Former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Paul Wiggin, who played 11 seasons for the Cleveland Browns before going on to a lengthy coaching career in college and the NFL, has died at the age of 91.
Wiggin had a short-lived stint as an NFL head coach, replacing a legend in Kansas City. He later returned to the college ranks, where he coached star quarterback John Elway at Stanford and was on the losing end of ‘The Play’ in 1982.
A two-time All-American at Stanford, Wiggin was a member of the Browns’ 1964 NFL championship squad. After retiring as a player in 1967, he joined the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff. He spent seven seasons as an assistant before being named to succeed Hank Stram as the head coach of the Chiefs in 1975.
But perhaps his greatest legacy came later after he was fired by the Chiefs and eventually returned to Stanford. Wiggin was on the sideline for one of the craziest endings in college football history − a 25-20 loss to rival Cal in which the Bears scored winning touchdown on a series of laterals as time expired with the Stanford band prematurely on the field.
‘I think it’s tragic that a Cal-Stanford game had to come down to this,’ Wiggin said at the time. ‘In our hearts and our minds, we won the game. We know we won the game.’
Wiggin also served as defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings before moving to the Vikings front office and remaining with the franchise for nearly 40 years.
In 2005, he was named to the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, where he was its fourth-oldest living member at the time of his death.
‘Paul Wiggin represented everything the NFF College Football Hall of Fame aspires to honor, specifically excellence on the field, leadership on the sidelines, and a lifelong commitment to the game,’ NFF Chairman Archie Manning said. ‘His impact on college football spanned generations, and he leaves behind a legacy that will long be remembered. We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing.’