National Football League

Allie Sherman, coach who led Giants to 3 straight NFL title games, dies

Published Jan. 6, 2015 12:33 a.m. ET

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Allie Sherman, the man who led the New York Giants to the NFL Championship Game in each of his first three seasons before a successful career in broadcasting, has died at age 91, The New York Times reported Monday.

According The Times’ report, Sherman died on Saturday in his Manhattan home.

Sherman actually began his NFL career as a quarterback, playing five seasons and starting one game from 1943 to 1947 with Philadelphia.

But he gained his biggest fame in the early 1960s, leading teams with names such as Frank Gifford, Y.A. Tittle and Del Shofner to the title game in the 1961, ’62 and ’ 63 seasons, winning NFL Coach of the Year in each of the first two seasons. The Giants lost the title game all three times (twice to the Packers and once to the Bears) and would not make the postseason again until 1981.

For his part, Sherman coached eight years in New York — his only NFL head-coaching job. After going 33-8-1 in his first three seasons, Sherman went 24-43-3 the rest of the way and was fired just before the start of the 1969 season.

He was 57-51-4 in his career and had five years remaining on a 10-year contract.

In 1970, he was part of a group that tried unsuccessfully to buy the Jets, but would go on to oversee marketing for the New York Cosmos soccer team, work as an analyst for ESPN and serve as president of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation.

Sherman was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.