If he wasn’t an all-time great, Lou Saban was at least an all-timer.
One of the NFL’s most colorful coaching personalities and the first “name” head coach in Broncos history, Saban died Sunday at his home in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. Saban, who was 87, had suffered from heart problems and recently was hospitalized from a fall.
“Lou Saban should be credited as the individual who first brought respectability to the Denver Broncos,” Pat Bowlen, the team’s owner, said in a statement. “Even though I was not here at the time, upon buying the Broncos in 1984, I began learning the history of the club and realized Lou’s importance to this franchise. It was Lou who moved the Broncos into their first training facility and changed the team’s helmet design to the style featuring the ‘D’ with the horse, a logo that became so symbolic with this franchise and its success for nearly 30 years.”
After leading the Buffalo Bills to back-to-back AFL championships in 1964-65, Saban suddenly quit to coach the University of Maryland in 1966, then just as suddenly returned to the AFL and the Broncos in 1967.
His first draft choice was a running back out of Syracuse named Floyd Little.
“We had our differences but at the end of the day we became great friends,” Little said Sunday. “He once fired me in the Buffalo game and I refused to go into the locker room. I wound up catching a long pass from Marlin Briscoe near the end of the game and we kicked a field goal to win it and on the way into the locker room, Lou hired me back.”
Little was referring to the Nov. 24, 1968, game when he fumbled late, setting up a go-ahead Bills field goal. The fiery Saban admonished Little in front of the home Bears Stadium crowd.
Fired? Suffice to say it was a different time when many coaches believed the best way to motivate players was to belittle them. Saban often took this tactic to an extreme, although Little considered him a players’ coach.
“He could not have coached in the National Football League today,” Little said. “He told you how long you could wear your pants. You couldn’t wear sideburns, you had to wear a shirt and a tie. He was old school. And I loved it. He hollered and screamed at me as much as anyone else. But at the end of the game he’d put his arm around me and say, ‘I love you, man. Just hang in there and we’ll get you some help.'”
Little’s heroics after he refused Saban’s termination order set up a Bobby Howfield field goal that rallied the Broncos past the Bills, 34-32 in one of the last games at Denver’s home field named Bears Stadium (it was renamed Mile High Stadium a few weeks later).
But it was an all-too-rare win in the Saban era. He was 20-42-3 in Denver before he was fired following the ninth game of the 1971 season.
He returned to Buffalo the following season and again enjoyed success while getting the full potential out of running back O.J. Simpson. Saban coached the Bills from 1972-76, a period when Simpson had his only five 1,000-yard seasons, including his historical 2,003-yard season in 1973.
Saban continued to coach in college, most recently in 1983-84 for Central Florida, the college that later produced Bronco players Brandon Marshall and Matt Prater. If Saban’s teams didn’t always win, his unique spirit has never been forgotten. Little said he talked to his former coach usually once a year, most recently last September.
“On Mondays he’d run the game film, and he’d point out mistakes with a flashpoint that had an antennae on it _ nobody ever sat in the first three rows,” Little said, laughing at the memory. “He would challenge you. I remember once at halftime of a New England game, he wanted to fight us all. But I liked that. I’m very sorry to hear he has passed because I have lost a great friend.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
