Bob Hollway

Who was Bob Hollway?

Robert "Bob" Hollway was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the University of Michigan and was a member of Michigan's undefeated 1947 and 1948 teams. He thereafter coached football at the University of Maine, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, as the head coach of the National Football League's St. Louis Cardinals, and as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks.

Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Hollway attended the University of Michigan, playing at the end position for the Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1947 to 1949.

After graduating in 1950, Hollway entered the coaching ranks the following year as an assistant at the University of Maine. After two seasons, he returned to the state of Michigan as both an assistant football and head basketball coach at Eastern Michigan University in 1953. From 1954 to 1965, he was an assistant football coach at the University of Michigan.

On January 22, 1966, Hollway announced he was resigning to enter private business, but that time away, which included doing radio commentary on Wolverine games, lasted only one season before he came back as defensive line coach of the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings under new head coach Bud Grant. During his first season with the team, he helped shape a group of linemen who became known as the "Purple People Eaters," including two future Hall of Famers in Carl Eller and rookie Alan Page. Over the next three years, Hollway was promoted to defensive coordinator.