Knox, "Chuck" (Charles R. Sr.)
Football
b. April 27, 1932, Sewickley, PA
Knox had a long history of getting NFL teams into the playoffs without winning a championship. After graduating from Juniata College in Pennsylvania, he served as an assistant coach at the school in 1954, then became a high school coach.
He moved on to assistant coaching positions with college and professional teams before becoming head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 1973. Knox guided the Rams to five NFC Western Division titles in five years but lost three straight NFC championship games, from 1974 through 1976.
In 1978, he went to the Buffalo Bills and took them from a 5-11-0 record to 11-5-0 and a division title in his third season. However, the Bills lost in the first round of the 1980 playoffs.
Knox took over the Seattle Seahawks in 1983. In his nine seasons there, Seattle made the playoffs four times and advanced to the AFC championship in 1983 before losing to the Los Angeles Raiders. In 1992, Knox returned to the Rams. He retired from coaching after three losing season there.
An old-school, conservative coach, Knox emphasized the running game, defense, and ball control, and liked to keep the score down. In his 24 years as an NFL head coach, he had a 186-147-1 record in regular season games but was only 7-11 in the playoffs.