J . Hampton Pool Hampton John " Hamp " Pool ( March 11 , 1915 – May 26 , 2000 ) was a football player , coach and scout who was part of two National Football League championship teams during his playing career and served as head coach for three professional teams . Pool graduated from Paso Robles High School in California in 1933 , and played for the University of California , Berkeley ' s freshman football team that Fall . After entering the U . S . Military Academy at West Point for one year , he returned to resume his career at Stanford University , playing both wide receiver and defensive end , and also performing for the school ' s track team . In the 1940 NFL Draft , he was a seventh round draft pick of the Chicago Bears and played four seasons with the Windy City team . During that stretch , he played at both fullback and wide receiver , catching 35 passes for 840 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns . His efforts helped the team to NFL titles in both 1940 and 1941 , with Pool scoring one of the Bears ' nine touchdowns in the 73 - 0 thrashing of the Washington Redskins in the 1940 title tilt . In 1942 , the Bears were undefeated during the regular season , but were upset , 14 - 6 , by those same Redskins in the NFL Championship game . After his career was ended by a leg injury , Pool served as a player - coach for the Fort Pierce Naval Amphibious Base during the final two years of World War II , while also working as an underwater demolition officer . His 1943 unit finished undefeated , and in 1944 , he made news when he refused to wear jersey number 14 out of respect for Green Bay Packers ' standout Don Hutson . " No . 14 is Don Hutson ' s number , and nobody else should have that , certainly not me , " said Pool . When the conflict ended , Pool officially entered the coaching arena in 1946 , serving as an assistant for the All - America Football Conference ' s Miami Seahawks under Jack Meagher . After the team had won just one of six contests during its inaugural campaign , Meagher resigned on October 22 , with Pool and fellow assistant Hank Crisp taking over as co - head coaches . After the Seahawks became the Baltimore Colts after the season , Pool stayed with the revamped franchise until accepting an assistant ' s position under Jim Crowley , who had been named head coach and general manager of the AAFC ' s Chicago Rockets . Crowley won only one of 11 games before turning the team over to Pool , who watched the team drop its final three contests . In 1948 , Pool returned to his native California to serve as an assistant under Bill Hubbard at San José State University . The Spartans finished with a 9 - 3 record , but Pool departed after the season to enter private business , but stayed connected to the sport as an assistant coach at San Bernardino Valley College . On March 3 , 1950 , Pool returned to the professional ranks when his former Bears teammate , Joe Stydahar , hired him as backfield coach of the Los Angeles Rams . Over the next two seasons , Pool handled the team ' s offense and defense , the former being one of the most potent in league history . During this period , the Rams reached the NFL title game in both seasons , dropping a heartbreaking last - minute decision in 1950 before winning the following year ' s clash , both games coming against the Cleveland Browns . However , when the team was pounded 37 - 7 by the Browns in the 1952 opener , reports of a simmering feud between Stydahar and Pool surfaced . During the offseason , Stydahar had taken away defensive duties from Pool , then attacked the latter ' s work ethic . The defeat itself was the fourth consecutive loss for the Rams , who had split into factions in support of each coach . Further controversy developed when Stydahar resigned on September 30 , 1952 , and Pool took his place . Pool had told media that " under no circumstances " would he accept the job if Stydahar resigned , then changed his mind . The situation mirrored Pool ' s earlier stints in Miami and Chicago , where he was accused of undermining the head coach before taking over the position . Ridding itself of the earlier problems , the Rams rebounded to win nine of their final 11 games , with the New York Daily News awarding Pool Coach of the Year honors . For the fourth consecutive year , the team reached the postseason , but unlike the previous year , dropped a first round playoff game to the Detroit Lions . In 1953 , the Rams again finished 9 - 3 , but endured a number of key injuries and had the misfortune of being in the same conference as the defending champion Lions , factors that kept them out of the playoffs . The next year , the team dropped to 6 - 6 , with Pool spending time defending the team against charges of dirty play , while also battling reports of a revolt among his players . After some team members were severely criticized by Pool , team owner Dan Reeves met privately with a group of players . Reeves stated that he would keep Pool despite the controversy , but after four of the team ' s five assistant coaches announced they were resigning , Pool quit on December 17 , 1954 , ending his Rams ' head coaching career with a 23 - 10 - 2 mark . Soon after Sid Gillman was hired as Pool ' s successor , erroneous reports surfaced that Pool would again be a Rams ' assistant . Instead , he served as an assistant coach for the next two years in the annual College All - Star Game , and also served his first stint as a scout . On December 27 , 1956 , he headed north when he was hired as head coach of the Canadian Football League ' s Toronto Argonauts , earning the biggest coaching contract in league history . Despite struggling in his first year , Pool was offered the head coaching position of the Philadelphia Eagles , but rejected the offer . After another tough year in 1958 , and with the team sporting a mark of 2 - 5 , Pool was dismissed on September 21 , 1959 , in favor of former New York Giants ' head coach Steve Owen . When Bob Waterfield was named head coach of the Rams in January 1960 , he named Pool , who had been running a Toronto travel agency , as an assistant two months later . The two had worked together a decade earlier in fashioning the team ' s potent offense , and Waterfield had assisted Pool during the latter ' s 1957 training camp in Toronto . Despite the chemistry between the two , the Rams managed only a 4 - 7 - 1 record , then followed that with a 4 - 10 mark . During the latter part of the 1961 NFL season , another player revolt against Pool began when complaints about his status and coaching methods surfaced . Ram tackle Frank Varrichione and Joe Marconi charged that Pool was really running the team , comparing him to a slave - driver , and that the team ' s offense was dated . When Waterfield was let go midway through the 1962 NFL season , having compiled an 9 - 24 - 1 record , Pool and the remainder of the staff finished out the season under interim head coach Harland Svare . When Svare was retained after the season , Pool became a scout for the team . Pool would later help start the league ' s first scouting combine , Quadra , and serve as a talent scout for the next few decades . In 1964 , he moved from Southern California to a ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains . He died of congestive heart failure in Mariposa , California .