Former Patriots head coach Mike Holovak passes away

[Minuteman07]

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots are saddened to learn that former head coach Mike Holovak passed away today at the age of 88. Holovak spent nearly eight seasons as the head coach of the Boston Patriots (1961-68) and led the franchise to its first championship game appearance following the 1963 season.

“Mike Holovak was a great coach and a wonderful person,” said Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft. “I remember watching Mike’s Boston College teams in the 1950s and his Patriots teams in the 1960s. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend time with him on several occasions. Our team has lost one of its founding fathers and the entire Patriots family is saddened by Mike’s passing.”

After a nine-year tenure as the head coach at Boston College, Holovak served as the offensive backfield coach and director of player personnel during the Patriots’ inaugural season in 1960. He was named head coach prior to the sixth game of the 1961 season and immediately turned the team’s fortunes around. He took over a 2-3-1 club and led it to seven wins in its final eight games to finish the season with a 9-4-1 record, just a game behind Houston, that season’s eventual American Football League champion. The accomplishment was a marked improvement over the team’s 5-9 record in the 1960 campaign. Holovak led the Patriots to an identical 9-4-1 record in 1962, but again fell just short of the divisional title, finishing a half-game out of first place.

In the 1963 season, Holovak’s Patriots achieved the franchise’s first playoff victory, defeating the Buffalo Bills in a divisional playoff matchup to advance to the 1963 AFL championship game. The following season, the Patriots posted a 10-3-1 record, setting a franchise record for victories that stood for a dozen years.

Holovak’s 53 victories as Patriots head coach rank second in franchise history after Bill Belichick (105). His tenure of 107 games on the New England sidelines also ranks second in team annals, trailing Belichick’s 144 games as head coach.

Holovak coached five of the 12 members of the Patriots Hall of Fame: LB Nick Buoniconti, WR/K Gino Cappelletti, DE Bob Dee, DT Jim Lee Hunt and QB Vito “Babe” Parilli. During Holovak’s tenure, two Patriots won the AFL’s Most Valuable Player Award: Cappelletti (1964) and RB Jim Nance (1966).

at:

 

[Wandering Athol]

Taken liberally from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Holovak:

Holovak served as co-captain of a Boston College Eagles squad that entered the final weeks of the 1942 campaign as the top-ranked college team in the country. They were upset by arch-rival Holy Cross College, a defeat that canceled a victory party that night at Boston's Cocoanut Grove hotel. That decision proved to be chillingly wise when a horrendous fire swept through the building that night, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more.

Holovak would compete in the 1943 Orange Bowl, a contest in which he rushed for 158 yards on just 10 carries and scored a record-setting three touchdowns. He earned All-America honors that season and finished fourth in voting for the Heisman Trophy.

Holovak was drafted in the 1st round by the Cleveland Rams in 1943. Holovak, however, enlisted in the Navy, going on to command a PT boat that sank nine Japanese ships, and later battling malaria. One of his brothers lost his life during the four-year conflict.

By 1946, the Rams had relocated to Los Angeles. During his one season with the team, he gained 211 yards and scored three touchdowns.

Traded to the Chicago Bears on January 27, 1947, Holovak would lead the pass-oriented Windy City squad in rushing during each of the next two years.

He was named head coach at Boston College on December 30, 1950, and coached there for 9 mostly-successful years.

Named head coach of the Patriots in 1961, he would get the team to the AFL Championship game in 1963, and would win AFL Coach of the Year honors in both 1964 and 1966, while also serving as general manager. Holovak was fired from both positions in 1969, ending his Patriots tenure with a mark of 53-47-9.

Holovak spent the next two years as an assistant with the 49ers, around the time of which personal tragedy struck, when his 18-year-old daughter Ann, one of two girls, was killed in an auto accident on the night of her senior prom.

Holovak would spend a season as an assistant coach with the Raiders; then a scout, assistant coach, director of player personnel, and briefly head coach (replacing Lou Holtz) of the Jets, before resigning in 1977.

In 1980, he was elected to the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, then returned to football in 1981, when he was named executive vice-president of the Houston Oilers. Holovak made his most adept move when he strongly recommended the signing of Canadian Football League quarterback Warren Moon in 1984.

Holovak was named general manager of the Oilers in 1989. He remained in that role until the end of 1993 NFL season, but remained a scout for the franchise, which later shifted to Tennessee, until retiring for good in 1999.

Going back to his college days, the man was involved with some aspect of football for almost 60 years.

R.I.P. at:

 

[TrueBeliever]

That sucks.

One time I DVD'd an NFL Films special called "Patriot Games" about some of the big moments in the franchise's history, and they had a segment on Holovak. That was the first time I really knew anything about him. Seemed like a really good guy.

Why is it that so many of these good AFL people - Holovak, Lamar Hunt, etc. - have gone to that big football stadium in the sky, but Al Davis continues to live and thrive?

 

[Claremonster]

Wow... this guy goes waaaaay back. Sad, but I hope he enjoyed watching the Patriot's current success...

 

[thomas144]

Quite honestly I'm surprised he was still alive.

The thing I remember about Mike Holovak was that in those days, it seemed like the Patriots would be good in every other year.

I wonder if he was the last Patriots coach to wear a jacket and tie and hat on the sidelines. I'd like to see Belichick dress like that as a tribute.