Legendary NFL Coach Marty Schottenheimer Dies After Battle With Alzheimer’s

Robert Hanashiro via Imagn Content Service

Legendary NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer died at 77 on Tuesday after living for years with Alzheimer’s disease.

Schottenheimer was moved to a hospice facility near his home in Charlotte on Saturday.

Schottenheimer is one of the most decorated head coaches of his era. He recorded 200 wins with four franchises from 1984 to 2006. He had four straight playoff appearances with the Browns from 1985 to '88, and he then posted a .634 winning percentage in 10 seasons with the Chiefs before leaving the organization in 1998. Schottenheimer coached one season in Washington. He finished his career with a five-year stint in San Diego from 2002 to '06. 

Cleveland, Kansas City and San Diego each tallied multiple playoff appearances with Schottenheimer. He appeared in three AFC Championship games, though he never made it to the Super Bowl.

"When Marty arrived in 1989, he reinvigorated what was then a struggling franchise and quickly turned the Chiefs into a consistent winner," Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said in a statement on Tuesday. "Marty's teams made Chiefs football a proud part of Kansas City's identity once again, and the team's resurgence forged a powerful bond with a new generation of fans who created the legendary home-field advantage at Arrowhead Stadium.

"Marty will always hold a special place in the history of the Chiefs, and he will be dearly missed by all of us who were blessed to call him a friend."

Schottenheimer was a football lifer in every sense of the word. He played for the Buffalo Bills and Boston Patriots as a linebacker from 1965 to '70, and he quickly turned to coaching after his playing career. Schottenheimer was an assistant coach for the Giants, Lions and Browns before earning his first head coaching gig. 

Schottenheimer was inducted into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named NFL Coach of the Year in 2004.