Louis Joseph "the Battler" Rymkus (November 6, 1919 – October 31, 1998) was an American football player and coach in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). Playing as a tackle for the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and NFL in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Rymkus provided pass protection for quarterback Otto Graham as the team won five league championships. Following his playing career, Rymkus took a number of assistant coaching jobs before serving as the first head coach of the AFL's Houston Oilers in 1960. The team won the league's first championship, but Rymkus was fired by Oilers owner Bud Adams after a slow start in 1961.
Rymkus was born in Royalton, Illinois and grew up in Chicago. He was a star lineman in high school and won a football scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, he played on a 1941 team that went undefeated under head coach Frank Leahy. Rymkus was drafted by the NFL's Washington Redskins in 1943 and played one season for the team before joining the U.S. Marines during World War II. Following two years in the service, he signed with the Browns, where he spent the remainder of his playing career. Paul Brown, the Browns' first coach, called Rymkus "the best pass protector I've ever seen". His blocking was used by coaches to demonstrate proper form.
After Rymkus's brief stint coaching the Oilers, he held numerous football jobs, including as the coach of a high school team in Louisiana and an assistant with the Detroit Lions. Rymkus was a finalist for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988 but was not elected. In 2005, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's third HOVG class.
He died of a stroke in Houston, Texas, where he lived for most of his later life.
Early life and high school career
Rymkus was born in Royalton, Illinois, the son of a Lithuanian immigrant coal miner who owned a small grocery store. After his father was shot and killed outside the grocery store, Rymkus and his family moved to the Back of the Yards neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. With family finances tight, he took a number of odd jobs, including working as a laborer and delivering newspapers and groceries. At the suggestion of a friend, Rymkus attended Tilden Tech, now known as Tilden High School, and began to display talent as a lineman on the school's football team. He blocked a kick and scored a touchdown in a game at Chicago's Soldier Field in 1936 against rival Austin High, a play he later said was the most memorable of his high school career. Rymkus won seven letters at Tilden playing on the football, track and wrestling teams. As a senior, he defeated Rudy Mucha to win the Chicago prep-school wrestling title.
College and professional career
Rymkus's success in high school led to a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where he played from 1940 to 1942. He was known in college as a tough and durable tackle. In a 1941 game against Georgia Tech, Rymkus was elbowed in his upper lip. He left the game to get 14 stitches and returned to play in the 20–0 Notre Dame victory. Notre Dame went undefeated that season, coach Frank Leahy's first year at the school. During his junior year in 1942, Rymkus earned All-America honors, and in his final season at Notre Dame he was named the team's Most Valuable Player.
Rymkus was drafted by the National Football League's Washington Redskins in 1943, signing a contract giving him a $2,000 annual salary ($ in dollars). Playing alongside quarterback Sammy Baugh, Rymkus returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in one game and an interception for a touchdown in the next game. After the 1943 season, Rymkus joined the U.S. Marines during World War II. He trained Navy recruits at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago in 1944 and 1945, and served at Pearl Harbor.
As the war wound down with Germany's surrender in mid-1945, Rymkus decided to join the new Cleveland Browns of the fledgling All-America Football Conference. Paul Brown, the coach of the new team, had met Rymkus at Great Lakes, where he coached the training station's military football squad. Brown offered Rymkus a $4,000 salary ($ today), double what he made with the Redskins. George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Redskins, declined to match the offer and questioned the wisdom of joining a league that he thought had little chance of success competing against the more established NFL. Rymkus left his wife Betty in Nappanee, Indiana and hitchhiked to the Browns' training camp in Bowling Green, Ohio.