Maguire on Saban
Here's a story I got from Paul Maguire some years back that I neglected to include in the obituary on Lou Saban that we ran when Saban died recently. It's Maguire's recollection of Saban's pregame speech before the 1964 AFL Championship Game between the Chargers and the Bills in Buffalo. Those who recall the configuration of the tunnel at War Memorial Stadium, with both teams coming out of separate locker rooms that spilled out into the tunnel, can envision the scene. Said Maguire:
"In the championship game, the officals came up and the Chargers were in the tunnel. The official says you’ve got five minutes. We’re waiting for Lou, and Lou never came. So Lou finally runs down the ramp and jumps on the middle of this table and says, 'Everything that’s been said has been said.' We all knew he had no idea what he was talking about. And he said, 'So the only thing I can tell you guys now is heads down and toes up. Cookie (Gilchrist) opened the door and turned around and said, 'What in the hell does that mean?' And Saban said, 'How the hell do I know? I'm as nervous as you are.' And we started laughing. So we went down the steps into the tunnel, and we were lined up along the Chargers. And I had just played four years with these guys (the Chargers), and the whole team was laughing their (butts) off. John Hadl looked at me and said, 'Gonna be that easy?' And I said, 'I can’t explain it to you. You’d never understand.' Lou didn’t have any idea what he was saying, but he loosened up the team and we went out and beat the hell out of them."
"To this day I could not tell you how good he was with the Xs and the Os," said Hall of Fame guard BIlly Shaw. "But he was a marvelous leader in that he could motivate. He studied people’s personalities and he would know wehter to pat you in the back or want to slap you in the face."
---Mark Gaughan
We need Lou Saban now.
Posted by: Chris | June 25, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Lou Saban was a great coach, a great coach. He had a knack of finding talent, a great kanack at finding talent. He will be sorely missed; really missed alot.
Posted by: Dick | June 23, 2009 at 04:36 PM
Great story! If only OJ wasn't an evil thug, Lou's death would have been much bigger NFL news. But to real Bills fans and the players he coached, Lou's legacy looms larger than anyone.
Posted by: Scott | June 23, 2009 at 01:24 PM
Lou was a great coach, but he should have used Cookie more as a decoy.
John R.
Posted by: John Rauch | June 23, 2009 at 07:59 AM
That pep talk woulda taken the sail out of my wind.
Hank B.
Posted by: Hank | June 23, 2009 at 07:55 AM
You're KILLIN me Whitey, you're Killin me!
Posted by: Don | June 22, 2009 at 11:16 PM
Boy it sure would be nice to have a fire and brimstone kind of coach these days instead of even keel dick. It would be nice to see a little emotion on the sidelines. I am not asking for Bill Cowher or Brian Billick but Old Ralphy could hire a scarecrow with more emotion of course that scarecrow might not be a players scarecrow.
Posted by: In Dick we trust | June 22, 2009 at 11:20 AM