Hank Stram: 1923-2005
Coaching legend Stram dies
He's best remembered for winning Super Bowl with the Chiefs and as radio commentator.

Hank Stram, the most successful coach in American Football League history and a TV and radio broadcaster for nearly two decades, died Monday in a suburban New Orleans hospital. He was 82.
Stram died at St. Tammany Parish Hospital near his home in Covington, La., across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. He had been in declining health for several years, and his son attributed the death to complications from diabetes.
Stram, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was credited with developing the 3-4 defense, the two-tight-end formation and the moving pocket. When his coaching career was over, he worked as an analyst for CBS, first on television and then in the radio booth, where he called "Monday Night Football" alongside Jack Buck.
Stram did radio commentary for four Super Bowls, becoming the first person to participate in the NFL championship game both as a winning coach, with the Kansas City Chiefs, and broadcaster.
"I've lived a charmed life," he once said. "I married the only girl I ever loved, and being able to do a job I truly loved with the Chiefs. I'm a lucky fellow."
Stram, who had suffered from diabetes for several years, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Too weak to stand or walk on his own, he watched his prerecorded induction speech from a wheelchair.
"Look at all the red eyes," former Kansas City running back Ed Podolak said at the time. "I cried like a baby, and so did everyone else."


Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times