Charles Francis "Chile" Walsh (February 4, 1903 – September 4, 1971) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, coach, and executive. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

from 1925 to 1927 and served as the head football coach at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

from 1930 to 1933, compiling record of 22–9–2. Walsh was a head coach in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

for the St. Louis Gunners in 1934, tallying a mark of 1–2. He was also an assistant coach for the Cleveland Rams in 1942 and was named the team's head coach in 1943, however the team suspended operations that season due to manning shortages brought on by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1944, Walsh became the team's general manager and named Aldo Donelli as head coach. However, by 1945 Donelli had joined the military, and Walsh replaced him with his older brother,

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

, as the team's new head coach. The Rams won the NFL Championship in 1945. Just before the 1945 NFL Championship Game against the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, Walsh paid $7,200 for 9,000 bales of hay to prevent the field at

Cleveland Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and foot ...

from freezing over. A year later the team relocated to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Walsh signed Kenny Washington, one of the first

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

to play in the National Football League after World War II. Both Walshes left the Rams after the 1946 season.

Head coaching record

College

References

Additional sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Chile 1903 births 1971 deaths American football ends Cleveland Rams executives Los Angeles Rams executives NFL general managers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Players of American football from Des Moines, Iowa Saint Louis Billikens athletic directors Saint Louis Billikens football coaches St. Louis Gunners coaches