View source for Red Strader

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1902–1956)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox CFL biography
| name = Red Strader
| image =Red_Strader_photo.jpg 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|12|21}}
| birth_place = [[Newton, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|5|26|1902|12|21}}
| death_place = [[Berkeley, California]], U.S.
| team = 
| number = 7
| status = 
| position1 = [[Fullback (gridiron football)|Fullback]]
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 9
| weight_lb = 200
| college = [[Saint Mary's Gaels football|Saint Mary's]]
| coaching_years1 = 1928–1930
| coaching_team1 = [[Regis Rangers football|Regis]]
| coaching_years2 = 1932–1939
| coaching_team2 = [[Saint Mary's Gaels football|Saint Mary's]] (assistant)
| coaching_years3 = 1940–1941
| coaching_team3 = Saint Mary's
| coaching_years4 = 1944
| coaching_team4 = [[Camp Peary Pirates football|Camp Peary]]
| coaching_years5 = 1946–1948
| coaching_team5 = [[New York Yankees (AAFC)|New York Yankees]] (assistant)
| coaching_years6 = 1948–1949
| coaching_team6 = New York Yankees
| coaching_years7 = 1950
| coaching_team7 = [[New York Bulldogs|New York Yanks]]
| coaching_years8 = 1952–1954
| coaching_team8 = [[San Francisco 49ers]] (assistant)
| coaching_years9 = 1955
| coaching_team9 = San Francisco 49ers
| playing_years1 = 1926
| playing_team1 = [[Chicago Bulls (AFL)|Chicago Bulls]]
| playing_years2 = 1927
| playing_team2 = [[Chicago Cardinals (NFL, 1920–59)|Chicago Cardinals]]
| career_highlights = 
* Third-team [[All-American]] ([[1924 College Football All-America Team|1924]])
* First-team [[List of All-Pac-12 Conference football teams|All-PCC]] ([[1924 All-Pacific Coast football team|1924]])
| CoachPFR = StraNo0
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
|allegiance           = {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States of America|United States]]
|branch               = [[File:United States Department of the Navy Seal.svg|20px|United States Navy seal]] [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]
|serviceyears         = 1942–1946
|rank                 = [[File:US-O4 insignia.svg|20px]] [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lt. Commander]]
|unit                 =
|battles              = World War II
|awards               = 
}}
}}

'''Norman Parker "Red" Strader''' (December 21, 1902 – May 26, 1956) was an [[American football]] player and coach who served in both capacities at the collegiate and professional levels. In the college ranks, he spent two years as head coach at [[Saint Mary's College of California]], and later held the same position with the [[New York Yankees (AAFC)|New York Yankees]] of the [[All-America Football Conference]] (AAFC), and the [[New York Yanks]] and [[San Francisco 49ers]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL).

==High school and college==

Born in [[Newton, New Jersey]], Strader moved with his family six months after his arrival to [[Modesto, California]], attending high school in the town. He advanced to Saint Mary's, where he played at [[Fullback (American football)|fullback]] under future [[College Football Hall of Fame]] coach [[Slip Madigan]]. During his final year in 1925, he was recognized as the first player in Gael history to earn All-American recognition.

==Baseball==

Strader then turned to baseball when he was signed on February 20, 1926, by the [[Cleveland Indians]]. He played with three teams: in [[Saginaw, Michigan]]; [[Wheeling, West Virginia]]; and [[Hollywood, California]], but returned to football in 1926, when he played one season with the [[Chicago Bulls (AFL)|Chicago Bulls]] of the [[American Football League (1926)|first American Football League]] and another season with the [[National Football League]]'s [[Chicago Cardinals]].

==Coaching career==

===College===
In 1928, Strader took his first football coaching job when accepted the top job for [[Regis University|Regis College]] in [[Colorado]]. By 1932, he returned to Saint Mary's working under Madigan for the next eight seasons, but when health problems forced Madigan to retire, Strader was promoted to head coach on March 17, 1940.

After two seasons as head coach, Strader was irritated when the Gaels' Bay area rival, the [[University of San Francisco]], blocked the team from using their regular field at [[Kezar Stadium]]. However, greater considerations due to the onset of World War II and Saint Mary's turning over a portion of their campus to naval training caused Strader to resign and spend the next 40 months in the service. During this period, he rose to the rank of [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|lieutenant commander]] while coaching football and baseball at a trio of naval bases.

===Professional===
Upon the end of the war, Strader was hired in 1946 as backfield coach of the [[New York Yankees (AAFC)|New York Yankees]] of the fledgling [[All-America Football Conference]] (AAFC). When head coach [[Ray Flaherty]] was forced out after a slow start on September 17, 1948, Strader was elevated to take his place. In his first season, the Yankees split their 10 remaining games, then reached the playoffs the following year with an 8–4 mark.

In December 1949, the AAFC was officially merged with the NFL, with a majority of the Yankees players being shifted to the older league's [[New York Bulldogs]]. Strader was named to lead the remolded team on January 5, 1950, and led the Yanks to a 7–5 finish that season. However, in June 1951 he was hospitalized for several weeks with heart problems. Those health concerns resulted in his departure on August 5, 1951, with team owner [[Ted Collins (manager)|Ted Collins]] stating that he wanted assurances that Strader would not be compromised by the strains of coaching, a comment that Strader vigorously denied, saying he had been fired.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19510807&id=baNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=62oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3822,1428636&hl=en|date=August 7, 1951|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|title=Did Yanks Fire Red Strader?}}</ref>

Strader's anger continued six weeks later when he filed a lawsuit asking for $10,000 in salary from Collins, while also severely criticizing the [[NFL draft]].  Despite having only an oral agreement, Strader won his salary case on February 28, 1952, and also gained $1,451 in expenses from Collins, who had since sold the team to a group that had moved and renamed the team as the [[Dallas Texans (NFL)|Dallas Texans]].

Briefly considered to replace [[Dick Todd (American football)|Dick Todd]] as head coach of the [[Washington Redskins]], Strader spent the [[1952 NFL season]] as an assistant coach and scout with the 49ers before resigning on March 28, 1953.  He spent the next year working in the construction business, while continuing to scout, and was again speculated as a head coaching candidate.  This time, the team was the [[Baltimore Colts]], but when [[Weeb Ewbank]] was hired by Baltimore, Strader stayed in his earlier roles.

====San Francisco====

San Francisco head coach [[Buck Shaw]] was fired on December 13, 1954, after serving as the only coach in franchise history, with Strader being hired 10 days later to replace him.  Shaw's main flaw with team owner [[Tony Morabito]] was his inability to win a championship, but Morabito said winning a title in his first year would not be reason to dismiss Strader.

In spite of a strong series of wins during the preseason, that opinion would change when the 49ers split their first six contests, then lost to the [[Los Angeles Rams]] on November 6, 1955.  That defeat caused one fan to hang Strader in effigy outside [[Kezar Stadium]], and by the end of the season, the 49ers had won just four of 12 contests, and dealt with reports of continued conflict between the coach and his players.  Upon being fired on December 19, Strader disputed such talk by noting that he had been given the game ball in the season's final game.

==Death and lawsuit==
Strader had only a short time to ponder his future, dying in his sleep of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] just five months later, the end of cardiac problems that had plagued him for the past two years.  On December 12, 1956, Strader's widow, Helen, filed a $27,000 lawsuit against the 49ers, asking for the compensation provided by her husband's contract. Three years later, she received an out-of-court settlement for $18,000.

==Head coaching record==
===College===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Regis Rangers football|Regis Rangers]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1928
 | endyear   = 1930
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1928 college football season|1928]]
 | name         = [[1928 Regis Rangers football team|Regis]]
 | overall      = 5–4
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | year         = [[1929 college football season|1929]]
 | name         = [[1929 Regis Rangers football team|Regis]]
 | overall      = 3–7
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | year         = [[1930 college football season|1930]]
 | name         = [[1930 Regis Rangers football team|Regis]]
 | overall      = 6–3
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Regis
 | overall    = 14–14
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Saint Mary's Gaels football|Saint Mary's Gaels]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1940
 | endyear   = 1941
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | year         = [[1940 college football season|1940]]
 | name         = [[1940 Saint Mary's Gaels football team|Saint Mary's]]
 | overall      = 5–3
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | year         = [[1941 college football season|1941]]
 | name         = [[1941 Saint Mary's Gaels football team|Saint Mary's]]
 | overall      = 5–4
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Saint Mary's
 | overall    = 10–7
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Camp Peary Pirates football|Camp Peary Pirates]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1944
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1944 college football season|1944]]
 | name         = [[1944 Camp Peary Pirates football team|Camp Peary]]
 | overall      = 5–2
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Camp Peary
 | overall    = 5–2
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 29–23
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = no
 | polltype = 
 | legend   = no
}}

===NFL===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season
|-
! Won !! Lost !! Ties !! Win % !! Finish
|-
! [[1950 New York Yanks season|NYY]] || [[1950 NFL season|1950]]
| 7 || 5 || 0 || {{winpct|7|5|0}} || 3rd in NFL Eastern
|-
! colspan="2"|NYY total || 7 || 5 || 0 || {{winpct|7|5|0}} ||
|-
! [[1955 San Francisco 49ers season|SF]] || [[1955 NFL season|1955]]
| 4 || 8 || 0 || {{winpct|4|8|0}} || 5th in NFL Western
|-
! colspan="2"|SF total || 4 || 8 || 0 || {{winpct|4|8|0}} ||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total || 11 || 13 || 0 || {{winpct|11|13|0}} ||
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br= |fangraphs=|cube= |brm=strade002nor}}
* {{Find a Grave|55791222}}

{{Saint Mary's Gaels baseball coach navbox}}
{{Saint Mary's Gaels football coach navbox}}
{{New York Yanks football coach navbox}}
{{San Francisco 49ers coach navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strader, Red}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1956 deaths]]
[[Category:American football fullbacks]]
[[Category:Camp Peary Pirates football coaches]]
[[Category:Chicago Bulls (American football) players]]
[[Category:Chicago Cardinals players]]
[[Category:Hollywood Stars players]]
[[Category:New York Yanks coaches]]
[[Category:New York Yankees (AAFC) coaches]]
[[Category:Regis Rangers football coaches]]
[[Category:Saint Mary's Gaels baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Saint Mary's Gaels football coaches]]
[[Category:Saint Mary's Gaels football players]]
[[Category:San Francisco 49ers coaches]]
[[Category:San Francisco 49ers head coaches]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Modesto, California]]
[[Category:People from Newton, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Sussex County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Coaches of American football from California]]
[[Category:Military personnel from California]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New Jersey]]