Charles John Drulis (March 8, 1918 – August 23, 1972) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach born in

Girardville, Pennsylvania Girardville is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Reading. Anthracite coal deposits are in the region. Coal-mining provided employment and incomes for many of the 3,666 people who lived there in 1900. In 19 ...

. He attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and played seven seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Drulis, along with his brothers Joe and Albert, who also played in the NFL, was elected into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Drulis made his professional debut in the NFL in 1942 with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

but spent the next two-and-a-half seasons in military service during World War II. He returned to the Bears in 1945 and played there until 1949. Drulis spent his final season with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. Drulis went on to spend many years as a defensive assistant. During his tenure as secondary coach of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, Drulis devised a play that called for one of the

safeties Safety is the condition of being protected against harmful conditions or events, or the control of hazards to reduce risk. Safety may also refer to: Places * Safety Island, Antarctica Government * The Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating t ...

to take part in a

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

, code-named "Wildcat." He believed this would result in severe pressure on the quarterback, since a blitz by a defensive back is not usually anticipated. However, at first he didn't think he had a player with the athleticism to run the play. That changed during training camp in , when the Cardinals signed a cornerback from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

named Larry Wilson. Drulis believed he'd found the player he needed for his scheme, and persuaded the Cardinals to convert Wilson to free safety. Largely due to the play, Wilson blossomed into one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, and became so identified with it that "Wildcat" became his nickname. After

Pop Ivy Lee Frank "Pop" Ivy (January 25, 1916 – May 17, 2003) was a football player and coach who was the only person to serve as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football League (AFL) and the Western Interprovincial ...

resigned late in the 1961 season, Drulis shared head coaching duties with fellow assistant coaches

Ray Prochaska Raymond Edward Prochaska (August 9, 1919 – March 9, 1997) was an American gridiron football player and coach. Prochaska was born in Ulysses, Nebraska, to Emil Prochaska and Marie Fredlick, having Czech and Moravian ancestry. He attended the ...

and

Ray Willsey Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

. Under the trio's guidance, the team won its last two games. Chuck's wife, Dale Drulis, was an artist who was commissioned to create the artwork at the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. The 3 hammered copper figures over the entry depict a running back with a blocker and tackler in an action scene. Dale used her husband Chuck and her sons Chuck and Kerry as models for the figures in the sculpture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drulis, Chuck 1918 births 1972 deaths American football offensive linemen St. Louis Cardinals (football) coaches Chicago Bears players Green Bay Packers players Temple Owls football players Players of American football from Pennsylvania American military personnel of World War II St. Louis Cardinals (football) head coaches