SEATTLE – There are seven players in the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
On Sunday, the one man who coached them all joined them.
Chuck Knox, Seattle’s all-time leader in coaching victories and still the only Seahawks coach to win a playoff game, was inducted into the Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony.
“It’s a great honor for me, and I appreciate everything the players did and everything the fans did,” Knox said to the packed house at Qwest Field, which gave him standing ovations before the game and again at halftime.
Knox was already an established and successful coach when he shocked the NFL in 1983 by leaving a plum job in Buffalo to take over a Seahawks franchise that had never made the playoffs.
He took them to the AFC Championship game that year and made the playoffs in four of his first six seasons in Seattle, becoming the first coach to take three different teams to the playoffs.
Knox left the Seahawks after the 1991 season with a record of 80-63 in the regular season and 3-4 in the playoffs. Both victory totals are Seattle club records.
Knox’s name in the Ring of Honor was unveiled by former quarterback Dave Krieg, who quarterbacked all four of Knox’s playoff teams in Seattle.
Krieg is in the Ring of Honor as well, along with wide receiver Steve Largent, defensive end Jacob Green, quarterback Jim Zorn, running back Curt Warner, cornerback Dave Brown and safety Kenny Easley.
All of those players were part of Knox’s first two Seahawks teams to make the playoffs in 1983 and 1984.
“This reward would not be possible if it wasn’t for the great effort put forth by the players and from the 12th man,” Knox said.
Radio broadcaster Pete Gross is also in the Ring of Honor.
Knox, who lives in La Quinta, Calif., also coached the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills in his 22-year career, during which he coached in four conference championship games. He is seventh in NFL history in career coaching victories and was named NFL Coach of the Year four times, including in 1984 with Seattle when the Seahawks were 12-4 despite losing Warner for the season in the season opener.
A child of hard times in the steel mill region of western Pennsylvania, Knox was known as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense coach who earned the nickname “Ground Chuck” for his emphasis on running the ball and a low-risk passing game.
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