Chargers Coach Sid Gillman with Jack Kemp in a photo published Nov. 7, 1961

His team on the way to face the defending NFL champion Detroit
Lions, Sid Gillman was rewarded with a new contract to continue
coaching the Rams. He must have felt on top of the world, working for a
franchise on the move.

The Rams, after all, had hired Gillman in 1955 and he led them to
that season’s NFL championship game, where they lost to the Cleveland
Browns. His 1958 Rams were high-powered and talented and headed for an
8-4 finish. And he obviously had the support of the Rams’ young general
manager, Pete Rozelle.

Funny how things worked out.

Los Angeles Times file photograph

Rams coach Sid Gillman with Mrs. Paul Schwegler, left, and Mrs. Lloyd Frederick in a publicity shot for the Rams-Redskins Times charity football game, Aug. 14, 1957.

The Rams suffered through a 2-10 season in 1959 and in 1960 Rozelle
became the surprise choice as NFL commissioner. By 1960, Gillman was
still in L.A. but coaching the AFL’s Chargers in their first and only
season in the Coliseum.

Gillman became an institution in San Diego, coaching the Chargers
until 1971. He won an AFL title with the Chargers in 1963 and is
remembered for his sophisticated approach to offensive football.

Photograph by Ben Olender and Larry Sharkey Los Angeles Times

Rams coach Sid Gillman with a "triple threat punch" of Jon Arnett, Ollie Matson and Tom Wilson, July 25, 1959.

"He took football to another level, the technical aspects of it,"
Hall of Fame Coach Bill Walsh was quoted by The Times’ Sam Farmer in
Gillman’s 2003 obituary. "He picked up the reins as being the top
offensive mind in all of football. Sid was brilliant, a visionary."

Walsh was one of many coaches influenced by Gillman. There’s a great
old photo in Gillman’s files in The Times library from his days as Los
Angeles Chargers coach. His assistants pictured with him included
Raiders owner Al Davis, former Steelers coach Chuck Noll and longtime
Ram official Jack Faulkner.   

The list of coaches connected to Gillman goes on and on.

Davis told The Times: "Obviously, he exerted an influence on my life. The great ones, time never ends for them."

Gillman’s time in Los Angeles was relatively short, but his
influence was felt there too. Bob Oates, The Times’ longtime NFL
writer, put Gillman in perspective: "There was a November day in 1957
when a Ram-49er game packed in a record crowd of 102,368 at the
Coliseum. That was Gillman’s doing. His offense was so entertaining
that the game sold out even though, that morning, the Rams stood dead
last in their division. He won too, 37-24."