Commentary: Saban

left mark on AFL teams
By Steve Behr, sports editor

One of the former American Football League’s most colorful coaches, Lou Saban, passed away at his home in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. Sunday. He was 87.

Saban was the coach of the Denver Broncos when I first became aware that it was a Behr house rule to either like the Broncos, or live in the garage. Oh, it was cute when I went through phases of liking the Cowboys and the Dolphins, but my heart was always with the Broncs, win or lose.

Saban was the leader of the band at the time. He was the gruff fellow who could pat a player on the back one moment, and then kick him in the backside the next. He coached at the highest levels of football, and yet spent his life and career bouncing from job to job, which included coaching high school and small college football programs.

He was old school before the term “old school” became en vogue.

Saban took over the Broncos in 1967, when I had no idea what football really was, and the Broncos had little idea how to win football games. The Broncos were simply bad in the 60s. They finished their 10 years in the AFL with the worst overall record in the league and finished higher than fourth place in the AFL West Division just once, in 1962, when they finished 7-7 and in second place.

And though Saban finished his five-year tenure with a 20-42-3 record, he laid the foundation for a franchise that would become a model in the NFL by reaching six Super Bowls and winning two of them.

He did it by moving the team’s facilities to a more modern location in North Denver. They stayed there until current owner Pat Bowlen moved them to a South Denver suburb earlier this decade.

Saban did it by drafting Floyd Little, the first first round draft choice to sign with the team.

He did it by building one of the best defensive lines that nobody has heard of. He traded to Oakland to get a little known linebacker who turned into one of the most feared defensive ends in the AFL in Rich “Tombstone” Jackson. Tombstone’s headslap was so ferocious, the NFL eventually outlawed the maneuver.

Remember that Life Magazine photo of No. 63 wearing a Broncos’ uniform knocking Joe Namath off his feet with the photo showing Namath’s face in agony? That No. 63 was Dave Costa, another Saban acquisition and part of an emerging Denver defensive line in the late 60s, early 70s.

Saban drafted safety Billy Thompson, defensive ends Lyle Alzado and defensive tackle Paul Smith, who were all cornerstones of the Broncos’ “Orange Crush” defense, which carried the 1977 Broncs to Super Bowl XII.

He also brought in a 6-foot-5 quarterback from the San Diego Chargers, and current Watauga County resident, Steve Tensi.

Saban coached the old fashioned way — loud and not always so polite.

He fired Little — who before John Elway was Denver’s most beloved athlete — when he fumbled the ball in a 1968 game against Buffalo. After Buffalo kicked a potential game-winning field goal as a result, Little refused to leave the field despite Saban telling him to hit the showers.

Little went back into the game, caught a long pass from quarterback Marlin Briscoe, and Denver kicked the game-winner.

“You can stay one more week,” Saban reportedly growled to Little.

“We had our differences but at the end of the day we became great friends,” Little told the Denver Post Sunday. “He once fired me in the Buffalo game and I refused to go into the locker room. I wound up catching a long pass from Marlin Briscoe near the end of the game and we kicked a field goal to win it and on the way into the locker room, Lou hired me back.”

As coaches will, Saban caught heat for some of his moves. He chose to run out the clock in a 1970 game against Miami to preserve a tie instead of risking a loss by passing the ball and going for a win.

He told the press that “having half a loaf is better than none.” Fans angrily disagreed and threw bread at him, even when he came back with the Buffalo Bills in a 1972 exhibition game at the old Mile High Stadium.

You could have fed a third-world country with all of the bread that on the field.

Saban left Denver with five games left to play in 1971. The next coach, John Ralston, was a complete opposite of Saban, choosing to use an overly positive approach to coaching.

Ralston added key players such as linebackers Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Bob Swenson, nose tackle Rubin Carter, cornerbacks Louis Wright and Steve Foley, who were the final pieces to the Orange Crush defense.

Red Miller, a combination of Saban and Ralston, took the Broncos to the Super Bowl one year after Ralston left.

Saban bounced from job to job in his later years. I had to laugh when ESPN did a feature on him when he was coaching at Chowan College toward the very end of his career. He gave a speech to his players before the game, then ESPN played a tape of his speech to the Buffalo Bills before they played Miami in 1972, I think.

Same speech. Same delivery. Same “You can get it done. But more importantly, you’ve got to get it done.”

Saban also did a stint as president of the New York Yankees for friend George Steinbrenner, who coached receivers for Saban while the two were at Northwestern in 1955.

Saban had 18 jobs in 33 years. Some only lasted months. One, athletics director at the University of Cincinnati, lasted all of 19 days. Nathan Detroit’s crap games in “Guys and Dolls” moved around less than Saban.

Saban coached at small colleges and at high schools. He also coached in the Arena Football League in 1994.

Saban’s influence on the AFL is undeniable and where he is most recognized. He was the original coach of the Boston Patriots and led Buffalo to back-to-back AFL championships in 1964-65. His Denver teams never finished over .500 or won more than five games in any season, but Saban’s Broncos beat the World Champion New York Jets in 1969 and the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs in 1970.

He was rough, tough and a cuddly teddy bear all on the same day. Some players hated him one moment, then loved him the next.

“He was like a father to me,” former Bills defensive back Booker Edgerson told the Associated Press. “He steered me in the right direction. He gave me advice. Some of it, I didn’t like, but isn’t that what a father does?”

Saban wore his passion on his sleeve during those 60 minutes of game time. On the Broncos’ 35th anniversary video, the segment that feature’s Saban is call “To Live and Die with Lou Saban.”

In that feature, he is miked up in a 1969 game with Houston that ended in a 20-20 tie.

It is that game that one of Saban’s most famous lines was said when he yelled to his offensive line coach Whitey Dovell in regards to the officiating “They’re killing me Whitey, they’re killing me!”

He ended that game, at least on that tape, by saying, “Impossible, impossible, impossible,” as Houston kicked a tying field goal.

Saban probably won’t reach the Professional Hall of Fame. But his contributions to professional football should not be forgotten.

Those who recognize his role in developing the AFL are the ones who understand that role the most.