Back to the Seattle Seahawks Newsfeed

Jack Patera, first Seahawks’ coach, dies at age 85. Steve Raible, Jim Zorn remember him fondly

Jack Patera, the Seahawks’ first coach, was an innovator. He was a father of professional football in the Northwest.

And he was a big believer that you should never be friends with foes.

Not on the field, anyway.

“Jack had a rule, starting in ‘76, the (Seahawks’) very first year: game ends, you run to the locker room. You don’t walk. You RUN to the locker room,” original Seahawks wide receiver Steve Raible said Wednesday.

That was hours after Patera, the Seahawks’ first coach from the 1976 expansion season into 1982, died at age 85.