Ewbank, "Weeb" (Wilbur C.)
Football
b. May 6, 1907, Richmond, IN
A quarterback at Miami University of Ohio, Ewbank coached high school football after graduating in 1928. He entered the Navy in 1943 and became an assistant coach for Paul Brown with the Great Lakes Naval Training Station team.
After coaching the Brown University basketball team to an 8-12 record in 1946-47, Ewbank coached football for two seasons at Washington University in St. Louis, winning 14 games and losing only 4. He entered professional football in 1949 as the line coach for the Cleveland Browns, where he was reunited with head coach Paul Brown.
Ewbank was hired as head coach by the Baltimore Colts in 1954, their second year of existence. He gradually built a contending team that won 7 of 12 games in 1957 and then won consecutive NFL championships in 1958 and 1959. Baltimore's 23-17 title victory over the New York Giants in 1958, the first overtime game ever played, was a major factor in making professional football a popular television sport.
After a 7-7 record in 1962, Ewbank was fired by the Colts. He then took another rebuilding job with the New York Jets of the American Football League. Originally called the Titans, the team had declared bankruptcy before being purchased and completely reorganized by "Sonny" Werblin.
Under Ewbank, the Jets attained respectability with an 8-5-1 record in 1967 and won the AFL championship the following season. Led by quarterback Joe Namath, they became the first AFL team to win the Super Bowl, beating Ewbank's former team, the Colts, 16-7.
Ewbank retired after the 1973 season. Quiet and scholarly, he was known for virtually total recall of every game he ever coached. Baltimore owner Carroll Rosenbloom once referred to him as "my crew-cut IBM machine." His patience enabled him to mold two young players into Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Johnny Unitas at Baltimore and Namath at New York.
His professional coaching record was 134-130-7 but, if the six rebuilding years are eliminated, it was 102-83-3. Ewbank was the only coach to win championships in both the AFL and the NFL.