Robert Hollway (January 29, 1926 – March 13, 1999) 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. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and was a member of Michigan's undefeated 1947 and 1948 teams. He thereafter served as an assistant at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

(1951-1952),

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

(1953), Michigan (1954-1965) before joining the NFL with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

(1967-1970, 1978–1986), as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of 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 ...

(NFL)'s

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 hav ...

(1971-1972), and assistant coaching stints with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

(1973-1974),

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

(1975), and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

(1976-1977).

College career

Born and raised in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, Hollway attended the

, playing at the end position for the

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1947 to 1949. After graduating in 1950, Hollway entered the coaching ranks the following year as an assistant at the

. After two seasons, he returned to the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

as both an assistant football and head

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

in 1953. From 1954 to 1965, he was an assistant football coach at the University of Michigan.

NFL career

On January 22, 1966, Hollway announced he was resigning to enter private business, but that time away, which included doing radio commentary on Wolverine games, lasted only one season before he came back as

defensive line coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive and Defensive c ...

of the

under new head coach

Bud Grant Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (born May 20, 1927) is a former head coach and player of American football, Canadian football, and a former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Grant served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings ...

. During his first season with the team, he helped shape a group of linemen who became known as the "

Purple People Eaters Purple People Eaters were the defensive line of the Minnesota Vikings from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. The term is a reference to Purple People Eater, a popular song from 1958, the efficiency of the defense, and the color of their uniforms. T ...

," including two future Hall of Famers in

Carl Eller Carl Eller (born January 25, 1942) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 through 1979. He was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and played college football ...

and rookie

Alan Page Alan Cedric Page (born August 7, 1945) is an American retired judge and former professional football He gained national recognition as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) during 15 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings an ...

. Over the next three years, Hollway was promoted to

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

. Four years of success, including an appearance in

Super Bowl IV Super Bowl IV was an American football game played on January 11, 1970 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fourth and final AFL–NFL World Championship Game in professional football prior to the AFL–NFL merger taking eff ...

, raised Hollway's profile and led to his hiring as head coach of the Cardinals on February 12, 1971. However, the team was unable to beat out either the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

or the resurgent

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

over the next two seasons, with Hollway paying the price with his dismissal on December 18, 1972, one day after the end of the

1972 NFL season The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first (and to date the only) NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redskins ...

. The Cardinals finished 4-9-1 in both of Hollway's seasons with the Cardinals, as the team suffered through numerous injuries and inconsistent play at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, as Hollway shuffled between Jim Hart,

Pete Beathard Peter Falconer Beathard ( ;

and

Gary Cuozzo Gary Samuel Cuozzo (born April 26, 1941) is a former professional American football player. High school career Cuozzo played high school football at Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Football career An undrafted quarterback from ...

with little success, despite the presence of fleet wide receiver

John Gilliam John Rally Gilliam (born August 7, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He has owned a number of businesses, and for two years he worked for a radio station in ...

(who was traded to Minnesota in 1972) and future

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 ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

Jackie Smith Jackie Larue Smith (born February 23, 1940) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the St. Louis Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Northwestern Louisiana State College (Northwestern ...

. In February 1973, Hollway was hired a

' assistant coach under

Don McCafferty Donald William McCafferty (March 12, 1921 – July 28, 1974) was an American football player and coach who, in his first year as head coach of the Baltimore Colts, led the team to a victory in Super Bowl V, and became the first rookie head coach ...

. However, McCafferty died suddenly during the team's 1974 training camp, and Hollway resigned as the lions secondary coach in January 1975. In 1975, Hollway became the

defensive backs coach In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

. In January 1976, after 49ers head coach

Dick Nolan Rick Nolan is a Minnesota politician. Richard Nolan may also refer to *Dick Nolan (American football) (1932–2007), American football player, father of Mike Nolan, former head coach of San Francisco 49ers *Dick Nolan (musician) (1939–2005), Cana ...

was replaced, Hollway became defensive backfield coach with the expansion

, where he reunited with former Viking assistant

Jack Patera John Arlen Patera (August 1, 1933 – October 31, 2018) was an American football player and coach in the National Football League. for the and and was an assistant coach for the and Patera was the first head coach of the with a career he ...

, the expansion team's first head coach. In April 1978, Hollway resigned to again serve as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, but became involved in controversy when the Seahawks claimed the Vikings had tampered with him while still under contract. Following the retirement of Grant at the conclusion of the

1983 NFL season The 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The Colts played their final season in Baltimore before the team's relocation to Indianapolis the following season. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when ...

, Hollway was demoted by

Les Steckel Les Steckel (born July 1, 1946) is an American football coach currently serving as the quarterbacks coach at Centre College. He was the third head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1984, and he has also worked as an assistant coach with the San ...

to quality control assistant, serving primarily as a personnel director and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

. Hollway died in 1999 at the age of 73. Hollway's son Michael retired in 2011 after serving as the head football coach at

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

Delaware, Ohio Delaware is a city in and the county seat of Delaware County, Ohio, United States. Delaware was founded in 1808 and was incorporated in 1816. It is located near the center of Ohio, is about north of Columbus, and is part of the Columbus, Ohio m ...

for 25 years. His son Bruce was a managing partner for John Hancock Financial Network in

Maple Grove, Minnesota Maple Grove is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 70,253 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. making it Minnesota's 11th most populous city. Maple Grove serves ...

. Bruce died in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollway, Bob 1926 births 1999 deaths Players of American football from Ann Arbor, Michigan Michigan Wolverines football players Maine Black Bears football coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles football coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches St. Louis Cardinals (football) coaches Detroit Lions coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Coaches of American football from Michigan St. Louis Cardinals (football) head coaches