Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I found a great article on Heartley "Hunk" Anderson from CC 3, No 2 (1981) by Emil Klosinski.

http://profootballresearchers.com/archi ... 02-058.pdf

George Halas called Hunk the "greatest line coach who ever lived."
Knute Rockne's opinion was: "No one knows more about line play or can teach it better than Hunk
Anderson."

JuggernautJ wrote:These name only replies are wonderful but something about the coach would be a lot more informative.

Monte Clark - was only an OL coach for six years before 'graduating' to the HC ranks for the remainder of his career. But his accomplishments on the 1970-1975 Dolphins are remarkable. The 1972-1973 Dolphins are arguably the greatest NFL team ever, and I think the OL was the heart of the team. The Dolphins controlled the ball with sustained drives, often scoring early TDs then bleeding out the clock. "No-Name" was a fine defense, but they were aided by getting early leads and having the opponent constantly playing from behind.

What stands out to me about Clark is the composition of his OL. Wayne Moore was an undrafted free agent, Bob Kuechenberg was a fourth round pick by the Eagles, didn't make it through camp, and Miami eventually acquired him from a minor league team. Jim Langer was an undrafted free agent. Larry Little was an undrafted free agent acquired from San Diego via trade. Norm Evans was a 14th round pick acquired via the expansion draft (greatest expansion draft pick ever?). 3 free agents, a 4th round pick, a 14th round pick, and none of the players actually drafted by the Dolphins. Compare that to the Raiders great line of the same era...Upshaw 1st round, Otto 2nd round, Shell 3rd round, Buehler 2nd round, Vella 2nd round.

The Dolphins were somewhat ahead of the game when it came to strength training, and all the members could physically handle any DL one-on-one. A big reason Langer is in the HOF (instead of other C's like Mick Tingelhoff) is that he could block the top DTs without any help. Even after Csonka/Warfield/Kiick left for the WFL, the Dolphins offense in 1975 remained one of the tops in the league, rushing for 2500 yards and 26 TDs with Mercury Morris, Don Nottingham & Norm Bulaich.

Thank you very much!
I learned a lot from that.

I was only familiar with Monte Clark as a Head Coach.

Fritz Heisler was an offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns during the late 1940's, the 1950's, and 1960's. Cleveland just about always had very good offensive lines during those times.

Heisler played on Paul Brown's high school teams at Massilon during the 1930's.

Bryan wrote:

JuggernautJ wrote:These name only replies are wonderful but something about the coach would be a lot more informative.

Monte Clark - was only an OL coach for six years before 'graduating' to the HC ranks for the remainder of his career. But his accomplishments on the 1970-1975 Dolphins are remarkable. The 1972-1973 Dolphins are arguably the greatest NFL team ever, and I think the OL was the heart of the team. The Dolphins controlled the ball with sustained drives, often scoring early TDs then bleeding out the clock. "No-Name" was a fine defense, but they were aided by getting early leads and having the opponent constantly playing from behind.

What stands out to me about Clark is the composition of his OL. Wayne Moore was an undrafted free agent, Bob Kuechenberg was a fourth round pick by the Eagles, didn't make it through camp, and Miami eventually acquired him from a minor league team. Jim Langer was an undrafted free agent. Larry Little was an undrafted free agent acquired from San Diego via trade. Norm Evans was a 14th round pick acquired via the expansion draft (greatest expansion draft pick ever?). 3 free agents, a 4th round pick, a 14th round pick, and none of the players actually drafted by the Dolphins. Compare that to the Raiders great line of the same era...Upshaw 1st round, Otto 2nd round, Shell 3rd round, Buehler 2nd round, Vella 2nd round.

The Dolphins were somewhat ahead of the game when it came to strength training, and all the members could physically handle any DL one-on-one. A big reason Langer is in the HOF (instead of other C's like Mick Tingelhoff) is that he could block the top DTs without any help. Even after Csonka/Warfield/Kiick left for the WFL, the Dolphins offense in 1975 remained one of the tops in the league, rushing for 2500 yards and 26 TDs with Mercury Morris, Don Nottingham & Norm Bulaich.

When Clark retired, comments were offered about how he was a "student of the game" and showed plenty of patience, traits that allowed him to immediately transition from player to coach. One story was that when a reporter didn't understand what he was trying to say when it came to a blocking assignment, Clark would bring out his notebook to explain his comments.