January 3, 1924 - Chicago, Illinois - Hank Stram, the former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was born. Hank got his feet wet in coaching as an assistant at the University of Miami. His bio on ProFootballHOF.com tells how Lamar Hunt, the owner of an AFL start-up team, and the Dallas Texans hired Stram to lead the new franchise. The Texans played only one year in Dallas and then moved to Kansas City, where they changed their nickname to the Chiefs. Stram was an offensive innovator, and he is remembered for his development of such items and the moving pocket to utilize the talents of his mobile Quarterback Len Dawson.
The legendary coach also established the two tight end sets and, on the other side of the ball, introduced stacking linebackers behind defensive linemen in the “stacked defense” principle. Stram led the Chiefs into two Super Bowl games. In Super Bowl I, his team fell to the mighty Packers of Vince Lombardi, but his team won Super Bowl IV against the Vikings. The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined Hank Stram into their famous Canton, Ohio museum in 2003. He played college football at Purdue University, where he was a two-way player. After graduating from Purdue, Stram served in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, Stram began his coaching career as an assistant at Purdue. He then served as an assistant at Notre Dame and Miami (Florida) before being hired as the head coach of the Dallas Texans in 1960.
