CLEVELAND - Norb Hecker, an assistant coach under Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh who also was the first head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, has died. He was 76.
Hecker died of cancer Sunday at his son Jeffrey's home in Los Altos, Calif., where he'd been living for the past two weeks, his son said Tuesday night.
Hecker, who was born in Berea and attended tiny Baldwin-Wallace College in that Cleveland suburb, was a part of eight NFL champions as a player and coach.
A defensive back and receiver for the 1951 champion Los Angeles Rams, Hecker was an assistant coach and administrative aide for seven more champions in Green Bay and San Francisco.
After winning three titles with the Packers under Lombardi in the 1960s, Hecker was head coach of the Falcons from 1966-68, compiling a 4-26-1 record.
He then was defensive coordinator of the New York Giants from 1969-71 before joining Walsh at Stanford as an assistant coach.
Hecker accompanied Walsh to San Francisco, where he coached defensive backs and linebackers. He won four Super Bowl rings with the 49ers.
``I saw him two days before he died,'' Walsh told The Plain Dealer. ``He was very cognitive to the end. He said, 'I've had a great run.' He was a charismatic man, an astute judge of talent and an excellent teacher.''
Walsh will speak at Hecker's memorial service at Stanford University chapel in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 26.
As a player, Hecker also spent one season with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL and finished his career with the Washington Redskins from 1955-57. He spent the 1958 season as a player-coach with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Hecker's wife of 46 years, Barbara, died in 1998. He is survived by five children, seven grandchildren, two brothers and a sister.
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August 9th, 2025
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