Jim Hanifan, legendary coach with the Big Red and Rams, dies at age 87

POST-DISPATCH STAFF REPORT
Nov. 25, 2020



There are any number of reasons Jim Hanifan, a California native and college football star at the University of California, became an imbedded piece of the St. Louis sports community.

Hanifan was an assistant coach and then head coach for the St. Louis Football Cardinals, segments that covered 12 seasons. Ten years later, following coaching stints in Washington and Atlanta, Hanifan returned as a coach for the Rams, helping St. Louis to its first and only Super Bowl title. He then became a color analyst on Rams broadcasts.

What came along with all of that was an unforgettable St. Louis personality. Anyone who knew "Hanny" knew a story from him and a story about him. Anyone who met him left with a crushed hand and a warm smile.

Hanifan, a legendary offensive line coach and larger-than-life sports personality, died Tuesday evening at age 87. The exact cause of death was unknown.

Hanifan's daughter Kathy Hinder told the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday night that doctors were still trying to determine what was ailing Hanifan at the time of his death at Missouri Baptist Hospital. But she pointed out that his death was not related to COVID-19.

She said a public memorial service will wait until the coronavirus pandemic has eased, with initial thoughts that something could be held in the summer. Knowing Hanifan, the bigger the better. He celebrated life, and loved celebrations of all shapes and sizes.

What made a gruff and gracious son of Irish immigrants a beloved figure in his adopted home was the way he represented it and the way he embraced it.

Hanifan told the story often. It was his first season in St. Louis as part of head coach Don Coryell's new regime. Hired off the campus of San Diego State, Coryell's crew had an inauspicious debut as their first St. Louis edition finished 4-9-1 in 1973. It was the third consecutive four-win season for the Big Red. Leaving the season-ending meetings at Busch Stadium, Hanifan drove home on Highway 40 and reflected on the situation, wondering if he was in the right place, the right town. Then it struck him.

"That's when I realized why I like it so much here," Hanifan said. "It's the people. There are a lot of nice people here - neighbors, friendly people, people trying to help you out. So I've always had a fondness for St. Louis.

"It never made me think that it was a huge, major, big-time metropolis. I felt like it was a big community where you knew every doggone person in town."

And if you were Jim Hanifan, everyone knew you. The list of people he influenced professionally is long and illustrious. It includes Hall of Fame players, championship teams and coaches from the NFL, college and high school ranks. It includes celebrities from all walks of life.

It also includes neighborhood friends and average Joes he met at restaurants, fundraisers and filling stations. Hanifan treated all the same.

"Would I have been a Hall of Famer without him as my coach? Probably not," former Cardinals offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf said in the introduction to Hanifan's biography, Beyond Xs and Os, My Thirty Years in the NFL.

"When I thought who was the person who was the biggest influence on my professional career, it wasn't even close. There was no one who could rival what Jim Hanifan did for me."

Hanifan spent 30 years coaching in the NFL and seven years coaching at the college level. If the keepers of the castle in Canton, Ohio ever see fit to induct assistant coaches into their exclusive society, Hanifan will preside indefinitely in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is widely regarded as the premier offensive line coach in NFL history.

That history began in St. Louis with the Football Cardinals. Over three seasons, 1974 through 1976, the Cardinals won more games (31) than any team in the NFL. After 25 seasons without a postseason game, they made back-to-back trips to the playoffs in '74 and '75.

Coryell's innovative passing attack was the catalyst for this Camelot, anchored by the strong arm of pocket-passer Jim Hart and the all-purpose magic of Terry Metcalf. But the foundation for the "Cardiac Cards" was Hanifan's offensive line of Dierdorf, Conrad Dobler, Roger Finnie, Bob Young and Tom Banks.

Often colorful, sometimes crass, the unit reflected their ardent mentor and became one of the best in NFL history. Hanifan also coached the famous "Hogs" in Washington, another of the NFL's historically prominent lines.

Hanifan's line in St. Louis is largely credited with introducing weight-training to NFL camps and pioneering an aggressive style of play. The Cardinals approached the line of scrimmage the way an assault force approaches a beachhead. Characterized by the somewhat unconventional methods of Dobler, who made Sports Illustrated's cover as "Pro Football's Dirtiest Player," Hanifan's Heroes didn't play football, they waged it.

Dierdorf went back-to-back seasons, 1976-77, without allowing a single sack. During the entire 1975 season, Hanifan's group allowed only eight sacks, then an NFL record.

Coryell resigned after the '77 season and Hanifan went with him, coaching in San Diego for a season before coming back as the Cardinals' head coach in 1980. During six years on the job, he had three winning seasons. But for a missed field goal by Neil O'Donoghue in the last game at Washington, his 9-7 1984 team would have made the playoffs.

A year later, Hanifan was unceremoniously dismissed, with owner Bill Bidwill changing the locks on the office doors during halftime of the final game in 1985. He was gone, but those who played for him never forgot him. Two years later, Hanifan was an assistant in Atlanta when St. Louis played the Falcons..

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