Norm Van Brocklin
Norman Mack Van Brocklin, was an American professional football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "the Dutchman", he spent his first nine seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and his final three with the Philadelphia Eagles. Following his playing career, he was the inaugural head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1961 to 1966 and the second head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1968 to 1974.
Van Brocklin played college football for the Oregon Webfoots, earning All-America honors in 1948. Due to concerns over his professional availability, he was not selected until the fourth round of the 1949 NFL draft by the Rams. During his first three seasons, he and teammate Bob Waterfield alternated as the starting quarterback, culminating with them leading Los Angeles to victory in the 1951 championship game. After Waterfield retired, Van Brocklin served as the Rams primary starter from 1952 to 1957, concluding his tenure with six consecutive Pro Bowl selections and a passing-yards leading season in 1954. He joined Philadelphia in 1958, extending his Pro Bowl selections to nine. In his final season, he was named NFL Most Valuable Player en route to winning the 1960 championship.
As the head coach of the expansion Vikings and Falcons, Van Brocklin was unable to reach the postseason with either franchise, but recorded the first winning season for both. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Early life
Born in Parade, South Dakota, Van Brocklin was one of nine children of Mack and Ethel Van Brocklin. His father was a watchmaker. The family moved to Northern California and settled in Walnut Creek, east of Oakland. Van Brocklin was a three-sport standout at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, where he quarterbacked the football team to a 5–3 record as a sophomore and a 4–2–2 record as a junior. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 through 1945, foregoing his senior year of high school.College career
Following World War II, Van Brocklin followed two former high school teammates north and enrolled at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He became the starting quarterback in 1947 under first-year head coach Jim Aiken, and led the Ducks to a 16–5 record in his two seasons as a starter. In 1948, Oregon tied with California for the title of the Pacific Coast Conference, forerunner of the Pac-12. California was undefeated overall, and Oregon's only loss was at undefeated Michigan, that year's national champions, and the Ducks had seven victories in the PCC to Cal's six. Oregon did not go to the Rose Bowl, however, because Cal was voted by the other schools to represent the PCC in the game. Oregon needed only a 5–5 tie vote, as Cal had been to the game more recently, and with six Northwest schools and four in California, appeared favored to advance. Oregon had opted for a playoff game, but California declined. Among the Cal voters was the University of Washington, which elevated the intensity of the Oregon-Washington rivalry. Breaking with tradition, the PCC allowed Oregon to accept an invitation to play SMU in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It was the first time that a Pacific Coast team played in a major bowl game other than the Rose Bowl. Both Oregon and California lost their New Year's Day bowl games. That season, Van Brocklin was honored with an All-America selection and finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Coincidentally, the Heisman Trophy winner that year was SMU running back Doak Walker. Both Walker and Van Brocklin got Outstanding Player recognition for their performance in the Cotton Bowl Classic.Van Brocklin left Oregon for the NFL with one remaining year of college eligibility. At that time, a player was not allowed to join the NFL until four years after graduating from high school. Though he had only been at the University of Oregon for three years, he was eligible due to his time in the Navy during World War II. At age 23, he completed his bachelor's degree in June 1949.
Professional playing career
Los Angeles Rams
Van Brocklin was selected 37th overall in the 1949 NFL draft, taken in the fourth round by the Los Angeles Rams. Teams were not sure if he planned to play the 1949 season in college, so he fell in the draft, conducted in December 1948. Van Brocklin signed with the Rams in July and joined a team that already had a star quarterback, Bob Waterfield. Beginning in 1950, new Rams coach Joe Stydahar solved his problem by platooning Waterfield and Van Brocklin. The 1950 Rams scored a then-record 466 points with a high octane passing attack featuring Tom Fears and Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch. Fears led the league and set a new NFL record with 84 receptions. Van Brocklin and Waterfield finished 1–2 in passer rating as well. They were defeated by the Cleveland Browns in the 1950 title game, 30–28.In 1951, Van Brocklin and Waterfield again split quarterbacking duties and the Rams again won the West. That year, Hirsch set an NFL record with 1,495 receiving yards and tied Don Hutson's record of 17 touchdown receptions. This time, the Rams won the title rematch against Cleveland, 24–17. Waterfield took most of the snaps at the L.A. Coliseum, but Van Brocklin threw a game-winning 73-yard touchdown pass to Fears. It was the Rams' only NFL championship while originally based in southern California; their next came in 1999, several years after the move east to St. Louis. After returning to Los Angeles for the 2016 season, the Rams subsequently won Super Bowl LVI in 2022.
Earlier in 1951 on opening night, Van Brocklin threw for an NFL record 554 yards on September 28, breaking Johnny Lujack's single-game record of 468 set two years earlier. Waterfield was injured so Van Brocklin played the entire game and completed 27 of 41 attempts with five touchdowns. Despite the increase in passing attacks by NFL teams in recent years, the yardage record still stands, set.
Waterfield retired after the 1952 season and Van Brocklin continued to quarterback the Rams, leading them to the title game again in 1955, hosted at the L.A. Coliseum. In that game, the visiting Browns crushed the Rams 38–14 as Van Brocklin threw six interceptions. In early January 1958, he announced his retirement from pro football after nine seasons and had plans to enter private business in Oregon at Portland.
Philadelphia Eagles
Less than five months later in late May, Van Brocklin changed his mind and was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for two players and a first round draft pick. It was disclosed he did not want to play another season for the Rams under head coach Sid Gillman's offense, but it was not a personality issue with Gillman. Under famed head coach Buck Shaw, Van Brocklin was given total control of the offense in Philadelphia in 1958, and he steadily improved the Eagles' attack. In his third and final season with Philly in 1960, the team had the best regular season record in league at 10–2, and hosted the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field. Throwing to his favorite receiver, Tommy McDonald, Van Brocklin led the Eagles to victory. In a game dominated by defense, he led a fourth quarter comeback, resulting in a final score of 17–13.During his twelve-year career, Van Brocklin played on two NFL championship teams: the 1951 Los Angeles Rams and the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles. Following the latter triumph, he retired. As it turned out, the Eagles were the only team to defeat the Packers in a playoff game during Vince Lombardi's tenure as Green Bay's head coach. Van Brocklin led the NFL in passing three times and in punting twice. On nine occasions, he was selected to the Pro Bowl. He was a first team All-Pro for the 1960 season.
Coaching career
Minnesota Vikings
Van Brocklin cut his ties with the Eagles after his belief that the team had reneged on an agreement to name him head coach to replace the retiring Buck Shaw, as they instead wanted him to serve as a player-coach when he really wanted to go out on top as a player. On January 18, 1961, he accepted the head coaching position for the expansion Minnesota Vikings, less than a month after winning the NFL Championship game. Van Brocklin personally looked at film for over two dozen quarterbacks before picking Fran Tarkenton in the third round of the draft. In training camp, he emphasized for Tarkenton to "hum the ball", complete with making him do weight exercises and practicing throws on a line. He also allowed Tarkenton to call his own plays. Van Brocklin tapped George Shaw as the starting quarterback for the first game of the season, but he prepared Tarkenton the week before the first game by having him come over to his house to study film night after night. When the Vikings played the Chicago Bears on September 17, Van Brocklin tapped Tarkenton to replace Shaw after the first quarter. Tarkenton proceeded to throw 17-of-23 for 250 yards with four touchdowns in the 37–13 victory.Dubbed "Stormin' Norman" for his fiery temper towards players and even officials, Van Brocklin compiled a record of 29–51–4 in six seasons. The tenure was highlighted by his contentious relationship with quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Van Brocklin was displeased with Tarkenton's penchant for scrambling, preferring that he stay in the pocket. The feud culminated with Tarkenton's demand for a trade and Van Brocklin's surprise resignation on February 11, 1967. Van Brocklin stated the following about Tarkenton a month later about Tarkenton: “There are two types of quarterbacks—those who carry a team and those who have to be carried by the team. Francis will win some games he shouldn’t win, but he’ll lose some games he shouldn’t lose.” In an interview years later, Tarkenton described Van Brocklin as both "a great quarterback and a brilliant offensive mind" and also "a dysfunctional human being, totally dysfunctional." While the Vikings attempted to dissuade Tarkenton from being traded with the departure of Van Brocklin, Tarkenton stayed firm with his desire for a trade in the belief of not wanting to be thought of as having Van Brocklin's departure tied to him. Tarkenton was traded to the New York Giants shortly after Van Brocklin's departure. He was reacquired by Van Brocklin's successor, Bud Grant, five years later in 1972. One thing Van Brocklin was known for was his disdain for soccer-style kickers. In one game, soccer-style kicker Garo Yepremian beat Van Brocklin's team and after the game, a reporter asked how he felt about losing the game on a last-second field goal, and he replied, "They ought to change the god-damned immigration laws in this country". However, Van Brocklin did end up having a soccer-style kicker in Nick Mike-Mayer in his final two seasons as coach of the Falcons, in 1973 and 1974.
During his first year off the field in over two decades, Van Brocklin served as a commentator on NFL broadcasts in 1967 for CBS.