Knoxisms: “Don’t ever again tell me how rough the waters are, just bring the ship in.” .
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Statistics: Wins and losses throughout his career.
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What We've Overheard: "He so deserves it. He was the one who put Seahawks football on the map."
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Who He Is: Knox started donating Seahawk fine money to charity when he became coach in 1983
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Just for Fun: I hadn’t been in the football biz since the Brian Bosworth substitution caper of 1988, but that had been some of my best work...
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Ring of Honor: Thanks to all of you who answered the call to send postcards or email to the Seahawks requesting that Chuck Knox be inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor!
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Sports: Monday, December 23, 1991
Steve Kelley

Football coaches are supposed to be tough as anthracite coal; stern, clench-jawed, unemotional men of steel. Football coaches don't cry.

But yesterday, as defensive end Jacob Green handed Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox the game ball after Seattle's season-ending, 23-9 win over the Los Angeles Rams, Knox cried.

"I've never seen Chuck like that before. He was upset. We were all upset," said Mike Tice, an 11-year veteran tight end. "It's probably more emotional for the veterans, the older veterans. The guys who have been around Chuck, well, this hurts. It's very emotional.

"Guys like Jake (Jacob Green), myself, Boogie (Jeff Bryant) and (Joe) Nash, we talked all week about, `Hey let's do it for the old man.' He's treated us well and we wanted to win it for him. We love him."

After a short meeting with the media, Knox said more goodbyes to his players; stopping in front of Warren Wheat's locker and walking down a row of lockers, a general reviewing of the troops one last time, saying farewell to Eugene Robinson, Robert Blackmon, James Jefferson and Dwayne Harper.

He retired into his office. A few quiet moments, more tears, with family members, some assistant coaches, play-by-play announcer Pete Gross. A sincere so-long to a sports writer.

Assistant coaches talked nostalgically as they looked into the future. They talked about Seahawk football in the past tense. They wouldn't say it was over, but they knew it was.

These weren't the typical end-of-season goodbyes. This wasn't au revoir. This was the end.

The Chuck Knox era came to a tearful conclusion last night. Sometime in the next 30 days he will either resign or be fired. At 8:10 p.m., a red-eyed, tight-lipped Knox walked off the Kingdome carpet for the last time, the last hurrahs of his 80th regular-season Seahawk victory ringing in his ears.

Knox is gone. His uncomfortable, dangerous liaison with cheap-skate owner Ken Behring has reached the breaking point.

Next season a new man - Tom Flores? Dennis Erickson? Buddy Ryan? Dennis Green? - will be coaching the Seahawks. Someone who doesn't mind a know-nothing owner looking over his shoulder will be on the sideline.

"It's inevitable, isn't it?" Tice said. "Chuck Knox does not like to be dictated to. If you can't bring in the players you need to better your football team, then how the hell can you coach that football team? That's my opinion."

All that is left is to thank Knox for nine years of memories.

Thanks for turning the Seahawks into winners; for four playoff seasons; for remarkable late-season runs in 1986 (five wins in a row) and 1990 (five wins in six games) that were almost good enough to make the playoffs.

Thanks for keeping this season alive despite compounding injuries, glaring weaknesses in the offensive line, no tailback, a revolving door at quarterback, and an owner who would do nothing to make your team better.

I'm sure you realize that you missed the playoffs this season by one first down. One more lousy first down against the San Francisco 49ers and you could have run out the clock and clinched the win.

One more first down and you'd be preparing for the Houston Oilers today, instead of preparing for the rest of your life.

Thanks for having the courage to make that trade in 1983 that brought Curt Warner to Seattle and turned the franchise into a division contender; for bringing in veterans such as Blair Bush, Reggie McKenzie and Charle Young; for Ground Chuck; for building one of the best defenses of the 1980s, then rebuilding this season's defense into one of the best of 1991.

In 1984, when Warner tore his knee on the tacky Kingdome carpet, you refused to surrender the season. You turned Ground Chuck into an aerial circus. You got 12 wins with your committee of running backs.

At a time in Seattle's professional history when the Sonics have been the model of mediocrity, when the Mariners' future has been a series of storm fronts, you've kept giving this city winners:

A trip to the AFC championship game in 1983, a division title in 1988. Remarkable wins.

The 51-48 overtime win over Kansas City in 1983. The 27-24 win in Denver in 1984. The division-clinching 43-37 shootout with the Raiders in 1988.

Who knows what you might have done with this franchise if the Nordstrom family had allowed you to sign quarterback Warren Moon? Or if Behring had given you the freedom to find players that Bill Walsh had in San Francisco or Art Shell has in Los Angeles?

Thanks for the memories. We have a feeling you'll be back coaching next year. Maybe you'll return to the Rams. Maybe you'll be at Tampa Bay or Green Bay. You could do for those cities what you've done for ours.

"If there's somebody who's looking for a quality football coach," Tice said, "who's a great leader and great to his players and needs to turn around a situation, you couldn't ask for a better guy than Chuck. If he got hired in Nome, Alaska, I'd take the bus up there to play for him."

Once again yesterday, you left the Kingdome a winner. Your team played Seahawk football one last time.

"It doesn't make up for the season," you told us.

But it was a perfect way to say goodbye.