Chuck Noll facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Chuck Noll

Noll in 1954 during his playing days
No. 65
Position:	Guard Linebacker
Personal information
Born:	(1932-01-05)January 5, 1932 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died:	June 13, 2014(2014-06-13) (aged 82) Sewickley, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school:	Benedictine (Cleveland, Ohio)
College:	Dayton
NFL Draft:	1953 / Round: 20 / Pick: 239
Career history
As player:
Cleveland Browns (1953–1959)
As coach:
Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers (1960–1961) Defensive line coach San Diego Chargers (1962–1965) Defensive coordinator & backfield coach Baltimore Colts (1966–1968) Defensive coordinator & backfield coach Pittsburgh Steelers (1969–1991) Head coach
Career highlights and awards
4× Super Bowl champion (IX, X, XIII, XIV) 3× NFL champion (1954, 1955, 1968) AFL champion (1963) Maxwell Club NFL Coach of the Year (1989) UPI AFC Coach of the Year (1972) NFL 1970s All-Decade Team NFL 1980s All-Decade Team NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor Pittsburgh Pro Football Hall of Fame
Head coaching record
Regular season:	193–148–1 (.566)
Postseason:	16–8 (.667)
Career:	209–156–1 (.572)
Player stats at PFR
Coaching stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Charles Henry Noll (born January 5, 1932 – died June 13, 2014) was an American football player and a famous head coach. Many people think he was one of the greatest head coaches ever. He only coached one team as a head coach: the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). He led them from 1969 to 1991. When he retired after 23 years, only three other coaches had stayed with one NFL team for longer.

Before becoming a coach, Noll played football for seven years. He even won two NFL Championships with his hometown team, the Cleveland Browns. After playing, he spent several years as an assistant coach for different teams. In 1969, he took over the Steelers, who were not a very good team back then. They had only played in one playoff game in 36 years! But Noll changed everything. He turned the Steelers into a team that always competed for championships.

As a head coach, Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls, which is a huge achievement. He also won four AFC titles and nine division championships. His overall record was 209 wins, 156 losses, and 1 tie. In the playoffs, he had 16 wins and 8 losses. He had winning records in 15 of his last 20 seasons. His four Super Bowl wins are the second most for any head coach in NFL history, only behind Bill Belichick. What's even more amazing is that he won all four Super Bowls without ever losing one!

Between his time as a player and a coach, Noll won a total of seven NFL Championships and one AFL Championship. Because of his amazing career, he was chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, which was the first year he was eligible.

Noll built his teams by picking talented players in the draft and teaching them very carefully. He was also known for giving opportunities to African Americans. He started the first black quarterback in the Steelers' history and hired one of the first black assistant coaches in the whole league. Many people said he helped keep the spirits high in the Western Pennsylvania area, even when the economy was struggling. He created a team of champions that reflected the hard-working people who supported them.

Biography of Chuck Noll

Early Life and Education

Childhood in Cleveland

Chuck Noll was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children. His father, William Noll, was a butcher who often couldn't work because of an illness. His mother, Katherine Steigerwald Noll, worked for a florist. His family lived in the house his mother grew up in, which was in a neighborhood with many African-American families. This experience helped Noll believe in giving opportunities to African Americans in the NFL, both as players and coaches.

High School and Work

Noll went to Benedictine High School. He started working when he was in seventh grade. By the time he started high school, he had saved enough money to pay for two years of tuition. He kept working through high school, earning 55 cents an hour at a meat market after school. Education was very important to him. Even with his busy schedule, he studied hard and graduated as one of the top students in his class.

He played running back and tackle on his high school football team and was named All-State. He was also a wrestler in high school.

College Football at Dayton

Chuck Noll originally planned to go to Notre Dame. However, during a practice before his first year, he had a medical issue on the field. The Notre Dame coach, Frank Leahy, decided it was too risky for Noll to play there. So, Noll accepted a football scholarship to the University of Dayton. He earned a degree in secondary education. At Dayton, he played as a lineman and linebacker and was a co-captain. His teammates nicknamed him "the Pope" because he seemed to know everything about the game.

Playing for the Cleveland Browns

The 1953 NFL Draft picked Noll in the 20th round for the Cleveland Browns. In his first year, the Browns lost the NFL championship game. But in the next two years, the Browns became NFL champions! Noll played as a linebacker, but his coach, Paul Brown, also used him as a "messenger guard." This meant Noll would run plays from the coach to the quarterback, like Otto Graham. Coach Brown said Noll was so smart that he "could have called the plays himself."

Noll decided to retire from playing football at age 27. He wanted to start his coaching career. He was surprised when his old college, the University of Dayton, didn't offer him a coaching job. But then, Sid Gillman offered him a position with the Los Angeles Chargers, which was a brand new team at the time.

Coaching Career Highlights

Assistant Coaching Years

Chuck Noll was an assistant coach for the American Football League's Los Angeles and later San Diego Chargers from 1960 to 1965. After that, he became an assistant coach for Don Shula with the Baltimore Colts from 1965 to 1968. Then, he was chosen to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Learning with the Chargers

Noll learned a lot from Sid Gillman during his six years with the Chargers. Gillman was known for being a great researcher and expert in offense. Noll said he learned more about football in those six years than he would have in 12 years somewhere else. Noll coached the defensive line and defensive backfield. During his time there, the Chargers played in five AFL championship games. The defensive line he coached became known as the "Fearsome Foursome."

Success with the Baltimore Colts

With the Colts, Noll coached the defensive backfield and later became the defensive coordinator. In 1968, his last season as defensive coordinator, the Colts had an amazing 13–1 record in the regular season. They also tied the NFL record for allowing the fewest points (only 144 points all season).

The Colts won the NFL championship by beating the Cleveland Browns 34–0. However, they were upset by the New York Jets in Super Bowl III. The very next day, Noll had an interview for the head coach job in Pittsburgh.

Leading the Pittsburgh Steelers

On January 27, 1969, at age 37, Chuck Noll became the 14th head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was the youngest head coach in the NFL at that time. Steelers owner Art Rooney later said that Don Shula recommended Noll for the job. Noll created a strong defensive system in Pittsburgh that became famous as the "Steel Curtain" defense. He was the first head coach to win four Super Bowls (IX, X, XIII, XIV).

A big reason for Noll's success was how good the Steelers were at picking players in the NFL college player draft. Noll's first pick was Joe Greene, a defensive tackle who became a superstar and a key part of the defense. In the next few years, the Steelers drafted quarterback Terry Bradshaw and running back Franco Harris. In the 1974 draft, Noll and the Steelers had an incredible achievement. They picked four future Hall of Fame players with their first five picks: wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, linebacker Jack Lambert, and center Mike Webster. No other team's draft has ever included more than two future Hall of Famers!

Noll was a very careful coach. In practice, he would focus on basic things, like how players stood in a three-point stance, even though professional players were expected to know these things. Because of Noll's attention to detail, players like Andy Russell became key members of the Super Bowl teams.

Noll was a smart person who valued education. He wanted players who studied useful subjects in college and had interests outside of football. He explained, "I didn't want to pick guys who just took wood shop or some other easy course they could breeze through to play football."

Unlike many other coaches, Noll was relaxed about his players' behavior off the field. For example, before Super Bowl IX in New Orleans, Noll told his team to go out and enjoy Bourbon Street to "get the partying out of your system now."

The Steelers teams of the 1970s were known for their amazing defense, called the Steel Curtain. Players like L. C. Greenwood, Joe Greene, Ernie Holmes, Dwight White, Jack Ham, and Jack Lambert were incredibly talented together.

The teams that won Super Bowls IX and X mostly used a running offense with Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. Later, Terry Bradshaw became a great passer, and the teams that won Super Bowls XIII and XIV used their talented receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth a lot more.

Noll was a shy person and didn't like talking to the media much. His teams in the 1970s were so talented that sometimes people didn't give him enough credit for his role as coach and for building the team.

In the first half of the 1980s, the team continued to be good, making the playoffs for three straight years. But they didn't reach the Super Bowl. As players from their Super Bowl-winning teams left or got injured, the team had three losing seasons from 1985 to 1989. In 1989, Noll finally received recognition as NFL Coach of the Year. He led the Steelers to the second round of the playoffs, even though the team wasn't considered very talented. They lost their first two games by big scores, but Noll did an amazing job keeping the team focused and improving.

Life After Coaching

Chuck Noll retired as the Steelers head coach after the 1991 season. His combined record for regular season and postseason was 209 wins, 156 losses, and 1 tie. He was chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

After retiring, Noll lived in suburban Pittsburgh and also spent time at his home in Florida. He had some health issues, including back problems. He held an honorary title with the Steelers but didn't have an active role in the team's daily operations. His son, Chris, is a teacher in Connecticut.

Chuck Noll passed away on June 13, 2014, in his home near Pittsburgh. He had been dealing with Alzheimer's disease, a heart condition, and back problems for several years.

Chuck Noll's Legacy

Chuck Noll Field at Saint Vincent College.

Chuck Noll's legacy includes creating opportunities for African Americans. Under Noll, Joe Gilliam became one of the first African American starting quarterbacks in the league. In 1975, Franco Harris became the first African American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. In the 1980s, Tony Dungy (who played briefly for Noll) started his coaching career as a Steelers assistant. He later became the first African-American Coordinator in the NFL. Noll strongly supported Dungy as a good candidate for a head coaching job. Tony Dungy later became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl (XLI) with the Indianapolis Colts.

On August 2, 2007, the football field at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania was named Chuck Noll Field in his honor. For over 40 years, the Steelers have held their summer training camp at St. Vincent College. It was Noll's idea to take the team away from city distractions to prepare for each season.

Chuck Noll was also honored at Heinz Field on October 7, 2007, during pre-game ceremonies. On September 30, 2011, Pittsburgh named a new street after him, called Chuck Noll Way.

Chuck Noll's Coaching Record

See also

In Spanish: Chuck Noll para niños

• List of National Football League head coaches with 50 wins
• List of professional gridiron football coaches with 200 wins
• List of Super Bowl head coaches
• List of American Football League players