Obituary: Hank Stram / Winningest AFL coach, pro football pioneer

Hank Stram, the most successful coach in American Football League history and a TV and radio broadcaster for nearly two decades, died yesterday in a suburban New Orleans hospital. He was 82.
Mr. Stram died 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.
Mr. 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.
Mr. Stram did radio commentary for four Super Bowls, becoming the first person to participate in the National Football League championship game both as a winning coach, with the Kansas City Chiefs, and broadcaster.
Mr. 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.
During the AFL's 10-year history, Mr. Stram set league records by winning three championships and more games than any other AFL coach. He was coach of the Dallas Texans -- staying with them when they became the Kansas City Chiefs -- and later the New Orleans Saints.
Three years after losing the insaugural Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers, 35-10, Mr. Stram's Kansas City team upset the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7, in Super Bowl IV in January 1970. It was the second consecutive Super Bowl victory by an AFL team and was further proof the NFL had met its match.
Mr. Stram had a 124-76-10 record with the Chiefs, and in 17 seasons as a head coach was 131-97-10 in the regular season and 5-3 in the postseason.
For several years, Mr. Stram was the only coach not in the Hall of Fame among those who won the first 14 Super Bowls. He finally was elected by the hall's seniors committee.
Mr. Stram designed the moving pocket and the two-tight-end formation to buy extra time for his Kansas City quarterback, Len Dawson, and devised the 3-4 defense -- referring to three down linemen and four linebackers -- in an era when other coaches were using a 4-3.
Against the advice of other coaches who said a zone defense wouldn't work in pro football, Mr. Stram used the strategy throughout the 1962 AFL championship game, and his Texans intercepted five George Blanda passes on their way to a 20-17 double-overtime victory over the Houston Oilers.
In his 1970 book, "Illustrated History of Pro Football," author Ron Smith compared Mr. Stram to the legendary Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown and said Mr. Stram brought football "to a higher intellectual plane, or at least developed it in the direction of an academic discipline."
But Mr. Stram was known for his quirky sense of humor in an era when most high-profile coaches took themselves very seriously. He gave everyone nicknames.
"Hank had his own vocabulary," said Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films. "Hank was the Mentor. His players were called the Rats. The Chiefs didn't drive the ball; they matriculated the ball. Team priests were called blackbirds. The refs were called sausage stuffers."

Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times