{"id":194339,"date":"2026-08-19T11:47:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=194339"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:47:59","slug":"sid_gillman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/en\/sid_gillman\/","title":{"rendered":"Sid Gillman: Innovator and Star Jewish NFL Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Growing up in Los Angeles\u2019s Boyle Heights neighborhood, Ron Mix was one Jew among many. But then his parents divorced and his mother moved with Mix and his brother into her brother\u2019s home in nearby Hawthorne, an area lacking Jews. Mix\u2019s life suddenly had been turned upside down.<br><br>But when Mix was a junior in high school, he learned that his favorite National Football League team, the Los Angeles Rams, hired Sid Gillman as head coach. Gillman had been an accomplished player \u2014 as an offensive end at Ohio State University, he played in the first College All-Star Game \u2014 and then a standout coach at Ohio\u2019s Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. And Gillman was Jewish.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"280\" height=\"543\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-26-1952-edition-of-the-american-jewish-world.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-26-1952-edition-of-the-american-jewish-world.jpg 280w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-26-1952-edition-of-the-american-jewish-world-155x300.jpg 155w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A report on Sid Gillman, then a young coach at the University of Cincinnati. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/amjwld\/1952\/09\/26\/01\/article\/21\/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI--------------1\">From the September 26, 1952 edition of <em>The American Jewish World<\/em><\/a>, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy father was a Russian-Jewish immigrant. My mother\u2019s parents were immigrants. \u2026 As a kid, you\u2019re searching for identity, so it was important for me to find out that Sid was Jewish,\u201d Mix said from his home in San Diego in a video interview for this article.<br><br>Mix went on to become a football star at the offensive tackle position and played nearly all of his professional career for one coach: Gillman.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"671\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-671x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-671x600.jpg 671w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-300x268.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-768x687.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-1536x1374.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gillman-c-as-rams-coach-in-the-1950s-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1-2048x1832.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 671px) 100vw, 671px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gillman (c.) as Rams&#8217; coach in the 1950s. Courtesy Pro Football Hall of Fame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The two men helped to make the Chargers \u2014 the franchise started in Los Angeles in 1960 and relocated to San Diego \u2014 perennial contenders in the newly formed American Football League that reached five title games and won one championship. And, four years apart, Mix (1979) and Gillman (1983) were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Gillman died at 91 in 2003.<br><br>Just ahead of the start of the new NFL season, the shrine held its annual induction ceremony on August 8. Mix, 88, was there amongst more than 100 returning honorees. So was linebacker Andre Tippett, who converted to Judaism after his playing days with the New England Patriots, and the Green Bay Packers\u2019 retired general manager, Ron Wolf. Another Jewish inductee, Marv Levy, couldn\u2019t make it, but the Buffalo Bills\u2019 former coach might be excused, having just celebrated his 101st birthday.<br><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"478\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-478x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-478x600.jpg 478w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-239x300.jpg 239w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-768x964.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1224x1536.jpg 1224w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1632x2048.jpg 1632w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-on-the-sideline-of-the-san-diego-chargers-in-1965-or-1966-with-players-jim-allison-32-john-hadl-21-and-steve-tensi-13-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-scaled.jpg 2040w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sid Gillman on the sideline of the San Diego Chargers in 1965 or 1966 with players Jim Allison (32), John Hadl (21) and Steve Tensi (13). Courtesy Pro Football Hall of Fame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Levy, like Gillman, earned his way in as a coach. So did the late Al Davis, who coached, owned and was the general manager of the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders. The best-ever Jewish players in the Hall of Fame were the late quarterbacks Sid Luckman of the Chicago Bears and Benny Friedman, primarily with the New York Giants.<br><br>Gillman made his reputation as a mastermind when it came to offense: advancing the ball down the field and producing points. As with many great sports coaches, Gillman innovated. His father, an immigrant from Austria, worked in movie theaters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Gillman was born and grew up, and Sid, as a coach, would splice film clips of football games and study them. With the Rams in 1956, he even hired Mickey Dukich as one of the first assistant coaches tasked with preparing film for Gillman to study an upcoming opponent\u2019s offensive and defensive plays.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"516\" height=\"581\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-23-1955-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-23-1955-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news.jpg 516w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-september-23-1955-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news-266x300.jpg 266w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/chncijn\/1955\/09\/23\/01\/article\/66\">From the September 23, 1955 edition of <em>The Intermountain Jewish News<\/em><\/a>, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Gillman devised plays coded in three digits, a shorthand system for a quarterback to alert receivers what routes to run. He incorporated running backs into the passing attack. He had some receivers line up \u201coutside the numbers,\u201d meaning between the hashmarks and sidelines, to enable more passes toward the edges of the field, rather than in the middle, which was more congested.<br><br>\u201cHe had a good concept of how to stretch defenses. He was trying to create confusion,\u201d said John Turney, a football historian. \u201cIt sounds simple now, but it\u2019s not what they were doing then\u2026 He was ahead of the curve.\u201d<br><br>Gillman helped to transform football from a game high on brute force \u2014 the quarterback handing the football to a runner to charge behind beefy linemen who pancaked opponents \u2014 to one utilizing the whole field, and creative planning, to produce greater yardage in each attempt.<br><br>Gillman\u2019s influence resulted in his concepts being replicated across the league, particularly when his assistant coaches \u2014 notably George Allen, Chuck Noll and Davis \u2014 became head coaches elsewhere. Another notable example is Don Coryell, San Diego State University\u2019s head coach, who attended Gillman\u2019s practices and went on to institute explosive offenses there and with the NFL\u2019s St. Louis Cardinals and Chargers; one of Coryell\u2019s assistant coaches, Joe Gibbs, accompanied Coryell at Gillman\u2019s practices and, in turn, led the Washington Redskins to unprecedented success. In his last NFL job, Gillman was\u00a0 hired by Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil as quarterbacks coach. Gillman helped to significantly improve the play of Ron Jaworski, which landed the Eagles in their first Super Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"245\" height=\"490\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-march-13-1987-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-march-13-1987-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news.jpg 245w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/from-the-march-13-1987-edition-of-the-intermountain-jewish-news-150x300.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;honored by Ben Gurion University of the Negev&#8221; &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/chncijn\/1987\/03\/13\/01\/page\/30\">From the March 13, 1987 edition of <em>The Intermountain Jewish News<\/em><\/a>, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s the guy who turned us around offensively, as far as being innovative,\u201d Jaworski said in a 2000 book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/books\/NNL_ALEPH004730364\/NLI\">Great Jews in Sports<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allen, Noll, Coryell, Gibbs and Vermeil later joined Gillman as Hall of Fame enshrinees.<br><br>Gillman \u201ccertainly had tons of respect from other folks,\u201d Turney said. \u201cHe was called The Father of the Modern-day Passing Game.\u201d<br><br>The eldest of Gillman\u2019s four children, daughter Lyle, said her father thought that discrimination kept him from becoming head coach of Ohio State, a perennial power in collegiate football.<br><br>\u201cDad had a lot of antisemitism in those years. Dad always mentioned it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"418\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-418x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-194369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-418x600.jpg 418w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-768x1102.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1071x1536.jpg 1071w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-1427x2048.jpg 1427w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sid-gillman-with-his-bust-after-being-inducted-in-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-in-1983-courtesy-pro-football-hall-of-fame-scaled.jpg 1784w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sid Gillman with his bust after being inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Courtesy Pro Football Hall of Fame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Her parents, who were married 67 years, supported Jewish causes, but her mother, Esther, took a more active role because of Sid\u2019s long hours as a coach, Lyle Gillman said.<br><br>Shortly after Sid Gillman\u2019s death, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/jweekly\/1983\/08\/12\/article\/12\/?srpos=3&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI-sid+gillman-------------1\">a chair in his memory was established<\/a> at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. It was endowed by three San Diego businessmen and hundreds of additional contributors. The fund goes for sport-related activities on campus, a univeristy official said recently.<br>\u00a0<br>Turney said that, were Gillman alive, he\u2019d ask him plenty, such as how he identified mismatches against an opposing defense. Mix said he and Gillman rarely discussed even football matters \u2014 that Gillman wasn\u2019t the type to relate directly with players. Nor, Mix said, did they speak about the long-ago impact of Gillman\u2019s being hired by the Rams.<br><br>\u201cI don\u2019t remember any personal conversation with Sid as a coach,\u201d Mix said.<br><br>Gillman lived for decades in San Diego, but was buried in Los Angeles, in a Jewish cemetery near Hollywood where such film and broadcast legends as Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Jack Benny and Dinah Shore were laid to rest.<br><br>\u201cHe\u2019s buried with the stars,\u201d said Mix. \u201cHe was a star.\u201d<br><br><em>Writer-editor Hillel Kuttler may be reached at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:hk@HillelTheScribeCommunications.com\"><em>hk@HillelTheScribeCommunications.com<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gillman succeeded at both the collegiate and professional levels of American football, with his innovative methods inspiring others and bringing greater excitement to the game.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":194340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[1737,5077],"tags2":[2784,5078],"class_list":["post-194339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora","tag-american-jewry","tag-jews-in-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sid Gillman: Innovator and Star Jewish NFL Coach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gillman succeeded at both the collegiate and professional levels of American football, with his innovative methods inspiring others and bringing greater excitement to the game.\" \/>\n<meta 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