locker room and, along with four other writers, interviewed Shula in the tiny visitors dressing quarters at Cleveland Stadium while the coach was sitting on a big Colts equipment trunk.

That’s a great indicator of just how much the game has grown in the last 56 years. Now, of course, post-game press conferences at Super Bowls and even conference title contests are huge events in big venues with countless media members.

And Don Shula from Grand River, perhaps the greatest head coach of them all, played a part in that growth.

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