John Richard Symank (August 31, 1935 – January 23, 2002) was an American college and professional football player who was a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for seven seasons during the 1950s and 1960s. Symank played college football for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

and St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL. He was later the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

for

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

and the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of ...

football teams.

Early life

Symank was born in

LaGrange, Texas La Grange ( ) is a city in Fayette County, Texas, United States, near the Colorado River. La Grange is in the center of the Texas-German belt. The population was 4,391 at the 2020 census, and in 2018 the estimated population was 4,632. La Grange ...

in 1935,Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
John Symank
Retrieved July 8, 2010. to Oswald "Curly" and Ann Pauline Symank. Symank's family was of Wendish descent, a Slavic group that emigrated to Central Texas in the mid-nineteenth century from Germany. Symank's father died when Johnny was only 8 years old. Symank attended Caldwell High School in

Caldwell, Texas Caldwell is a city in and the county seat of Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,993 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area. Caldwell is the home of the Czech Heritage Museum, whi ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
John Symank
. Retrieved June 3, 2010. where he excelled in sports and lettered in high school football and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

for the Caldwell Hornets.

College career

After graduating from high school, Symank attended Arlington State Junior College in Arlington, Texas, and played for the Arlington Rebels football team under coach

Chena Gilstrap Claude Robbins "Chena" Gilstrap (July 31, 1914 – August 9, 2002) was an American football coach. He was the ninth head football coach at Arlington State College—now known as the University of Texas at Arlington—serving for 13 seasons, from ...

in 1953 and 1954. Symank enrolled in the college's

Reserve Officer Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

(ROTC) unit to fulfill his military obligation and remained an active ROTC member throughout his college career. Symank accepted an athletic scholarship to transfer to the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Bob Woodruff's

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division ...

team in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yiji ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 186 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. Woodruff later ranked Symank as one of the five best defensive backs to play for the Gators during the 1950s, and one of the ten best offensive backs of the decade. While he was a Gator, he earned two varsity letters in both football and track, and became a captain in the university's ROTC unit. Symank graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1957, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional playing career

Green Bay Packers scout

Jack Vainisi Jack Vainisi (August 27, 1927 – November 27, 1960) was an American scout and personnel director for the Green Bay Packers from 1950 to 1960. At the age of 23, he was hired by Packers head coach Gene Ronzani to lead the team's player perso ...

"discovered" Symank, and the Packers subsequently selected him in the twenty-third round (268th pick overall) of the

1957 NFL Draft The 1957 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on November 26, 1956, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia and its final twenty-six rounds on January 31, 1957 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel also in Philadelphia. This w ...

. Despite Symank making the NFL record books his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season with nine pass

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s,National Football League, Historical Players
John Symank
Retrieved June 3, 2010. Green Bay finished the season with a losing 3–9 record. During the season, the Packers played the undefeated

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

on their home field in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in the third game of the season. The Colts had talented second-year

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

and were on their way to 1958 NFL Championship. In the second quarter, Symank made a hit on Unitas that resulted in three broken ribs and a punctured lung. Some sports commentators described it as a "late hit" that happened as the play ended; Sarah Symank said that after the Packers reviewed the film, "it appeared to be a clean hit." Baltimore fans, and especially the press, were not so forgiving and many sports columnists accused Symank of breaking Unitas' ribs in a questionable play. The Colts won the game 56–0, and Unitas missed only two games from his injury. Years later, when Symank was a Baltimore Colts assistant coach, and Unitas was retired from football, the two became close friends. After two back-to-back losing seasons with the Packers, Symank's career fortunes turned when new coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

took total control of the Green Bay Packers organization—on and off the field. Lombardi, who had worked the previous five seasons as an assistant coach for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, was an enthusiastic leader eager to prove himself as a head coach. The Packers narrowly missed a shot at the NFL championship and Lombardi was recognized as the NFL coach of the year in . In , the Packers returned with renewed confidence in themselves and Lombardi's system and philosophy. Symank led the Packers in both interception-return and kickoff-return yardage, helping his team get to the

1960 NFL Championship Game The 1960 NFL Championship Game was the 28th NFL title game. The game was played on Monday, December 26, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvan ...

. During the game, the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, on second down, threw a pass from the Packers' five-yard-line that Symank intercepted in the end zone for a touchback. This set up three downs and out as Packers quarterback

Bart Starr Bryan Bartlett Starr (January 9, 1934 – May 26, 2019) was an American professional football quarterback and head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Al ...

threw three straight incomplete passes. On a fake punt play that was not ordered by Lombardi, Packers punter Max McGee ran thirty-five yards up the middle of the field for the first down; the Packers then drove the length of the field for a touchdown, putting the Packers back in the game. Despite the Packers furious fourth-quarter efforts, they fell eight yards short of winning the 1960 NFL championship as time expired; the final score was Philadelphia over Green Bay 17–13. During the season, Lombardi led the Packers to an improved record of 11–3, a Western Conference title, and a short trip to the

1961 NFL Championship Game The 1961 NFL Championship Game was the 29th title game. It was played on December 31 at "New" City Stadium, later known as Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with an attendance of 39,029. The game was a match-up of the Eastern Conferen ...

. The New Year's Eve game, held in Green Bay, was the first NFL game ever to gross over one million dollars, and was attended by 39,029 people. Symank started and played in almost every defensive play of the game, as the Packers defense held the Giants scoreless in a 37–0 blow-out. The following season, Lombardi led Symank and the Packers to another victory in the

1962 NFL Championship Game The 1962 NFL Championship Game was the 30th NFL title game, played on December 30 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It matched the New York Giants (12–2) of the Eastern Conference and Green Bay Packers (13–1) of the Western Conference, th ...

. In , Symank was traded along with

Bill Quinlan William David Quinlan (June 19, 1932 – November 10, 2015) was an American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, and the Wash ...

to the New York Giants. Before Symank ever wore a Giants uniform, he was traded again to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played his final 9–5 season under coach

Wally Lemm Walter Horner Lemm (October 23, 1919 – October 8, 1988) was an American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels and achieved his greatest prominence as head coach of the American Football League's Houston Oilers an ...

. During Symank's seven-year NFL career, he played in eighty-nine regular season games, recovered twelve fumbles, intercepted nineteen passes and returning them for 387 yards and a touchdown.

Coaching career

Early assistantships

Symank's college and professional coaching career spanned two and a half decades. Symank's first assistant coaching job was at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Bill Arnsparger, a relationship that spanned Symank's entire coaching career. In 1965, he went to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...

and worked under head coach George Blackburn. Norb Hecker, one of Lombardi's assistants who coached Symank at Green Bay, became the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, the NFL's new expansions team, in . Hecker recruited Symank to join the Falcons' first coaching staff. In , Symank and Hecker were joined in Atlanta by former Packer Lew Carpenter. The Falcons' owner was frustrated with his team's 4–26–1 record, and Hecker was fired after the third game of his third season. Former Eagles quarterback Norm Van Brocklin took over as the Falcons head coach for the balance of the season, and the Falcons assistant coaches including Symank were fired at season's end.

College head coach

Symank was the head football coach for

(NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1969 and 1970,College Football Data Warehouse, All-Time Coaching Records
John Symank Records by Year
. Retrieved July 9, 2010. He picked his former Packers teammate and quarterback

Lamar McHan Clarence Lamar McHan (December 16, 1932 – November 23, 1998) was an American football player and coach. He played professionally for ten seasons as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Cardinals, Green Bay Packers ...

as his offensive coordinator and C. O. Brocato, a very successful coach at Jesuit High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, as his

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

. The trio coached the NAU Lumberjacks together for two years and moved again when his alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington (formerly Arlington State Junior College), asked him to be the head coach of the

UT Arlington Mavericks The UT Arlington Mavericks (abbreviated UT Arlington, UTA, and Mavs) are the athletic teams that represent the University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The Mavericks currently compete in the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Confere ...

. Symank was the eleventh head college football coach for the Arlington Mavericks, and he held that position for three seasons, from 1971 until 1973. He and his assistants assumed command over a completely demoralized team and set out to rebuild the program using the same techniques he had learned from Lombardi. Symank's three-year win–loss record at UT Arlington was 11–21.

Return to the NFL

Bill Arnsparger became the head coach of the New York Giants in , and called Symank to join his new staff. After winning just seven games in three seasons, Arnsparger was fired in . Symank was hired by

Ted Marchibroda Theodore Joseph Marchibroda (March 15, 1931 – January 16, 2016) was an American football quarterback and head coach in the National Football League (NFL). He spent his four years as an active player with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1953, 1955&nda ...

as an assistant coach for the Baltimore Colts, and also coached under Marchibroda's successor, Mike McCormack, from to . After years of frustration, the Colts management was ready to make major changes, so Symank, along with the rest of the Colts coaches, were fired.

At home in Louisiana

In 1984 a new opportunity presented itself when Bill Arnsparger accepted the head coaching position at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

(LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hired to be the LSU defensive coordinator, Symank was the first assistant hired by Arnsparger. The

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

posted an 8–3–2 record, including the loss to Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl. Arnsparger earned the SEC's Coach of the Year award for turning around an LSU program that had a losing 4–7 record the year before. In 1985 the Tigers came back even stronger, and Symank moved from defensive coordinator to coach the Tigers linebackers and coordinate Arnsparger's recruiting program. He had an affinity for recruiting small town high school players, and felt it was his duty to give promising young players the same chance he had been given. A college education, four years playing college football, and maybe a shot at an NFL roster, but most importantly, Symank would always say: "get that diploma because no matter how good you are, you can't play forever." Symank died at his beach house on

Dauphin Island, Alabama Dauphin Island is an island town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States, on a barrier island of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico. It incorporated in 1988. The population was 1,778 at the 2020 census, up from 1,238 at the 2010 census. The ...

in 2002; he was 66 years old. He was survived by his wife Sarah and their children.

Head coaching record

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * Maraniss, David, ''When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi'', Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York (1999). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Symank, John 1935 births 2002 deaths American football safeties Atlanta Falcons coaches Baltimore Colts coaches Florida Gators football players Florida Gators men's track and field athletes Green Bay Packers players LSU Tigers football coaches New York Giants coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football coaches St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Tulane Green Wave football coaches Texas–Arlington Mavericks football coaches Texas–Arlington Mavericks football players Caldwell High School (Caldwell, Texas) alumni Virginia Cavaliers football coaches People from La Grange, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas American people of Sorbian descent