Neill Ford Armstrong (March 9, 1926 – August 10, 2016) 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 wi ...

player and coach whose career spanned more than four decades at both the college and professional levels. Notably, Armstrong served as the head coach of the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL) and 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 ...

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). Member of the 1945 National Championship Oklahoma A&M Team.

Playing career

Armstrong 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at Oklahoma A & M from 1943 to 1946, and was chosen in the first round (eighth overall) of the

1947 NFL Draft The 1947 National Football League Draft was held on December 16, 1946, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. The National Football League in this draft made the first overall pick, a bonus pick determined by lottery. The Chicago ...

by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. Playing both at end and

defensive back 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 ...

, he helped the team capture the NFL championship in both 1948 and 1949. Armstrong concluded his playing career in the early 1950s playing for the CFL's

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

Coaching career

In 1962, Armstrong's professional coaching career began when he was hired as an assistant coach with the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

of the start-up

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL). After serving two years in that capacity, he shifted back to Canada as head coach of the

. In his six years, the team reached the postseason three times. Armstrong was hired as an assistant 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 expansi ...

in 1970, and became an integral part of developing the team's dominating defense. After helping the team reach the postseason in all but one of the next eight years, he was hired as head coach of the

on February 16, 1978. In four years at the helm of the Bears, he was only able to compile a record of 30–35, with one playoff appearance in 1979. He was fired on January 3, 1982, but hired less than two months later as an assistant with 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 divis ...

. He spent the next eight seasons with the team before announcing his retirement on February 22, 1990. He and Bud Grant hold the distinction of being the only two people to have both played and been a head coach in both the NFL and CFL. He died in Trophy Club, Texas in 2016.

Head coaching record

NFL

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Neill 1926 births 2016 deaths American football defensive backs American football ends American men's basketball players American players of Canadian football Canadian football wide receivers Chicago Bears head coaches Dallas Cowboys coaches Edmonton Elks coaches Houston Oilers coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Philadelphia Eagles players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players People from Tishomingo, Oklahoma Coaches of American football from Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Basketball players from Oklahoma

Playing career

Coaching career

Head coaching record

NFL

See also

References

External links