Otto Graham - Coaches College Football

Despite his retirement from pro football, Graham remained active in the college game. From 1958 until 1965 he coached the College All-Stars in their annual game against the NFL champion team. His teams won in 1958 and 1963. In 1959, on the recommendation of George Steinbrenner—who later became the controversial owner of the New York Yankees baseball franchise—Graham became Athletic Director and football coach at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Except for the years 1966-68, Graham remained with the Academy until 1985. The high point of his years as a college coach came in 1963 when he led the Academy to a season without a defeat and an appearance in the Tangerine Bowl.

Graham was not nearly as successful as a pro football coach. In 1966—a year after he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame—he was hired as head coach and general manager of the Washington Redskins. After three seasons and a 17-22-3 record with Washington, Graham was replaced, but he took it goodheartedly. "My best claim to fame—and nobody else in the world can say this—is it took Vince Lombardi to replace me as coach of the Washington Redskins," he told Jason Butler of the Austin American-Statesman.

Graham was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1977 and underwent a colostomy. As a result he became an outspoken advocate of early cancer check-ups. He was later named honorary national chairman of the National Cancer Society.

By the end of the century, although Graham had been out of football for nearly fifty years, his football achievements lived on in memory. In 1994 he was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team. Five years later in 1999, ESPN recognized him as one of the 100 Top Athletes of the Millennium. The same year he was number six on Sports Illustrated's All-Time Top Ten Football Players list. And pro football is still a passing game.