Stram found sanctuary here

A kingfish of the football world has succumbed to complications associated with diabetes.Hank Stram, a Covington resident, devoted husband and father of six children, died Monday at St. Tammany Parish Hospital. He was 82.
Stram began establishing ties with the Northshore long before he ever dreamed of coaching a football team. According to an interview published by the New Banner some years ago, Stram said he was drawn here when he visited Tulane University in 1941 after being recruited to play football there.He never attended Tulane, choosing instead to play on the defensive line at Purdue University. But years later when Stram took the job as the Saints head coach under former owner John Mecom in 1975, he and wife Phyllis chose the Northshore as the place to build their home.
They built their Covington home in 1977."That was when there was only a four-way stop near Big Fred's," son Dale Stram said."Phyllis and I fell completely in love with the whole area," Stram told News Banner reporter Ray Broussard in 2001. "So, when I was released by the Saints, the question of where we were going to live was a no-brainer."That interview was conducted when Stram was 78 years old. He was still receiving hoards of fan letters, and he replied to each request for an autographed photograph, never leaving a fan without return correspondence.Anne Barnes, a neighbor and one of the Stram's closest Northshore friends, recalls the time when, as chairperson for the Youth Service Bureau's Chef Soiree, she asked Stram to serve as honorary chairman."Because of his love of children and his golf tournaments that benefited children, I thought Hank would be perfect as honorary chairman," Barnes said."He said, 'I have waited several years for you to ask me to do this,'" Barnes said."Hank was generous and supportive," Barnes said. "He agreed to meet all the chefs and get everyone together for a photo op. He was a very generous man. That was Hank."Dale Stram said his father's life on the Northshore was one of relaxation and a place to find sanctuary. He joined the Beau Chene Country Club in 1976 to play tennis and golf.Dale Stram said after his father left the Saints in 1977 he worked for CBS through 1995."The Northshore was where he came to relax," Dale Stram said. "He built a pool and liked laying by the pool and recharging his battery."Stram enjoyed entertaining his former football players at his Northshore home when they would pass through the area, Dale Stram said. He enjoyed eating out at Sal and Judy's and La Provence, and he enjoyed entertaining friends Jimmy Moran and Wilson Abraham, two of his Southshore friends who visited often. They played golf and tennis together.His profession as a coach is legendary. Stram took the Kansas City Chiefs to AFL titles in 1962, 1966 and 1969. Then he led them to two Super Bowls.He took them to the inaugural Super Bowl I in 1967, but the team lost to Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, 35-10. But Stram's team returned to the Super Bowl again in 1970, this time garnering the title with a 23-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings.In 2003 he was elected into the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.Stram is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Phyllis, sons Henry, Dale, Stu and Gary and daughters Julia and Mary Nell and a sister, Dolly.

Leslie Ackel
COVINGTON