Harland James Svare (November 25, 1930 – April 4, 2020) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player, coach and general manager. Svare was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

who played eight seasons with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

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 majo ...

(NFL) from 1953 to 1960. He was the Rams head coach from midway the 1962 season through 1965, and the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

head coach from 1971 through 1973. He was general manager of the Chargers from 1971 to 1976. During the halftime intermission of a November 1972 game, Chargers owner

Eugene V. Klein Eugene Victor Klein (January 29, 1921March 12, 1990) was an American businessman who was chairman of the board of directors and chief stockholder of National General Corporation, an insurance and entertainment company based in Los Angeles, Ca ...

awarded Svare a five-year coaching contract, an unpopular decision; however, Svare voluntarily stepped down from the position during the following season.

Head coaching record

References

1930 births 2020 deaths American football linebackers Los Angeles Rams coaches Los Angeles Rams players National Football League general managers New York Giants players San Diego Chargers coaches San Diego Chargers executives Washington State Cougars football players People from Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota San Diego Chargers head coaches Los Angeles Rams head coaches {{linebacker-1930s-stub