Forzano not a winner with Lions, but he left a mark in the NFL

Published Jan. 14, 2019

At first blush, Rick Forzano was merely one of the many men who’ve served as head coach of the Detroit Lions, and who was never seen again on an NFL sideline.

Forzano, it could be rightly argued, was simply another Lions coach who swept into town, oversaw an unremarkable period of football and faded gently into the night, taking his place as nothing more than a historical footnote of slapstick gridiron history.

But Forzano, who passed away last week at age 90, had something in common with the last Lions team to win a championship, albeit in an indirect manner.

Parker/Wilson; McCafferty/Forzano

Buddy Parker, two-time champion as Lions coach and about to start his seventh season in Detroit, was speaking at a Meet the Lions banquet in August 1957. And he dropped a bombshell.

Parker quit, on the spot. From the dais. “I can’t get through to the…