- Wally Lemm
Wally Lemm (
October 23 ,1919 -October 2 ,1988 ) was a football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels and achieved his greatest prominence as head coach of theAmerican Football League 'sHouston Oilers and theNational Football League 's St. Louis Cardinals (football).Lemm graduated from Carroll College (
Wisconsin ) in 1942 playing football for head coach John Breen at running back. After service inWorld War II during the next two years, Lemm then served as an assistant coach at theUniversity of Notre Dame underHugh Devore in 1945. Lemm returned to Carroll as an assistant coach with the school's football team the following year, then became a head coach for the first time, accepting the top job for Waukesha High School, inWisconsin , in 1948.Following Lemm's one year at Waukesha, Carroll's former coach, Breen, took the head coaching position at
Lake Forest College . Lemm served under his leadership for the next three years, while also working as the school's head basketball coach, then replaced Breen in 1952. During his two seasons, he compiled an 11-4-1 record before leaving to accept the head coach position at Montana State University. An 8-1 season in 1954 was followed the next year by a 4-4-1 campaign. OnMay 14 ,1956 , he reached theNFL when he accepted a defensive assistant position with the Chicago Cardinals.Lemm spent just one season before resigning to again accept the head coaching position at Lake Forest. During the next two years, he nearly matched his previous stint at the school with an 11-5 record, winning District Coach of the Year accolades in 1957 from the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). OnFebruary 21 ,1959 , he returned to an assistant's role with the Cardinals, and would remain at the professional level for the remainder of his career.After again spending a single season with the Cardinals, Lemm resigned on
January 12 ,1961 to accept an assistant coaching position with theHouston Oilers of the seminalAmerican Football League . During the first season of play, the Oilers captured the league's first-ever title, but Lemm resigned after the season, returning toLibertyville, Illinois to work in the sporting goods industry.However, after a slow start to the 1961 season that saw the team with a 1-3-1 record, Oilers' head coach
Lou Rymkus was fired. Lemm was offered the position by his former coach John Breen, the Oilers' Director of Player Personnel, and proceeded to lead the team to nine straight victories. The team then won its second straight title with a 10-3 win over theSan Diego Chargers onDecember 24 ,1961 , and Lemm was named AFL Coach of the Year for his efforts.After orally agreeing to a contract for the next season, Lemm instead resigned on
February 22 ,1962 to take the top spot with the Cardinals, citing the proximity of St. Louis to his home inLake Bluff, Illinois . After a 4-9-1 record in his first year, Lemm came close to capturing the NFL's Eastern Conference title with a 9-5 season in 1963 and a 9-3-2 mark the following year. After signing a contract with a huge pay increase, the Cardinals crashed in 1965 with a 5-9 mark, with Lemm seemingly having job security. However, after Lemm was asked to stay in St. Louis as a full-time coach, he resigned onJanuary 10 ,1966 , again citing family considerations. Oddly, he then accepted the head coaching job with his former team in Houston 19 days later.The Oilers struggled in 1966 with a 3-11 record, but bounced back in 1967 with a 9-4-1 record and a spot in the AFL Championship game. After a 40-7 thrashing at the hands of the
Oakland Raiders , the Oilers again reached the postseason in 1969 compiling a mediocre 6-6-2 record and were again dismantled by the Raiders, 56-7, in the AFL's oddly constructed one year playoff system. For that season the first place team of the West played the second place team of the East and vice versa. The team's first year in the post-merger NFL, 1970, finished with a disastrous 3-10-1 mark. Following a 44-0 loss to his former team in St. Louis onNovember 1 ,1970 , Lemm announced he would be retiring at the conclusion of the year, this time citing health issues. Lemm's final game came onDecember 20 of that year, a 52-10 loss to the Oilers' Lone Star State rivals, theDallas Cowboys .Lemm stayed off the sidelines for the final 18 years of his life, dying on
October 2 ,1988 , just three weeks short of his 69th birthday.ee also
*Other American Football League coaches, players, and contributors
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