35 Facts About Marv Levy

Marvin Daniel Levy is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League for seventeen seasons.

Marv Levy spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, leading them from 1986 to 1997.

Marv Levy concluded his head coaching career with 11 playoff victories and four Super Bowl appearances, both of which are the most of head coaches to not win an NFL championship.

Marv Levy was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Marv Levy was born to a Jewish family in Chicago on August 3,1925.

In 1943, the day after graduation from South Shore High School in Chicago, Marv Levy enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces.

Marv Levy served as a meteorologist at Apalachicola Army Airfield in Franklin County, Florida, but the war ended before his unit deployed to the Pacific.

Marv Levy always had a knack for always finding the right thing to say.

Marv Levy was a master psychologist at knowing what buttons to push.

Marv Levy was initially recruited to the Wyoming Cowboys football team as a defensive back.

The coach who recruited Marv Levy left Wyoming, and Marv Levy was displeased and exhausted by the following coach's round-the-clock training regimen.

Marv Levy transferred to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa following a single semester.

At Coe College, Marv Levy earned varsity letters in football, track, and basketball.

Marv Levy obtained a degree in English literature, was granted membership in Phi Beta Kappa society, and was twice voted student council president.

Marv Levy was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

Marv Levy was admitted to Harvard University for graduate studies in 1951, where he earned a Masters of Arts in English history.

Marv Levy's first coaching job was at St Louis Country Day School, coaching football and basketball; he coached the school's basketball team to a championship.

Two years later, Marv Levy returned to Coe College as an assistant football coach.

Marv Levy interviewed with the University of California, Berkeley on February 2,1960, and was announced as the new head coach of the Cal Bears on February 5,1960.

Marv Levy began his professional football coaching career in 1969 as kicking teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles before joining George Allen's staff as a special teams coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 1970.

Marv Levy followed Allen to Washington, DC, in 1971, where he served as the Washington Redskins' special teams coach for two seasons.

Marv Levy then served as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League for five seasons.

Marv Levy coached Montreal to three CFL Grey Cup appearances and two championships, and won the Annis Stukus Trophy in 1974.

Marv Levy returned to the NFL in 1978 as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Midway through the 1986 season, following a two-year hiatus from coaching and one season as the head coach of the Chicago Blitz of the USFL, Marv Levy returned to the NFL with the Buffalo Bills.

Marv Levy was named NFL Coach of the Year in 1988 and AFC Coach of the Year in 1988,1993, and 1995.

Marv Levy retired after the 1997 season, when he felt that it was time to rest, doing so despite the pleas of Wilson to stay.

In 2001, Marv Levy was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Marv Levy returned to live in his native Chicago, although he spent some time in Montreal mentoring then-Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman.

Marv Levy stated he would be open to returning to coaching if asked.

In 2000, Marv Levy appeared as a studio analyst at Fox NFL Sunday.

In 2009, Levy collaborated with Buffalo football historian Jeffrey J Miller to write a book entitled Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in Buffalo Bills Football History.

In 2022, Marv Levy appeared at the Bills' home opener along with Jim Kelly, his former quarterback.

Kelly passed the mic to Marv Levy, who led the crowd in the "right here, right now" chant.

Marv Levy has been married to his second wife, Fran, since 1999.