Bill & Vince Tobin
Professional Football
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Bill Tobin
(b. 1941)
Vince Tobin
(b. 1943)
Early Lives
Bill Tobin was born in 1941 in Burlington Junction in Nodaway County. He played football, along with other sports, as a student at Maryville High School. After high school, Bill attended the University of Missouri, where he excelled. He was eventually inducted into the Missouri University Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Vince Tobin was born in 1943, just a couple of years after his brother Bill, in Burlington Junction. He also played football at Maryville High School, and he followed his brother's footsteps to attend the University of Missouri, where he played football.
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Football Careers
After graduation, Bill Tobin would go on to play running back for the Houston Oilers (Now Tennessee Titans) in the American Football League in 1963. After a short stint in the AFL, Bill would move to the Canadian Football League where he played for the Edmonton Eskimos from 1964-65. After a short playing career, Bill would join the Green Bay Packers as a scout in the early 1970s, working under head coach, Dan Devine who he played for at M.U. He joined the Chicago Bears and from 1975 to 1993 he was the director of Pro Scouting, then Player Personnel Director, and finally Vice President of Player Personnel.
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In that time, the Bears won one Super Bowl Championship, two NFC Championships, nine playoff games, including six consecutive Central Division Championships. Nineteen of the team's twenty top choices were productive NFL players, with nine participating in one or more Pro Bowls. This group was led by the late, great Walter Payton. Bill then joined the Indianapolis Colts, followed by the Detroit Lions.
Vince would graduate college and become a football coach for the University of Missouri. He coached for eleven seasons (1965, 1967-1976), spending the first five seasons under coach Dan Devine. Vince would go on to coach in the USFL in 1983 where he was the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia/Baltimore franchise under Jim Mora. With his help, the team made it to the championship game for three years in a row, including consecutive wins in 1984 and 1985. In 19 years as a defensive coordinator before going to the NFL, Vince Tobin would endure a losing season only three times.
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Vince replaced Buddy Ryan, under head coach Mike Ditka, as the Chicago Bears defensive coordinator in 1986, when Chicago set the record for fewest points allowed in a 16 game season at 187. The team also ranked first fewest yards allowed per game in that same season. Vince would go 2-0 as interim Bears head coach, while Coach Ditka was recovering from a heart attack.
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Vince headed the Indianapolis Colts' defense from 1994-95 which ranked seventh in the league in '95, falling only one game short of a Super Bowl berth. His stint in Indianapolis included a 24 game streak in which the Colts did not allow a 100-yard rusher. He would go on to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 1996 to 2000. He lead the unit to the 1998 NFC playoffs, ending the league's longest playoff drought, and recorded the franchise's first playoff win since 1947.
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Into the 21st Century
The two brothers return to Maryville each year to head the Tobin Benefit Golf Classic, a benefit for the St. Francis Hospital which is now in its sixteenth year. Bill and Vince have said that they are very proud of their alma mater, Maryville High School, and of being Spoofhounds. Vince is still employed by the Cincinnati Bengals as a scout.
RESOURCES
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Wikipedia
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Stairway of Stars Booklet, Nodaway County Historical Society.
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Bob Bohlken, Famous People of Nodaway County (Instant Publisher, 2010).