Red Strader Norman " Red " Strader ( December 21 , 1902 – May 26 , 1956 ) was a 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 St . Mary ' s College of California , and later held the same position with the New York Yankees , New York Yanks and San Francisco 49ers . 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 St . Mary ' s , where he played at 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 1927 , when he played one season with the National Football League ' s Chicago Cardinals . Coaching . College . In 1928 , he took his first football coaching job when accepted the top job for Regis College in Colorado . By 1932 , he returned to St . 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 St . 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 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 Yankees of the fledgling All - America Football Conference . 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 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 . 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 . Briefly considered to replace 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 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 .