Ex-NFL coach Jack Faulkner dies

national football league

The Youngstown native and Boardman High graduate spent 53 years in the NFL.

STAFF/wire REPORT

Jack Faulkner, a Youngstown native who had a 53-year career in the NFL, died Sunday night in Newport Beach, Calif.

The cause of death was not released, but Faulkner, 82, was diabetic and had been on dialysis for approximately five years, according to his sister, Jean Rider of Youngstown.

Faulkner, born April 4, 1926, was a Boardman High graduate, where he played on three Tri-County League championship football teams.

After a tour in the Marines (19-44-45), Faulkner enrolled at Miami (Ohio) University where he played linebacker for hall of fame coach Sid Gillman.

It was Gillman who gave Faulkner his start coaching in coaching, at the University of Cincinnati in 1949.

Six years later Faulkner followed Gillman to the NFL, when the latter was named head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Faulkner was the defensive backfield coach.

In 1960 Gillman became coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the new American Football League and Faulkner again made the move. His secondary set a pro football record with 49 interceptions.

A year later Faulkner was named head coach of the Denver Broncos, then one of the struggling teams in the AFL.

Faulkner immediately helped improve the Broncos’ image. The team wore awful brown and gold uniforms and wore vertically-striped socks, which were the laughing stock of the new league.

He changed the team’s colors to their now familiar orange, blue and white and significantly improved the team’s fortunes on the field. The Broncos finished 7-7 and Faulkner was named AFL coach of the year.

Ironically, Denver’s first game under Faulkner was against Gillman and the Chargers, and the Broncos, using a no-huddle offense at times, won 30-21.

The following season saw Denver finish with a 2-11-1 record. In the last game of the ’63 season the Broncos again faced Gillman’s Chargers and lost, 58-20. The Chargers scored a touchdown in the final minute of the game, went for a two-point conversion and then attempted on onside kick. Those antics supposedly strained Faulkner’s friendship with Gillman.

The Broncos started the ’64 season by losing their first four games and Faulkner was fired Oct. 4.

He returned to the NFL the following season coaching the defensive backfield for the Minnesota Vikings. He joined the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1996 and was named defensive coordinator the following season, but by 1970 had moved to the team’s front office as player personnel director.

Faulkner rejoined the Rams in 1971 as a scout, then returned to coaching two years later as defensive line coach.

During this stretch, the Rams played in five NFC championship games and played the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.

Faulkner returned to the front office following the 1979 season to become the Ram’s assistant general manager.

The position evolved into director of football operations before he resigned to scouting game film.

When the Rams moved to St. Louis prior to the 1995 season Faulkner remained in California.

“I can’t overstate the significance he played in the history of the Rams,” said Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom, adding he had known Faulkner since he was 8 years old. “We lost really one of the great connections to our past.”

Faulkner is survived by his wife, Debbie, three sons and a daughter.

XVindicator correspondent Greg Gulas contributed to this story.