April 11, 1948: Dr. Jock Sutherland Dies

April 11, 1948: Jock Sutherland dies in Pittsburgh. He was only 59 years old. He had more to do.

John Bain Sutherland was born on March 11, 1889 in Copuar Angus, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Scots, especially if their name is John, are called "Jocks," an accent-oriented variation of "Jack," so it has nothing to do with sports. He came to America as a boy, and, instead of soccer, the game his country calls "football," he played American-style football.

Sutherland decided, unlike Casey Stengel, that he would be both a dentist and an athlete, hence he was usually called "Doctor Jock Sutherland." Along with Wild West gunfighter John Henry "Doc" Holliday (but not Stengel, who never actually qualified for the profession), he might be the most famous dentist in American history.

He played on the undefeated 1917 football team at the University of Pittsburgh, played briefly with the professional Massillon Tigers, coached at Lehigh University, and went back to Pitt, leading them to National Championships in 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1937 -- going undefeated in the last of these seasons, led by two-way back Marshall "Biggie" Goldberg, later to star with the NFL's Chicago Cardinals.

Sutherland moved on to the pros, leading the Brooklyn Dodgers to a 2nd-place finish in the NFL's Eastern Division in 1941. Like the baseball team for which they were named, the football Dodgers played at Ebbets Field, and their players and fans took great joy in beating their sport's New York Giants.

Although the Giants won the NFL East in 1941, the Dodgers won both games between them that season -- including the one played at the Polo Grounds on December 7, 1941, which was interrupted by several announcements in the second half of military personnel being told by the public-address announcer to report to their bases, where they would soon find out that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

Sutherland did not serve in World War I, even though he was draft-eligible. But he volunteered for World War II, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. When the war ended, he returned to Pittsburgh as head coach of the Steelers. In 1947, he led them to a tie for the title of the NFL East, and thus the franchise's 1st Playoff berth (though the NFL does not officially recognize the game that followed as a "playoff game").

The Steelers lost to the cross-State Philadelphia Eagles, and would not play in the postseason again until 1972. A major reason why is that this was the last football game that Dr. Jock Sutherland ever saw. He died of a brain tumor 4 months later.

We'll never know if Sutherland would have turned the Steelers into an NFL power, but over the next 10 years, they would have the following quarterbacks in their training camps: Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson and Jack Kemp. I find it hard to believe that Sutherland, assuming he lived and Art Rooney kept him (I don't see why not, Art was a man renowned for his loyalty), wouldn't have kept at least one of those future legends, changing the history of football in untold ways.

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April 11, 1948 was a Sunday. The baseball season started 8 days later. Football was out of season. The Finals of the Basketball Association of America, the league that would become the NBA for the 1949-50 season were underway. The Baltimore Bullets would defeat the defending Champion Philadelphia Warriors.

And Game 2 was played in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Max Bentley scored 2 goals. The Leafs completed the sweep 4 days later.