Jim Zorn Makes QB's Puke, Skins Coyotes

Four more fun Jim Zorn facts, culled from the archives. And I should note that in one of these stories, he attributes his weirdness to being left-handed. I wish I could find a list of previous left-handed NFL coaches, or coaches more generally. Let's see, Lefty Driesell, Dick Motta, Lenny Wilkins, Digger Phelps, Casey Stengel, Tommy Lasorda....no football names though. Anyone? Allie Sherman?

From Sports Illustrated, in 1984:

When Jim Zorn was the Seahawks' starting quarterback from 1976 to 83, he was consumed by football. But since Oct. 28, 1983, when he was replaced by Dave Krieg, Zorn has had more free time. Oftentimes he pedal his mountain bike -- Zorn and a friend are currently marketing a model called The Raven -- on paths near his Mercer lsland, Wash. home. One day a few weeks ago, he donned a diver's dry suit and went windsurfing on Lake Washington in 30mph winds. He also learned to skin a coyote.

But his most rewarding activity is building miniature wooden ships. In his basement workroom Zorn recently finished his first, a cross-section model of the H.M.S. Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. He had visited the ship in Portsmouth, England last March. Working with tweezers and tiny clamps, Zorn spent 120 hours on that project.

From Mike Sando, before he joined the four letter:

Quarterbacks fired dodgeballs at Hasselbeck in one of Jim Zorn's creatively wacky agility drills.

"I think he thinks them up on his bike rides from Mercer Island over to work," Hasselbeck said. "He comes up with some good drills. Only the best ones make the cut, and right now he's using the conservative ones."

One year, Zorn once brought his quarterbacks along on a bike ride. "That ended with a couple of us puking our brains out," Hasselbeck said. "And that was the day before camp. That was tough, and the last time I tried that."

From the WaPo, during the 1987 labor stoppage, in a story with a double byline of Michael Wilbon and David Maraniss:

Jim Zorn, a former Seattle Seahawks quarterback who had decided earlier in the week he would cross the picket line and play for his former team, changed his mind after criticism from his old teammates mounted. Zorn had been in Buffalo for a tryout but instead decided to sign on as a replacement player with Seattle, where he had been from 1976 to 1984. But after talking with Seattle union representative Kenny Easley, Zorn said he would not cross the picket line.

Although he did, to play for the Bucs. And lastly, from the Minny Star-Tribune's Dan Barreiro, in 1995, while he was coaching at Minnesota, about the weirdness inherent in lefties:

How do we describe Zorn's hair? A high flattop? An urban bouffant? It is closely cropped at the sides, several inches high at the top, with a certain lean to the right. "It's a little too high right now," he says.

Whatever it is, it is not the average hairstyle you find on your run-of-the-mill quarterbacks coach at your basic major state university. Then again, your run-of-the-mill quarterbacks coach at your basic major state university usually did not throw the javelin, play badminton and speedskate while he attended college. In California, no less. "Badminton is totally awesome," he says.

So the Redskins' new coach has, in the past quarter-century years, made QBs puke, built model ships, skinned a coyote, crossed a picket line, played badminton, gone windsurfing, bought a Slip 'n Slide, held dodgeball games, and learned how to play the viola. This is just a tremendous hire.

By Dan Steinberg |  February 11, 2008; 8:56 AM ET  | Category:  Redskins
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