HOWELL SAYS 'GOODBYE' BUT NOT TO GIANTS
"Jim Lee Howell bids farewell to coaching after the 1960 season but he is by no means saying goodbye to the New York Giants.
The towering Giant coach will step right from his present job into the role of director of player personnel as soon as the NFL campaign ends in December. Thus, an association between Howell and the Giants that spans 24 seasons will continue into the future.
'We are, naturally, sorry to lose Jim Lee as a coach,' says Giant president Jack Mara. 'But, at the same time, we feel fortunate in having him remain with our organization.'
In his new role, which starts officially in 1961, Howell will have direct supervision over the Giants' far-flung scouting operation. It will be his responsibility to coordinate scouting activities, review personnel reports, appraise talent and prepare the college draft lists.
Jim Lee is ideally suited for this job. In his long career, the gentleman from Arkansas has made legions of friends on both the college and pro levels. An affable manner and a booming laugh are his trademarks.
Howell leaves the coaching profession at the peak of his career. In six years he has guided the Giants to three eastern titles and a world championship. Many men coach a lifetime without ever achieving such success.
If any one person is responsible for the renaissance of pro football in New York, it would have to be Jim Lee.
Howell replaced Steve Owen after the disastrous 1953 season and promptly went to work to rebuild the Giants into a winner. His regular season won-lost records since that time have been 7-5, 6-5-1, 8-3-1, 7-9, 9-3 and last year's 10-2. This is a grand total of 47 wins, 23 losses and two ties for a winning percentage of .671.
In 1956, just two years after he had taken over the Giants, Jim led his team to the world championship with a resounding 47-7 victory over the Chicago Bears.
The Giants also won the eastern crown in 1958 and last season, losing both world title games to Baltimore. However, the Giants have now played in 11 world championships, more than any other club in NFL history."
-Giant Touchdown, June 1960
"Hail and farewell for genial Jim who makes 1960 his last year as coach. Jim became head pilot in '54 and has been in three championship contests.
He believes in bossing the club as a corporation president, delegating duties down the line. He's a shrewd evaluator of material and a firm handler of men.
Jim played regularly as a Giant end for nine seasons. He served as an Arkansas U. assistant, head coach at Wagner and as the Giant end teacher under Steve Owen."
-1960 Pro Football Handbook
SVARE AND KOLMAN JOIN GIANTS' COACHING STAFF
"Big Ed Kolman and Harland (Swede) Svare, 1960 additions to head coach Jim Lee Howell's coaching staff, are certainly no strangers to followers of the Football Giants. Both have contributed handsomely to the success of the club over the past few years.
Kolman, former Chicago Bears great, was the Giants' head line coach from 1950 through 1956 before retiring to enter private business. In that span, he developed some of the top linemen in Giant history ... fellows like Rosey Brown, Ray Wietecha and Jack Stroud.
Ed returns to his old job as line mentor this season replacing Johnny Dell Isola. Ironically, it was Dell Isola who replaced Kolman in 1957.
Svare moves up from the playing ranks at the tender football age of 29 to succeed Tom Landry as coach of the Giants' famed defensive unit. Landy left New York after last season to become head coach of the new Dallas Cowboys franchise in the N.F.L.
For the past six years, Svare has played outside linebacker for the Giants' defensive squad which is rated one of the most formidable in pro grid history. Many observers have been quoted as saying that the linebacking trio of Svare, Sam Huff and Cliff Livingston was easily the best in all of football.
The demands of coaching modern defense being what they are, however, Swede will retire as an active player to devote full time to his new and challenging assignment.
'I'd like to continue playing,' says the 215-pound former Washington State star, 'but in pro ball today it's almost impossible to do both.'
Svare, though, will have plenty of assistance on the field in the persons of end Andy Robustelli and safetyman Jimmy Patton, defensive experts in their own right, who have signed on as Swede's coaching lieutenants.
Since Svare, Robustelli and Patton all learned their defense under Landry, an acknowledged master of the art, the Giants' fortunes would seem to be in good hands this season.
Kolman, 42, is a tutor who insists on minute perfection of detail. His conscientious approach to coaching is reflected in the play of his linemen, who, in past years, were always among the best in the game.
Ed was all-Metropolitan at Boys' High and later won All American honors at Temple University. He was a star tackle on what many consider the mightiest team of pro history, the Chicago Bears of 1940-42, who won 29 games and lost only four in that period.
The day the Bears perpetrated the now-famous 73-0 massacre of the Washington Redskins in 1940, Kolman was the starting left tackle. He was also a party to the 37-9 Chicago victory over the Giants for the 1941 world title two weeks after Pearl Harbor.
Ed served almost four years in the Navy and then played with the Bears again until 1948, when a knee injury forced him out for the entire season. He attempted a comeback with the Giants in 1949 and his tutoring influence on the young Giant line brought him an invitation to stay on as coach.
Up until a few years ago, 6-2 240-pound Kolman was not at all hesitant to get down in the dirt with his young proteges and show them how the line should be played."
-Giant Touchdown, June 1960
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