ExiledInIllinois Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Age not an obstacle for lively Levy Not sure if it was posted... Anyway, here is the Trib article by Don Pierson. The actual newspaper article gives a photo of a fit, spry looking 80 year old Levy stretching along the Chicago lakefront before a run. Also, interesting is that Levy had been doing analysis for Comcast here in ChicagoLand. At dinner on Monday, I was talking to my wife's friend (born and raised in Chicago...50ish) and he was lamenting how Levy knows his sh*t and would be great if somehow the Bears org picks him up... He got noisey with me when I said: "Watch, Marv will be the next GM for the BILLS." He said: "We AREN'T TALKING ABOUT THE BILLS HERE! " Interesting that Levy was let down when they hired Angelo as GM in Chicago, (Dick) Jauron and later (Lovie) Smith as head coach. For once I am glad that Chicago won in 2001 and 2005... Maybe their wins (and subsequent crashes... Gonna happen this year again, just like in 2001 when the Bears went 13-3... ) are our gain? Anyway, I am rambling... Enjoy the article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sound_n_Fury Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Article: Marv Levy turned 80 in August and had been wondering when the phone was going to ring to offer him a job. It apparently did when Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson, 87, announced Wednesday he is considering bringing Levy back to help restore the team Levy coached to four Super Bowls in a row. Levy most likely would assume many of the duties of general manager Tom Donohoe, fired Wednesday. "We're going to make that decision in the next few days," Wilson said. "Marv is a very qualified individual and I don't know whether that will take place or not." Wilson said he has not determined the status of coach Mike Mularkey, who has three years left on his contract. The owner said he plans to be more involved than he has been the last five years and will take back the role of team president, which also belonged to Donohoe. Wilson said assistant general manager Tom Modrak will retain his duties but is not a candidate for the GM job. Levy would be tempted to name himself coach. While living with wife Fran in Chicago, he wanted the Bears' general manager job Jerry Angelo got when Levy was only 75. Three years later, Levy wanted the job coach Lovie Smith got. When the phone didn't ring, Levy went about the business of getting elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001, singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" for his beloved Cubs, appearing as a television analyst and writing his autobiography "Where Else Would You Rather Be?" (Sports Publishing, 2004) without any help from a ghostwriter. In the book, Levy wrote: "I could coach for another 10 years, at least." That would have had him pushing 90. He had retired as Bills coach after the 1997 season, a couple of years after a bout with prostate cancer, but soon felt rejuvenated. The only concession he makes to age is a loss of hearing. This could be a good thing now that criticism invariably will follow his return. There was a time when Levy lied about his age. In 1996, his published year of birth switched from 1928 to 1925. In 1997, he joined George Halas as the only 72-year-old men to coach in the NFL. Halas was 72 in his last season in 1967. Levy has been the victim of age discrimination at both ends of his life. When he was 28, he was bypassed as coach at his alma mater, Coe College, because he was too young. "The man who said that was wrong," Levy wrote. "Now, I was too old, and those who said that are just as wrong." Levy said his dad, Sam, who ran a wholesale produce market on South Water Street, lied about his age to join the Marines in World War I. In 1993, Levy tried to convince Wilson not to fire Bills general manager Bill Polian, architect of the four Super Bowl teams. Now, Levy would have to oversee an operation that failed to win two playoff games under former coach Wade Phillips, struggled under Donohoe and has had only one winning season under former coach Gregg Williams (three seasons) and current coach Mularkey (two). Levy always disliked the very thought of retirement. "If you start planning retirement, you don't know it, but you've already retired," Levy said. Wilson resuming the team presidency is reminiscent of Halas taking back that title with his Bears after son George "Mugs" Jr. died in 1979. Instead of giving the title to general manager Jim Finks, Halas became president, fired coach Neill Armstrong after the 1981 season and hired Mike Ditka in 1982, when Halas turned 87, same age as Wilson. When Levy was coaching in his 70s, players paid little attention to his age. "He could be 95 and we'd still respect him the same way. He'll outlast me by at least five or six years," running back Thurman Thomas said. Said tight end Pete Metzelaars: "It doesn't matter if a coach is 50 or 70; it's all ancient to most of the guys. The thing I'll remember is he treated us like men." Levy would ask players before every game, "Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?" Obviously, Levy's answer remains the same. After several recent job inquiries, he wrote: "I am convinced that none of those owners is guilty of seeking to discriminate, but they have succumbed to believing society's one still acceptable stereotype, the one that categorizes a person's capabilities not by their functional age, but by their chronological age." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Nice article. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 IMO, reading that article does validate what Levy has been saying (early and late in his life). What happened in Buffalo in the mid-1990's in Buffalo was a process that ran its course... No hard feelings, what not. It was meant to be. Mix in the cancer and what not... Then the spike in energy. Maybe Marv after a few years off wanted to try fresh elsewhere? He ran into the same obstacles. Could be everybody (owners and GMs misread his intentions but, that is their fault). Levy was NEVER the retiring type... Why not the phone calls. Maybe ML is the one partner that was meant for Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 IMO, reading that article does validate what Levy has been saying (early and late in his life). What happened in Buffalo in the mid-1990's in Buffalo was a process that ran its course... No hard feelings, what not. It was meant to be. Mix in the cancer and what not... Then the spike in energy. Maybe Marv after a few years off wanted to try fresh elsewhere? He ran into the same obstacles. Could be everybody (owners and GMs misread his intentions but, that is their fault). Levy was NEVER the retiring type... Why not the phone calls. Maybe ML is the one partner that was meant for Ralph. 556307[/snapback] Ralph and Marv...soul mates (and what not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 Ralph and Marv...soul mates (and what not). 556313[/snapback] Reign of the octogenerians baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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