There were times when Jim Hanifan was coaching elsewhere, like Atlanta or Washington. But until this year, every Thanksgiving in St. Louis was spent at the Dan Dierdorf home. That’s going all the way back to 1973 — the first year Don Coryell arrived to coach the football Cardinals with Hanifan as his offensive line coach.
“We would vacation together,” said Dierdorf, the Hall of Fame offensive tackle. “We went to his cabin in Lake Tahoe every year. Jim was my coach, but he was part of our family. He and Mariana and Kathy and Jimmy — they were members of our family and still are.