Whether as a player or as a coach, Maxie Baughan was good at sizing up situations and calling the shots.
An outside linebacker who played in the NFL primarily from 1960 to 1970 with the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams, Baughan was the captain of the defense and chose the alignment for each play during a game.
Described by the New York Times as “one of the most fearsome linebackers of the 1960s,” Baughan was named to the Pro Bowl in nine of his first 10 seasons in the NFL. He knocked heads with the St. Louis Cardinals multiple times.
Baughan went on to have a long coaching career as an assistant in the NFL and as head coach in college at Cornell.
Ramblin’ Wreck
Baughan attended high school in Bessemer, Ala., a major steelmaking center. Recalling his boyhood days, Baughan told Gannett News Service, “I was going into the mills since as long as I can remember. I knew the first time I went in I didn’t want to work in there the rest of my life.”
(According to The Birmingham News, Baughan’s father, an electrician, died when he fell from a ladder at a coal mine near Birmingham in June 1961. He was 52. Baughan Sr. suffered a heart attack, fell onto high-voltage wires and was electrocuted, the Binghamton [N.Y.] Press and Sun-Bulletin reported.)
Maxie Baughan played football at Georgia Tech and excelled as a linebacker and center. “He’s one of the most consistently great football players I have coached,” head coach Bobby Dodd told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
(Baughan was quite a baseball fan, too. While at Georgia Tech, “I used to go all the time to old Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta to see the [minor-league] Crackers and I loved it,” he said to The Montogmery [Ala.] Advertiser.)
Baughan graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in industrial engineering.
As a youth, Baughan earned the Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank, the Eagle Scout Award. As a professional football player, Baughan became a Philadelphia Eagle. The team selected him in the second round of the 1960 NFL draft.
The Natural
The 1960 Eagles were a tough, talented group featuring Chuck Bednarik, Tom Brookshier, Tommy McDonald, Pete Retzlaff, Joe Robb and Norm Van Brocklin. Though a rookie, Baughan fit right in.
A brawl broke out on the field in a 1960 exhibition game between the Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. Hugh McElhenny, the 49ers running back who was nicknamed “The King” and who was destined for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, “was dropkicking the back of the head” of Eagles defensive tackle Ed Khayat, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.
According to the newspaper, Baughan came to Khayat’s rescue, “driving McElhenny clear across the field, pumping the heels of his hands into the veteran’s chest and finally lifting his helmet to deliver the fist de grace.”
Baughan said to the Daily News, “When I saw him kick Ed in the head, I just had to go after him.”
The rookie’s action earned him the respect of his teammates. His play as a linebacker earned him a spot as a starter. “He’s quick as a cat,” Eagles assistant coach Nick Skorich told the Daily News. “He uses his hands beautifully. He has good play sense, and he’s a hard, sharp tackler.”
Baughan looked the part, too. The Sporting News described him as “pug-nosed, weather-beaten.” Sandy Grady of the Philadelphia Bulletin put it this way: “A face that was forged in a furnace … pugnacity, intelligence and violence written on it.”
The first time he faced the St. Louis Cardinals, on Oct. 9, 1960, Baughan made 10 tackles, including seven unassisted, and broke up a pass, United Press International reported. Game stats
“He’s one of the hardest tacklers on the team, a quick thinker, fast, alert and as gung-ho as they come,” The Sporting News noted. “He took over on the starting unit as if the position had been made for him.”
The Eagles won the 1960 NFL championship, in part because of a defense that limited Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers to 13 points in the title game.
L.A. story
In 1965, the Eagles opened the season against the Cardinals. With the score tied 20-20 at halftime, Baughan, captain of the defense, convinced head coach Joe Kuharich to call off the blitzes against quarterback Charley Johnson.
“We couldn’t blitz too much against them,” Baughan said to the Philadelphia Daily News. “Heck, they invented the blitz. They can pick it right up.”
Instead, with Baughan calling the defensive signals, the Eagles faked the blitz, then realigned their formation at the last instance. The jitter-bugging defense “completely confounded” Johnson, according to the Daily News. The Eagles limited the Cardinals to seven points in the second half and won, 34-27. Game stats
As the season progressed, the relationship between Baughan and Kuharich got rocky. “Near the end, the two of them were getting along like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in ‘Virginia Woolf,’ ” the Philadelphia Inquirer noted.
After the season, amid reports Baughan wanted to be traded, Los Angeles Rams head coach George Allen called Kuharich “31 times in as many days,” trying to make a deal for the linebacker, The Sporting News reported.
In April 1966, Kuharich relented. The Eagles dealt Baughan to the Rams for defensive tackle Frank Molden, linebacker Fred Brown and a draft choice. “Maxie Baughan is the best right side linebacker in the game,” Allen told The Sporting News.
The 1966 Rams defense featured the Fearsome Foursome front line of Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy. Joining Baughan as the linebackers were Bill George (a future Pro Football Hall of Famer) in the middle and Jack Pardee on the left side. Another standout, Eddie Meador, was the safety.
Amid all that talent, Allen chose Baughan to be the defensive captain and entrusted him to call the plays. “As the Rams’ defensive signal caller, Baughan was responsible for some 250 different defenses and 180 audible signals,” The Sporting News reported.
Baughan told the publication, “I would say that I audibilize about 85 percent of the time. A lot of things enter into my decision, like down and distance, the hash marks, field position, the particular formation.”
The Los Angeles Times noted, “His vast knowledge of Allen’s intricate defense and execution of the many audibles from a variety of formations has made the Rams one of pro football’s most effective defensive units. Equally important is the fact Maxie is a leader and serves as an inspiration to the team.”
Baughan thrived playing for Allen. He told the Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal, “I probably learned more about football from George Allen than anyone else.”
The Sporting News called Baughan “the brains of the Rams defense” and dubbed him “The Battering Ram.”
Eventually, the battering took its toll. Baughan underwent knee surgeries after the 1967, 1968 and 1969 seasons. He suffered a concussion in a 1969 game against the Atlanta Falcons and was unconscious for almost 15 minutes, The Sporting News reported. The cumulative pain became unbearable.
“I’m allergic to some medicine, including pain killers,” Baughan told The Sporting News. “I can’t even take an aspirin. It started back in 1962 when I was with Philadelphia. I took a muscle relaxer and had a violent reaction. The Eagles’ trainer literally saved my life.”
Coaching carousel
The Rams fired Allen after the 1970 season and Baughan retired from playing. When Allen became head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1971, Baughan assisted him. That began a long second career as a coach.
Baughan was defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for two years (1972-73). In 1974, he left to become defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, but before the season began he quit and rejoined Allen with the Redskins as a player-coach.
After stints as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Colts (1975-79) and Detroit Lions (1980-82), Baughan became head coach at Cornell. He was recommended for the job by former Colts running back Tom Matte, who became a friend of Baughan when he was with Baltimore. Matte had connections to an influential almnus at Cornell.
Replacing Bob Blackman, who retired, Baughan coached six seasons (1983-88) at Cornell. The Ivy League program had losing records his first three seasons, then finished 8-2, 5-5 and 7-2-1 the last three seasons.
In April 1989, the Ithaca Journal reported a rift between Baughan and assistant coach Peter Noyes stemmed from a romantic relationship between Baughan and Noyes’ wife. Citing “personal tensions” for his decision, Baughan resigned.
He went on to be linebackers coach for the Minnesota Vikings (1990-91), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1992-95) and Baltimore Ravens (1996-98). Among the linebackers he coached were standouts Derrick Brooks of the Buccaneers and Ray Lewis of the Ravens.
RetroSimba 
There’s something wrong with my computer. I tried leaving a comment, but it didn’t work. Frustrating. It might be time to buy a new one. I just wanted to say how interesting player’s roots are…..for Baughan growing up in the steel mills and seeing his father die so young, so tragically amongst other factors made him into one tough cookie.
What a loyal teammate in that kick in the head fight.
I don’t watch much football anymore, but I used to and at some point, the audible always amazed me, that ability to think in the moment and make adjustments.
I enjoyed this post. Reminded me of my most glorious moment as a football player, in the 7th grade, a scrimmage against the 8th grade….me playing defensive end and after the hike, to my great surprise, no running back to block me so I raced in and sacked the QB.
Thanks for hanging in there with the computer, Steve, and making the comments. I enjoyed what you had to say.
In researching this story, it was heartbreaking to learn about Maxie Baughan’s father dying so young, and the manner in which it happened. The father and his wife (Maxie’s mother) got to see their son play in person in the 1960 NFL championship game. Then it was just six months later that the father’s death occurred.
I agree with you on being impressed by the use of audibles and adjusting on the fly. Maxie Baughan and quarterback Sonny Jurgensen were friends as Eagles teammates before Jurgensen got traded to the Washington Redskins. After facing the Eagles (and beating them) for the first time since the trade, Jurgensen told United Press International, “I called an audible out there and Maxie called one for the Eagles’ defense. I looked up and yelled, ‘You coming through?’ He said, ‘Yep.’
“Darned if he didn’t,” Sonny said, rubbing a bruise.
I can relate a little bit to your terrific anecdote about sacking the quarterback in a grade-school game. I never played organized football, but I did play intramural flag football in college. Most of the players on my team had played high school football. For the intramural team, they put me and another tall gawky guy at the defensive end positions. We nicknamed ourselves “The Manatees” because of our lethargic pass rush. Every once in a while, though, a quarterback would accidently run into us and it still was a thrill to be credited with “a sack.”
What an honor to be considered the brains of that great Rams defense under George Allen. Maxie Baughan must have had an incredible high tolerance level for pain. Three knee operations with an allergy to pain killers.
Good points, Phillip.
That combination of brains with toughness was effective. When Maxie Baughan decided to retire, The Sporting News wrote, “The Rams lost more than an excellent linebacker. A computer walked out of their lives.”
It is hard to imagine how difficult it would be for pain killers to cause as much, or more, agony than the injuries. As The Sporting News noted of Baughan, “His body has never reacted well to pain-killing measures.”
According to reporter Mal Florence, “Baughan’s knee was never sound during the 1969 season. His leg was encased in a hip-to-ankle bandage and the knee was always swollen after a game. Maxie would grimace as trainer George Menefee would cut the tape away _ he was biting the bullet _ but would never complain.”
In explaining to The Sporting News why he removed himself in the first quarter of the Rams’ 1969 playoff game with the Vikings, Baughan said, “I realized I couldn’t bend the knee, and if you can’t bend it, you can’t run.”
A few linebackers from that (60s-70)s overlooked by the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Baughan, Dale Meinert, Tommy Nobis, Mike Curtis, Lee Roy Jordan.
Whoa! What an excellent group of top talents. I’d have them in my hall of fame.
That defense sounds like it knocked a few heads. By the sounds of it, it could have possibly been the greatest Rams defense of all time with the “Fearsome Foursome,” two All Pro linebackers, and Ed Meador who a lot of people say should be in the HOF. (he also still holds the Rams record for career interceptions and fumble recoveries)This piece was kind of eye-opening.
What a treat this was for a Rams fan…thanks, Mark.
You are right about that defense, Gary. In 1966, their first season with George Allen as head coach and Maxie Baughan as the defensive captain, the Rams held opponents to 7 points or less in 5 of their 8 wins. The most impressive might have been the 23-7 victory against the Colts at Baltimore on Nov. 27, 1966. It was the first time since 1954 that the Rams beat the Colts in Baltimore, ending a string of 10 consecutive losses and a tie there. As the Los Angeles Times reported, “A sellout crowd of 60,238, usually a raucous group, watched in public library-like silence as the Rams systematically destroyed the Colts offense.”
According to the Times, the Rams’ defense “intimidated” Colts quarterbacks Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo. The Colts had only 140 total net yards _ 69 coming on a pass from Cuozzo to Willie Richardson. The Colts were held to 33 yards rushing. As a Baltimore Sun columnist noted, “The Colts were as badly outclassed as I have seen them in many years.”
Colts head coach Don Shula said to the Baltimore Sun, “It was a real pathetic effort by our offense. The Rams just overpowered us.”
George Allen said to the L.A. Times, “My only regret is that we didn’t shut them out.”