Posted on 10/19/2013 12:44:38 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Bum Phillips, the folksy Texas football icon who coached the Houston Oilers during their Luv Ya Blue heyday and also led the New Orleans Saints, died Friday. He was 90.
"Bum is gone to Heaven," son Wade Phillips tweeted Friday night. "Loved and will be missed by all — great Dad, Coach, and Christian."
Phillips died at his ranch in Goliad.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Look out football, here we come,
Houston Oilers, number one.
Houston has the Oilers, the greatest football team.
We take the ball from goal to goal like no one’s ever seen.
We’re in the air, we’re on the ground ... always in control
And when you say the Oilers, you’re talking Super Bowl.
‘Cause we’re the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Number One.
Yes, we’re the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Number One.
We’ve got the offense.
We’ve got the defense.
We give the other team no hope. ‘Cause we’re the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers,
You know we’re gonna hold the rope.
The lifted that song from the Miami Dolphins, who used it in the early 70s.
He had some great teams with the Oilers, featuring one Earl Campbell . Unfortunately Pittsburgh was at its best then and the Oilers couldn’t get past them.
RIP Bum.
No thanks to the refs.
Semper Fi, Bum.
Rest in peace.
Didn’t know he was a Marine Raider in WWII.
Ain’t that the truth.
The Dolphins still have that song in their stadium. They did make a new one with Jimmy Buffet. It was written by Lee Ofman.
Rest in peace, Bum Phillips.
Sour grapes after all these years? LOL
RIP Coach.
But that’s the worst song EVER!
My favorite Bum Phillips quote when he was complimenting Don Shula:
“He can take His’n and beat Your’n, and he can take Your’n and beat His’n.”
He also said, “Football is a game of failure, but you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else.” Good words that describe some current failure of a president.
And he never wore a hat in a domed stadium. Thought it was disrespectful. His momma taught him, “If it can’t rain on you, you’re indoors.”
Ah, the days of “Love Ya’ Blue”. Even the city cop cars were painted team colors. The entire city was caught up in the excitement! And I didn’t even live there at the time. But I lived close enough that I felt like the Oilers were my team.
Bum said “Next year we’re gonna’ kick the damn door down.” The next day he was fired. He always said “There’s two kinds of coaches. Them that’s been fired. And them that’s gonna’ be.” RIP, Coach.
Great coach....great man. He really resurrected a bad Oilers franchise in the mid 70s. He managed to grow a fanbase for the Oilers at the same time Dallas Cowboys were in their prime
His biggest win had to be the 1979 playoff game at San Diego when both Earl Campbell and Dan Pastorini were out due to injury. No one thought the Oilers would win
Always liked Bum and the Oilers. He was a class act.
They had a great, underrated QB. Was also their punter.
Dan Pastorini.
In 1980 the Houston Oiler’s team owner Bud Adams, fired famed Coach, and beloved Houstonian, Bum Phillips following another disappointing 1979 playoff season.. It was rumored, and later confirmed, that there existed a handshake agreement, between the owner and Phillips, that Bum would resign if he failed to reach the Super Bowl in 1979..
Although plagued by major injuries, of their top players, and the domination of the league leading Pittsburg Steelers, the team, and it’s extraordinarily loyal, and faithful fans, the team advanced to the playoffs, as it had the year before, but failed in their final game..
In an unprecedented display of support of the franchise by a grieving but ever faithful “LOV YA BLUE” fan base, the team returned to an impromptu gathering of some 80 thousand fan filled Houston Astrodome.. The late night rally, that welcomed the losing team’s return, brought tears to the eyes of the typically macho players, and the beloved coach.. With unwavering support, they cheered their team home with deafening alternating singing and applause, till the break of dawn..
However, that loyalty was repaid the following week, by the Team owners’ acceptance of the promised, letter of resignation, by Coach Phillips, to the utter shock of the entire league, but to the fans of the Oilers, it was an act of “in your face”, disloyalty..
The following week, at a regular Monday morning breakfast gathering, at my hotel, the team owner was greeted with an extraordinary event.. The entire audience, some 250 businessmen and community leaders, rose in unison, and left the ballroom in total silence when Adams arrived, late as usual, to take his regular chair at the head table, leaving him stunned and embarrassed..
That incident marked the end of the Luv Ya Blue era.. The attendance fell dramatically, including the presold ticket holders, abandoning their pre-bought seats in droves, until the owners left the city in disgrace, within three years, relocating to Tennessee..
RIP Bum!
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