Red Strader

Red Strader

No. 7
Chicago Cardinals
Career highlights and awards
Third-team All-American (1924 )
Career stats
Coaching stats at Pro Football Reference
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	U.S. Navy
Years of service	1942–1946
Rank	Lt. Commander
Battles/wars	World War II

Norman Parker "Red" Strader (December 21, 1902 – May 26, 1956) was an American football player and coach who served in both capacities at the collegiate and professional levels. In the college ranks, he spent two years as head coach at Saint Mary's College of California, and later held the same position with the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), and the New York Yanks and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL).

High school and college

Born in

In 1928, Strader took his first football coaching job when accepted the top job for Regis College in Colorado. By 1932, he returned to Saint Mary's working under Madigan for the next eight seasons, but when health problems forced Madigan to retire, Strader was promoted to head coach on March 17, 1940.

After two seasons as head coach, Strader was irritated when the Gaels' Bay area rival, the University of San Francisco, blocked the team from using their regular field at Kezar Stadium. However, greater considerations due to the onset of World War II and Saint Mary's turning over a portion of their campus to naval training caused Strader to resign and spend the next 40 months in the service. During this period, he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander while coaching football and baseball at a trio of naval bases.

Professional

Upon the end of the war, Strader was hired in 1946 as backfield coach of the New York Yankees of the fledgling All-America Football Conference (AAFC). When head coach Ray Flaherty was forced out after a slow start on September 17, 1948, Strader was elevated to take his place. In his first season, the Yankees split their 10 remaining games, then reached the playoffs the following year with an 8–4 mark.

In December 1949, the AAFC was officially merged with the NFL, with a majority of the Yankees players being shifted to the older league's

Strader's anger continued six weeks later when he filed a lawsuit asking for $10,000 in salary from Collins, while also severely criticizing the NFL draft. Despite having only an oral agreement, Strader won his salary case on February 28, 1952, and also gained $1,451 in expenses from Collins, who had since sold the team to a group that had moved and renamed the team as the Dallas Texans.

Briefly considered to replace

San Francisco head coach Buck Shaw was fired on December 13, 1954, after serving as the only coach in franchise history, with Strader being hired 10 days later to replace him. Shaw's main flaw with team owner Tony Morabito was his inability to win a championship, but Morabito said winning a title in his first year would not be reason to dismiss Strader.

In spite of a strong series of wins during the preseason, that opinion would change when the 49ers split their first six contests, then lost to the Los Angeles Rams on November 6, 1955. That defeat caused one fan to hang Strader in effigy outside Kezar Stadium, and by the end of the season, the 49ers had won just four of 12 contests, and dealt with reports of continued conflict between the coach and his players. Upon being fired on December 19, Strader disputed such talk by noting that he had been given the game ball in the season's final game.

Death and lawsuit

Strader had only a short time to ponder his future, dying in his sleep of a heart attack just five months later, the end of cardiac problems that had plagued him for the past two years. On December 12, 1956, Strader's widow, Helen, filed a $27,000 lawsuit against the 49ers, asking for the compensation provided by her husband's contract. Three years later, she received an out-of-court settlement for $18,000.

Head coaching record

College

NFL

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Red Strader at Find a Grave