Chuck Curtis

Who is Chuck Curtis?

Charles “Chuck” Curtis is a former American football coach. After a stellar collegiate career and a short stint with the NFL's New York Giants, Curtis began his coaching career at the high school level, before serving as last head coach at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Growing up in Gainesville, Texas as son of a minister, Curtis played quarterback at Gainesville High School in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During his senior year Curtis' father moved to Taylor but allowed him to remain at Gainesville in a garage apartment in order to keep his eligibility. Despite All-State honors, college recruiters ignored him, except for Texas Christian's Abe Martin.

At TCU, Curtis led the Horned Frogs to the 1955 Southwest Conference championship. In the 1957 Cotton Bowl, Curtis threw two touchdown passes and ran for another TD to lead the Horned Frogs to a 28-27 win over Syracuse and standout running back Jim Brown. Garnering All-Southwest Conference honors in 1955 and 1956, Curtis was selected 85th overall by the defending champions, the New York Giants, in the 1957 NFL Draft. As back-up quarterback for Charley Conerly Curtis did not see any action during the 1957 NFL season, yet as an aspiring coach it worked to his advantage. Both Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry were assistants on the Giants staff, and their system, he soon realized, far surpassed anything he had seen in four years at TCU.