Herman Ball Herman Ball ( May 9 , 1910 – January 12 , 1999 ) was a football player and coach who was a long - time assistant in the National Football League and served as head coach of the Washington Redskins from 1949 to 1951 . A native of Elkins , West Virginia , Ball attended Davis & Elkins College for three years beginning in 1932 , helping the 1933 squad finish the season as the highest scoring team in college football with 345 points . Following his graduation , his first coaching position came in his home state as head coach at Ridgeley High School . The following year , he moved south to begin a seven - year stint in Cumberland , Maryland , as head coach at Allegany High School . In his inaugural season at the helm , Allegany finished undefeated , the first of three spotless campaigns during his tenure , the others coming in 1940 and 1941 . By the time he departed for the University of Maryland in 1943 , he had compiled an impressive mark of 56 - 13 - 1 . Ball became an assistant with the Terrapins ' football team , and also helped coach the school ' s baseball and basketball teams . During his third and final year in that role , he worked under the legendary Bear Bryant . Ball also worked part - time as a scout for the Redskins during the 1945 season , then joined the team the following year when he was hired as line coach . On November 7 , 1949 , Redskins ' first - year head coach John Whelchel was dismissed with the team sporting a 3 - 3 - 1 mark , with Ball being elevated to the position . In the team ' s final five games , Ball managed only one more win , then struggled the next year with a 3 - 9 mark , the worst record ever ( at the time ) for the franchise . Despite the miserable fortunes of the team , due in part to Ball ' s attempt at balancing the team ' s offensive attack with more of a running game , player loyalty and fan popularity helped Ball earn another year on the sidelines . That term would be a short one when the Redskins began the 1951 NFL season with an 0 - 3 start . Ball was fired on October 18 , a decision that helped bring about a bizarre situation in which his successor , former Bears assistant Hunk Anderson , was announced as Washington ' s new head coach , but was prevented from starting his new job because of contract issues with Chicago ' s George Halas . After refusing to provide compensation for Anderson , Redskin owner George Preston Marshall hired Ball ' s assistant , Dick Todd . Serving as Washington ' s chief scout , Ball also returned to the sidelines as a Redskins ' assistant until he resigned on December 17 , 1954 . He was hired three weeks later as an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers , spending one season in the Steel City until taking a similar position on February 2 , 1956 , under Weeb Ewbank with the Baltimore Colts . Over the next seven years , Ball would help the team capture consecutive NFL titles in 1958 and 1959 . When Don Shula replaced Ewbank after the 1962 NFL season , Ball was dismissed and signed as offensive line coach of the American Football League ' s Buffalo Bills on February 9 , 1963 . He spent one year there until returning to the NFL when former Redskins head coach Joe Kuharich took over the same role with the Philadelphia Eagles . In five seasons , the team ' s best finish was in 1966 , when they finished 9 - 5 and competed in the Playoff Bowl , but following a 2 - 12 finish in 1968 , Kuharich and his staff were fired , although Ball remained as the team ' s director of player personnel . He remained in that role until announcing his retirement on December 23 , 1977 , staying on as a consultant until the end of the 1986 NFL season . He died at the age of 88 at a Paoli , Pennsylvania , hospital of complications from a heart ailment .