Red Conkright William Franklin " Bill " Conkright ( April 17 , 1914 – October 1 , 1980 ) , known more commonly by the nickname Red , was an American football center and end who played eight seasons in the National Football League ( NFL ) and was later the head coach of the Oakland Raiders for part of the 1962 season . Conkright was born in Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma , where he was a star center on the school ' s football team . He was the captain of the Sooners team in 1936 and was named to a first - team all - Big Six Conference squad . Conkright was drafted in 1937 by the NFL ' s Chicago Bears . He played two seasons for the Bears , serving mainly as a backup center and occasionally playing as an end . The Cleveland Rams bought the rights to Conkright in 1939 , and he stayed with the team through the 1942 season . He played for the Washington Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943 before returning to the Rams briefly in 1944 . Following his retirement as a player , Conkright began a career as a coach . He scouted and coached for the Rams in 1944 and 1945 , and moved to the Cleveland Browns of the new All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) in 1946 . He worked as an assistant coach for two more AAFC teams in the late 1940s . Conkright was hired as an assistant at Mississippi State College in 1950 , spending two seasons in the position . After a five - year hiatus from coaching , he returned as an assistant for the University of Houston ' s football team . He got his first head coaching job in 1959 at Stephen F . Austin State University . In 1962 , Conkright was hired as an assistant coach and director of player personnel by the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League . The team ' s head coach , Marty Feldman , was fired in the middle of the season and Conkright replaced him . Conkright ' s Raiders , however , managed to win just one game that year , and he was replaced in 1963 by Al Davis . Conkright went on to work for two years as an assistant with the Houston Oilers . Early years . Conkright was born in Beggs , Oklahoma and went to a high school in Tulsa , where he was a football star . He was nicknamed " Red " because of his red hair . College and professional career . Conkright attended the University of Oklahoma and played varsity college football during the 1934 , 1935 , and 1936 seasons . He was the team ' s captain as a senior in 1936 , and was named a first - team All - Big Six Conference center . Conkright was missed when he graduated ; sportswriter Federick Ware wrote in the 1937 edition of " Football Illustrated Annual " that " finding a center to replace the great Red Conkright " would be one of Sooners head coach Tom Stidham ' s " main headaches . " Conkright was selected in the fifth round of the 1937 draft by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He was a third - string center for the Bears behind Frank Bausch and Frank Sullivan with the Bears , and saw little action in the two years he played for the team . He was , however , occasionally used as an end in his first season . Conkright was sold to the Cleveland Rams ahead of the 1939 season in a cash deal that did not involve any other players . He became the regular starter at center for the Rams midway through 1939 , replacing Chuck Cherundolo . The Rams finished the season with a 5 – 5 – 1 win - loss - tie record under coach Dutch Clark . Conkright broke his leg in the second game of the 1940 season and sat out the rest of the year . In October , he married his girlfriend Imogene , who he met at the University of Oklahoma and with whom he had a four - month - old son . Conkright came back to play full seasons for the Rams in 1941 and 1942 . He split the 1943 season between the NFL ' s Brooklyn Dodgers and the Washington Redskins . Conkright returned to the Rams in 1944 and was expected to be used as a regular left end . He saw action in only one game , however , his final appearance in the NFL . He was then placed on the inactive list and converted into an assistant coach and scout for the Rams . Coaching career . Conkright remained with the Rams through the 1945 season , when the team won the NFL championship . Rams owner Dan Reeves moved the team to Los Angeles after the season , but Conkright decided to stay in Cleveland , where he and his family lived . He took a job as a scout and coach for the Cleveland Browns , a team that was to start play in 1946 in the new All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Conkright was joined by five former Rams players who switched to the Browns when the Rams moved , including center Mike Scarry , tackle Chet Adams and backs Gaylon Smith , Tommy Colella and Don Greenwood . Before the 1946 season started , Reeves sought an injunction in federal court to prevent Adams from signing with the Browns and force the tackle to honor his contract with the Rams . Adams argued that his contract described a team in Cleveland , and the move to Los Angeles invalidated it . Then acting as an agent for the Rams , Conkright had signed Adams to a new contract in October of 1945 . Conkright was named as a defendant in the suit , which was decided in August in Adams ' s favor . Conkright spent a year as Cleveland ' s end and center coach under head coach Paul Brown as the team won the 1946 AAFC championship . While with the Browns , he coached ends Mac Speedie and future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dante Lavelli , who he praised for his " uncanny way of getting into the open " to receive passes from quarterback Otto Graham . Conkright signed as an end and center coach for the AAFC ' s Buffalo Bills in April of 1947 . In moving to the Bills , he rejoined Tom Stidham , his old head coach at Oklahoma . Stidham was working as the Bills ' line coach . Conkright convinced the Bills to put into place Brown ' s version of the T formation offense , and the team improved in the 1947 and 1948 seasons . The Bills advanced to the 1948 AAFC championship , but lost the game to the Browns . Conkright was hired as an assistant coach by the Baltimore Colts in 1949 , and spent one season with the team . He took a job as an end and center coach for Mississippi State College in 1950 and spent two seasons there . After five years away from football , Conkright in 1957 became a defensive line coach at the University of Houston . Two years later , he was named the head football coach at Stephen F . Austin State University in Nacogdoches , Texas . In three seasons as coach there , his football team did not have a winning season and posted an overall win - loss - tie record of 6 – 25 – 1 . Conkright resigned as Austin ' s head coach late in November 1961 . The following April , he was hired by the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League ( AFL ) as defensive line coach and director of player personnel on the staff of head coach Marty Feldman . Following a 2 – 10 season in 1961 , the Raiders opened the 1962 season with five straight losses , leading to Feldman ' s dismissal and his replacement by Conkright as interim head coach on October 16 , 1962 . The Raiders finished the season with a 1 - 13 record under Conkright , and he was replaced in January 1963 by Al Davis . After his firing by the Raiders , Conkright joined the coaching staff of the AFL ' s Houston Oilers . He was an assistant for the Oilers in 1963 and 1964 . Death . Conkright died in 1980 in Houston , Texas . He was 66 years old .