An out-of-the-box, fun-loving marathoner, body surfer champion, and global football talent evaluator, Bearthard died Monday at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, at the age of 86. It is lovingly memorialized from to the coast. Near Nashville. The cause was a complication of Alzheimer’s disease, said his son Casey Beesard.
In the Washington area, as well as in South Florida and Southern California, Bearthard is celebrated for playing a key role in building seven Super Bowl teams, including the 1972-73 Miami Dolphins’ winning streak. .
Casserly had a front row seat to Beathard’s 10-year tenure in Washington. In 1981, Beesard hired an unnamed assistant to the Chargers staff and named him Joe Gibbs as Washington’s head coach, but first he hired owner Jack Kent Cook to tell Gibbs to take the job. I had to convince myself that I was the right person.
“‘Who the hell is Joe Gibbs? ‘If you hire a guy named Joe Gibbs, they’ll never let us. Please stick to it.”
“The truth is that Joe sold himself,” said Kathary. “They had a three-and-a-half-hour interview with him, and at the end of it, Joe Gibbs was the coach.”
More questions arose when Washington opened the 1981 season with a five-game losing streak. Another meeting then took place when Cook summoned both Bearthard and Gibbs to his home in Middleburg, Virginia. Full support to do whatever it takes to turn things around.
Washington finished 8–8 in 1981, and the following season, in a strike-shortened campaign, the team defeated the Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII, with 17 of the 22 starters drafted or drafted by Beesard as a free agent. Signed.
Former Buffalo and Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015, once described Beesard as “the greatest evaluator I’ve ever met.”
“He was just looking at talent,” Kathary said. “One of his great strengths was his absolute fearlessness. He didn’t care what people thought. And if he made a mistake, he just moved on.” He also listened to everyone Everything was done in front of our eyes Our draft room was always open Anyone in the organization could come in He wanted a scout in there he wanted a coach and we are all grateful that he respected our thoughts and gave us the chance to say them Of course he made the final decision and we respected that.”
In the final years of their partnership, Bearthard and Gibbs increasingly disagreed over some of those decisions, with Bearthard deciding to leave the organization after the 1988 season. When Beathard was named a Pro Football Hall of Fame contributor in 2018, he met Gibbs at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio. was selected as the presenter.
Beathard’s first year in Washington was also my final year as a full-time beat writer for The Post franchise. Compared to the past six years of covering George Allen, who was dubbed “the whistling Nixon” in the media, Bearsard was like Barack Obama, and it was a whole new delight.
That first summer, at a training camp in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he convinced me to start running and gave me a training routine for beginners. eldest son Casey.
For Beathard, it’s always been about family, friends and football. And that one of his friends, Chargers owner Dean Spanos, may have best described him.
In a statement released by the team, Spanos said, “Bobby was the person we all aspire to be. A friendly, caring, giving, thoughtful human being who brings people together from all walks of life. “He was the best GM in football, but he was also the guy sitting on his surfboard in the ocean, catching waves, jogging down the trail and chatting in the checkout line at the local market.”
And his scout insisted that he go home for the weekend.