RetroSimba

Bill Koman was a talented, durable outside linebacker and one of the respected leaders of the Big Red defense of the St. Louis football Cardinals in the 1960s. He also was outspoken and controversial.

Koman played 12 seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts (1956), Philadelphia Eagles (1957-58), Chicago Cardinals (1959) and St. Louis Cardinals (1960-67). He owned a real estate development company and built it into a successful business in St. Louis.

Koman is remembered as a devoted family man, business owner and philanthropist.

Will to succeed

William John Koman Sr. was born in 1934 in Ambridge, Pa., located on the Ohio River 16 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The town was formed by the American Bridge Company and attracted thousands of immigrants to work in the steel mills.

Koman grew up in nearby Aliquippa, Pa., and when he was 9 he suffered a severe injury to his left knee in a bicycle accident, according to Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Infection set in and there was concern the leg would need to be amputated.

The leg was saved, but Koman faced a lengthy recovery.

“I’ll never forget the agonizing look on my father’s face when a man sympathized with him for having a crippled son who couldn’t be an athlete,” Koman told Broeg.

Koman said he worked diligently to strengthen the knee, running four miles a day and doing other exercises. When he enrolled at Hopewell High School, he was a trumpet player in the band until he was healthy enough to play football as a junior.

(Following Koman as athletic alumni of Hopewell High School: big-league pitcher Doc Medich and Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett.)

Smart and athletically gifted, Koman earned a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. He excelled in football and in the classroom, earning a degree in economics.

“I was a lot better student than I was an athlete,” Koman said to the Chicago American.

Straight talk

The Colts chose Koman in the eighth round of the 1956 NFL draft. He was released after one season and signed with the Eagles. Two years later, he was traded to the Cardinals.

Koman was named to the Pro Bowl team in 1962 and 1964. He played in 120 consecutive games for the Cardinals and missed only one. In the mid-1960s, the Cardinals linebacker corps of Larry Stallings, Dale Meinert and Koman was widely respected.

Koman intercepted seven passes in his NFL career, including six for the Cardinals, from quarterbacks such as Norm Van Brocklin, Sonny Jurgensen and Don Meredith.

“It’s a game of mental attitude and emotion,” Koman said to the Post-Dispatch. “Give me 11 guys who will hit their mothers in the back and we’ll beat anyone. There are too many nice guys in this game.”

In an August 1964 interview with Bill Gleason of the Chicago American, Koman said, “My attitude toward the game is I don’t feel anybody can block me. I also feel I’m the best doggone linebacker in the league my size. Because I believe it, I go out there and prove it.”

Koman offered his views on other NFL linebackers:

_ Sam Huff of the New York Giants: “If I played one game the way Sam Huff plays an entire season, I wouldn’t have had a pro career. I would have quit. Huff has always been overrated.”

_ Joe Fortunato of the Chicago Bears: “Nobody admires Joe Fortunato more than I do. He gives 125 percent of himself every game, but don’t try to tell me he’s a great linebacker.”

_ Chuck Bednarik of the Eagles: “Chuck Bednarik had great ability, but he was not a smart football player. When I was a kid with the Eagles, I told coach Buck Shaw, ‘I don’t have to take Bednarik’s stuff. I have an education.’ So they traded me to the Cardinals.”

“It doesn’t mean a damn whether they agree with me or not,” Koman said. “Whether they like me or not, they’re going to try to beat the hell out of me the next game. What I say I believe.”

Three months later, after Koman was hit in the face during a November 1964 game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, he told the Post-Dispatch, “When the doctors took those stitches in my chin, somebody wondered why he sewed up my chin and not my mouth.”

Culture clash

In 1967, racial tension among the Cardinals resulted in black players bringing a list of grievances to head coach Charley Winner before the last game of the season.

Two months later, in February 1968, when Koman, 33, retired, Broeg described him as “the red-necked Red Dog of the Big Red.”

Koman summarized his NFL career as “12 extremely enjoyable, highly challenging, somewhat controversial and many times frustrating years” and cited his business commitments as an incentive to quit playing.

In July 1968, Sports Illustrated published a story about the racial problems experienced by the 1967 Cardinals.

A month after the Sports Illustrated story appeared, Murray Olderman, sports editor of the Newspaper Enterprise Association, interviewed Koman about the race issue. Citing his respect for black Cardinals players such as Jimmy Hill and Luke Owens, Koman said he judged teammates on job performance rather than skin color.

“When I play, I want the best athlete beside me. I never played with a finer cornerback than Jimmy Hill or a finer man than Luke Owens,” Koman said.

“When it comes to football, I’ll play beside anybody as long as he shows the willingness to do the job. Nobody ever questioned my preparedness to play football. I simply felt a few players were kept around who lacked the ability to play in the National Football League and had a bad attitude.”

After football, Koman’s company developed projects such as City Place in Creve Coeur, Mo., and shopping centers in the St. Louis area. According to a press release from the family, Koman was one of the original five founding members of the Casino Queen, an economic boon to East St. Louis, Ill. His family has continued to grow the business into the Koman Group.