Jim Spavital

James J. Spavital (September 15, 1926 – March 7, 1993) was a gridiron football fullback, coach and general manager in six different professional football leagues.

Playing career

He played for the All-America Football Conference's Los Angeles Dons in 1949 and the National Football League's Baltimore Colts during the 1950 season. As a starter in 1950 he had 246 rushing yards and 238 receiving. His 96 yard rush against the Green Bay Packers on November 5, 1950] is the fourth longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. In 1951 he moved north of the border to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1953, but returned to the Bombers before the end of the season.

Coaching career

In 1957 he joined the Oklahoma State coaching staff under coach Cliff Speegle. In 1967 he joined the Edmonton Eskimos as an assistant. In 1970 he was hired by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as head coach. In four seasons as Bombers head coach, he had a 23-39-2 record and two playoff appearances.

In 1974 he was hired as head coach of the Chicago Fire of the World Football League. The team finished 7-13 and folded after the season.

In 1975 he joined Forrest Gregg's Cleveland Browns coaching staff. The following season he was the offensive backfield coach for San Francisco 49ers coach Monte Clark.

In 1977 he returned to the CFL as an assistant coach with the Calgary Stampeders, rejoining a fellow assistant from Edmonton, Jack Gotta. In 1981 he was hired as general manager of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

He left the Roughriders after the season to join the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League. In the league's first year, the Panthers won the USFL championship, defeating the Philadelphia Stars 24-22. On September 9, 1983 he resigned his post as Panthers GM. In 1989 Spavital was hired by Bill and Hubie Byrne to help put together a new professional football league to begin play in the spring or summer of 1990. Spavital was the director of football operations for the Professional Spring Football League for two years before plans for the league were abandoned.

Jim's son Steve was the defensive coordinator at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma for 14 years and quit when he was not promoted to Head Coach in 2005. Jim is also the grandfather of Zac Spavital, former Graduate Assistant at the University of Oklahoma and current cornerbacks coach at the University of Houston.

External links

• Jim Spavital at Find a Grave