This Coach Deserved a Better Ending

San Diego has contributed some very big names to the world of sports. Just read the plaques at the Hall of Champions.

Archie Moore.

Ted Williams.

Bill Walton.

Florence Chadwick.

Gene Littler.

Greg Louganis.

Don Larsen.

Mo Connolly.

Billy Casper.

And the list goes on.

However, those folks enjoyed their greatest successes elsewhere. Their victories came at places such as Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Augusta National, the English Channel, Los Angeles, Portland, Wimbledon and Forest Hills. They went and they conquered.

Now, I ask you which individual has contributed the most to San Diego sports?

Can there be any doubt it is the hawk-eyed football coach who always walked the sidelines as if he had a porcupine under each arm? Can it be anyone other than a man who took an offense and turned it in an airline?

Can it be anyone other than Donald David Coryell?

Remarkably, this man is not in the San Diego Hall of Fame, locally an omission roughly comparable to leaving Babe Ruth out of Cooperstown. And this Hall of Fame cannot use the excuse that it excludes active sports figures, because Charlie Joiner, Louganis and Dennis Conner are all in it.

It just so happens Don Coryell is no longer active, as if that should make any difference.

Coryell made his exit Wednesday, resigning from the Chargers and departing from the stadium before anyone realized he was gone.

This ended an era spanning a quarter of a century, excusing those five years he coached the St. Louis Cardinals. His 12 years at San Diego State included three unbeaten seasons and an incredible record of 104-19-2, and his eight years-plus with the Chargers included four playoff trips and a record of 72-60.

It’s a damn shame it had to end like this. It’s a damn shame he felt he had to slip quietly out a side door. It’s a damn shame he left a ridiculed and ridiculous team with a record of 1-7.

Life is not always fair, is it?

Don Coryell should have gone out on the shoulders of either his players or the community . . . or both. Dozens, probably hundreds, of athletes who served under his command either with the Aztecs or Chargers would have clamored for an opportunity to carry this man on one final triumphant march through cheering multitudes.

What a dismal season this has been. It was to have been Don Coryell’s last season anyway, but there was so much optimism that this last season would provide such a nice farewell.

These expectations were certainly buoyed by that 50-28 win over Miami in the season opener. Ah, this offense known as Air Coryell had certainly attained new levels of proficiency and explosiveness. This offense could move the ball through, over or around the Berlin Wall. No National Football League defense could stop it.

This genius, Don Coryell, had saved his masterpiece for the end. He could hang it on the wall, saunter to the door like a sandy-haired Humphrey Bogart and say, “That’s it, fellows. Top that one.”

It didn’t work quite that way.

The Chargers have not won since that stunning opener. That they have not won since then is more stunning than the opener itself.

And so it was that Don Coryell disappeared, disappointed as he said in a statement, over not having won more games. Ironically, no one in this town has ever won more.

By the time the news conference began late in the afternoon, there was no telling how far Coryell might have gone. He had surely headed for the mountains, which he loved as much as the offense he had taken to so many peaks.

Alex Spanos, the owner, seemed testy that the name Don Coryell kept coming up. He seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable. No more questions? Can I get out of here?

“Don has done a great job over the years,” Spanos said. “His record speaks for itself. When Don came in, turning in his resignation, at that point it was time to look at what happens from today on.”

Wrong, Alex. It was time for a little deeper testimony of what this man has done. It was time for reflection. It was time for nice remembrances. Instead, Mr. Spanos advised the gathering how much he hates to lose.

So did Don Coryell, possibly because he has had so little experience at it.

Al Saunders is following a giant. And he knows it. He gave this news conference the perspective it needed. To his credit.

“Don is one of the finest gentlemen I’ve ever been around in my life,” he said. “People in the organization appreciate what he’s done for us. He’s done a tremendous amount for the City of San Diego, for San Diego State University and the San Diego Chargers.”

That’s right.

And it ended like this. Don Coryell going out 1-7 is like Bob Hope going out with a bad joke or Neil Simon’s last play closing in Hartford or Frank Sinatra forgetting the words to “My Way.” This wasn’t right.

One more wrong must be righted.

When it comes time for the next inductions into the San Diego Hall of Fame, Donald David Coryell had better be there. This Louvre is without its Mona Lisa.

I would run a list of the people who would like to make the presentation, but I can’t.

This section is only 16 pages long.

THE CORYELL YEARS COLLEGE

Year Team Record Pct. Finish 1957 Whittier 6-2-1 .722 First, SCIAC 1958 Whittier 9-1-0 .900 First, SCIAC 1959 Whittier 8-2-0 .800 First, SCIAC 1961 San Diego State 7-2-1 .750 Third, CCAA 1962 San Diego State 8-2-0 .800 First, CCAA 1963 San Diego State 7-2-0 .778 First Tie, CCAA 1964 San Diego State 8-2-0 .800 Second, CCAA 1965 San Diego State 8-2-0 .800 Third, CCAA 1966 San Diego State 11-0-0 1.000 First, CCAA 1967 San Diego State 10-1-0 .909 First, CCAA 1968 San Diego State 9-0-1 .950 Independent 1969 San Diego State 11-0-0 1.000 First, PCAA 1970 San Diego State 9-2-0 .818 First Tie, PCAA 1971 San Diego State 6-5-0 .545 Fourth, PCAA 1972 San Diego State 10-1-0 .909 First, PCAA Totals 127-24-3 .834 NFL 1973 St. Louis 4-9-1 .321 Fourth, NFC East 1974 St. Louis 10-4-0 .714 First, NFC East 1975 St. Louis 11-3-0 .786 First, NFC East 1976 St. Louis 10-4-0 .714 Third, NFC East 1977 St. Louis 7-7-0 .500 Third, NFC East 1978 San Diego 8-4-0 .667 Fourth, AFC West 1979 San Diego 12-4-0 .750 First, AFC West 1980 San Diego 11-5-0 .688 First, AFC West 1981 San Diego 10-6-0 .625 First, AFC West 1982 San Diego 6-3-0 .677 Tie Third, AFC West 1983 San Diego 6-10-0 .375 Fourth, AFC West 1984 San Diego 7-9-0 .438 Fifth, AFC West 1985 San Diego 8-8-0 .500 Fourth, AFC West 1986 San Diego 1-7-0 .125 Resigned, Midseason Playoffs 3-6-0 .333 Totals 114-89-1 .561