Posted on 08/03/2025 12:52:11 PM PDT by DFG
When it comes to Marv Levy, Father Time is far from an over-officious jerk.
Levy turns 100 today.
A Pro Football Hall of Famer, Levy’s coaching career began 74 years ago, at St. Louis Country Day School in 1951.
He landed in the college ranks with Coe in 1953. He was then hired as an assistant at New Mexico in 1954. Four years later, he became the head coach. After two years, he landed as the head coach at Cal. Four years later, he became the head coach at William & Mary.
He arrived in the NFL as the Eagles’ kicking coach in 1969. A year later, he was hired to coach the rest of the special teams, with the Rams. A year later, he went to Washington.
His final game there was Super Bowl VII, where his unit accounted for the only points in a 14-7 loss to the 17-0 Dolphins.
The CFL came calling in 1973; Levy took a job as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes. Five seasons (and two Grey Cups) north of the border opened the door for Levy to become an NFL head coach, with the Chiefs.
He spent 1983 out of coaching before leading the Chicago Blitz of the USFL in 1984. After another year off, Levy was hired by the Bills. Which took his coaching career to new heights. Four straight Super Bowls. A spot in Canton.
He’d stay with the Bills through 1997. Nine years later, he returned as the General Manager — at the age of 81. He spent two seasons in that role.
Levy ranks 26th on the all-time wins list, with a record of 143-112 in 17 seasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcsports.com ...
Here’s Marv as Cal’s head coach with a young assistant named Bill Walsh in 1960.
Mike White, too. He coached the Chuck Muncie era at Cal and later the Raiders.
(William & Mary (1964–1968)
Head coach)
Oh, no.
That won’t do.
That will be the day that
I move back to Annadale
Do you know the difference between a dollar bill and a Buffalo Bill? You get 4 quarters from a dollar bill
Go Bills!
I think he’s the only coach I know of who has made it to 100.
I thought that Bud Grant would make it, but he fell a few years short.
I read that as Marcy Levy at first. Didn’t think she was that old!
Marv Levy invited another Coe College grad, Fred Jackson, to Bills training camp in 2006, when Jackson was 26, which is already considered old in the NFL. Jackson had played for a few seasons in the US indoor football league, and even played in German Football league.
Fred Jackson was a straight-ahead runner who ran at the spot where the play dictated there would be a hole. He didn't juke and jive much, but with his speed and power, often got through to the second level. in 2007 Jackson ran for >1000 yards. Jackson played on the Bills for another 8 years.
Levy still praises Jackson as his "Coe College find" and also for being a great character individual and family man - which is all true.
Now that's funny! I am an Eagles fan so no hate towards the Bills, in fact my dad was from upstate NY and so had some affection for the Bills which he passed on. But funny is funny!
There are few people who are as LOVED in Buffalo as Marv Levy.
I don’t know why anyone would have a bad thing to say about Marv, regardless of which team they root for.
Good NFL Films piece on Marv. From when he was 72.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9UgBZqbWTs
My very first NFL game was when Levy was coaching the Chiefs. Back in the dark years. 3 yards and a cloud of dust.
Probably the only head coach in NFL history with a bachelor’s in literature and a master’s in history.
I think Mike White was the HC at Illinois for awhile as well, IIRC.
So much for the idea that a History major can't lead to a successful career.
Coe College (https://public.coe.edu/historyweb/athletics_other_coaches_levy_marv_bio.htm) says he graduated from there having studied economics and pre-law. But it agrees he got a master’s studying English history at Harvard.
Wherever the truth lies, he was a one of a kind coach, and has had a one-of-a-kind life..
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