Gillman, Sidney
Football
b. Oct. 26, 1911, Minneapolis, MN
An end at Ohio University, Gillman was chosen for the first College All-Star game after graduating in 1934. He played for the NFL's Cleveland Rams in 1936 and then became an assistant college coach.
Gillman was named head coach at Miami University, Ohio, in 1944 and compiled a 31-6-1 record in 4 seasons. He spent a year as an assistant at Army, then took over at the University of Cincinnati in 1949. Cincinnati won 50 games while losing only 13 and tying 1, but the school was put on probation for recruiting violations in 1955 and Gillman moved on to the NFL's Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams won the Western Conference title in his first season, losing to the Cleveland Browns 38-14 in the league championship game. He was fired after a 2-10 record in 1959.
Gillman became the first coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the new American Football League in 1960. The Chargers, who moved to San Diego in 1961, won five Western Conference championships in six years and beat the Boston Patriots 51-10 for the 1963 AFL title.
Ulcers forced Gillman to leave coaching after the Chargers lost 4 of their first 9 games in 1969. He returned in 1971 but again left before the season was over. Gillman in 1973 was named general manager of the Houston Oilers. He replaced Bill Peterson as coach during the season and was named American Football Conference coach of the year in 1974 when the team had a 7-7 record. However, Gillman resigned in January of the following year. His overall record as a professional coach was 123-104-7.
A strong proponent of the passing game, Gillman designed pass patterns that almost always featured five receivers, with at least one of them going deep. He liked the threat of the long pass, because it stretched defenses to the limit and made it easier to complete the shorter passes or to run the ball.