In this edition of Arab American Heritage Month 2023, we will discuss Arab Americans on the other side of the ball – the coaching and executive staff.
The vast majority of Arab representation in the NFL comes from Lebanese Americans. The other Arab representation in the league comes from Palestinian Americans; you can find that article here. All Arab-Americans who have been or are football executives and coaches are all Lebanese-Americans. We will be honoring their story and legacy in this article.
Arab American Heritage Month Football Executives
Joe Robbie was born in Sisseton, South Dakota, in 1916 to his Lebanese father and Irish mother. He was the second of five children. Money was tight in the Robbie home – the family was supported by a baker and restaurant manager income.
Joe showed his initiative and work ethic early – he was a sportswriter for the local newspaper at age 14. He dropped out of high school during the great depression, working as a lumberjack and sending the majority of his income back home to his family. Robbie wouldn’t allow life circumstances to keep him away from education for long, and he graduated high school in 1936.
Joe Robbie would find his future wife, Elizabeth, in college. Mrs. Robbie would go on to have Joe’s 11 children, and they would remain married until his death. After a stint in the Navy, Robbie would use his GI Bill to become a law student.
Honoring team founder and former partial owner of Miami Dolphins, Joe Robbie (Miami Dolphins/Twitter).
Mr. Robbie would go on to own his own law firm, and he had his hand in local politics in multiple states and was a lobbyist for almost 30 years.
Joe was not a born sports fan. He didn’t fall in love with football until he moved to Minnesota in the 1950s. The commissioner of the AFL met with Robbie in 1965 and suggested to him that Miami would be a great franchise expansion location. Joe Robbie immediately took to the idea and worked together with Lebanese comedian Danny Thomas to raise the money to buy an expansion franchise.
For several years, the Dolphins stadium was named the Joe Robbie Stadium, and the team founder was the inaugural inductee of the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll.
Robbie would die in 1990 and left behind a dramatic estate battle that would result in the family losing his 85% ownership of the Miami Dolphins and conflict for years to come. Joe Robbie left behind an incredible legacy; too bad his family couldn’t maintain it.
A little-known fact about John Elway is that he has Lebanese roots. For any other proud Washingtonians, John is one of us! He was born in Port Angeles, WA, and is a twin.
John Elway in Juno shorts (Mickey Pfleger/SI).
Elway was a dual-sport threat who was drafted into the MLB and played for the Kansas City Royals while attending college and playing football at Stanford University. John had a thriving baseball career and had the opportunity to play baseball or football professionally.
In one of the most controversial manipulations of the draft, Elway went to boss level 1,000 and forced the team who drafted him, the Indianapolis Colts, to trade him to another team. John would play another year of baseball if they did not trade him. His legendary Denver Bronco career began, much to the chagrin of the Colts.
We all know that John Elway was an incredible player – he is one of the best to ever do it. His records live amongst other legends like Manning, Brady, Marino, Favre, Warner, Montana, and McNair.
Elway retired at age 38 in 1998 and would be inducted into the HOF in his first year of eligibility.
Off the field, Elway would marry twice. He had four children, Jessica, Jordan, Jack, and Juliana (am I sensing a pattern here?), with his former wife, Janet Buchan. He married his current wife and former NFL cheerleader, Paige Green, in 2009, and they remain married to this day.
John Elway at age 38 winning the super bowl (again) (Courtesy of E Bakke).
In addition to creating a legacy as a baseball and football player, and a supportive and loving father, he also would also reveal a successful entrepreneurial side. Elway owns two restaurants named after himself and owned nine car dealerships overall, still owning four.
John Elway has been a football exec since 2011 for the Broncos. He was the GM and VP of Football operations from 2011 to 2020. In 2021, John was the President of Operations and was a consultant for the current GM in 2022. He is no longer employed with the Broncos.
Elway had a mixture of failures and successes as a GM for the Broncos and was clearly showing the effects of playing football long-term at the end of his career. Overall, John Elway had more wins than failures and was willing to stay true to himself and his brand even when it wasn’t popular. John is a great role model as a Lebanese-American former player and football exec.
Arab American Heritage Month Coaches (not an exhaustive list)
Abe Gibron was born in Michigan City, Indiana, in 1925, to Lebanese immigrants from Zahle. Gibron played ball in high school, did two years of military service, and then began playing college ball at Vaspo and Purdue University.
Abe played in the league for 11 seasons between 1949 and 1959 for four different teams as a guard. He truly shined in Cleveland, nominated to the pro-bowl for four seasons between 1952 and 1955.
The Arab American Heritage Month hero, Abe Gibron, in his glory years as a Brown in 1953 (Julian C. Wilson/AP).
Gibron was better known for his coaching career that lasted 25 years, 24 in the NFL, spanning three franchises. He also worked with the Seahawks for five seasons as a scout. Most notably, Abe was the Chicago Bears head coach for three years between 1972-1974.
The coach made a name for himself – mostly for who he was and not for how well he did his job. His appetite was legendary – he was 300 pounds for the majority of his coaching career, eating things that his former player, Charley Hannah, described as “things we wouldn’t even go swimming with in Alabama.”
Besides eating, Abe was an eccentric guy that his players appreciated – he would be caught singing Joy to the World on the sidelines in 1973, which would be produced by the NFL Films in their infamous series, Football Follies.
We lost Abe Gibron in 1997 to the aftermath of two strokes. His legacy lives on in his wife, his three children, and his reputation as a character in the NFL.
Rich Kotite was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1942. Rich would play tight end at Wagner College in Staten Island and would be drafted as a Minnesota Viking in 1965. He wouldn’t play until 1967, when he was picked up by the New York Giants. After one year with the Steelers, Kotite would play four more seasons with the Giants.
Rich Kotite with the first female scouter, Connie Carberg and a baby (Courtesy of Connie Scouts).
After retiring in 1972, Rich Kotite would re-enter the world of football as a tight ends coach in 1977 for the New Orleans Saints. He would be the wide receiver coach for two teams and offensive coordinator for two teams before he became a head coach for two teams. He would be the Philadelphia Eagles head coach for three seasons and was the New York Jets head coach from 1995-1996. Todd Bowles’s coaching career with the Jets was compared to Rich Kotites – that’s a telling summary of Kotite’s career.
Post-coaching career, Rich stayed in the limelight for a while – showing up in TV commercials and was a regular contributor for NFL films programming for the NFL network. Kotite is currently retired in Florida, kicking up his feet with margaritas on the beach, or at least that’s how we imagine it.
Robert Saleh is hopefully celebrating Arab American Heritage Month, celebrating his role in the NFL as a head coach, joining a roster of talented Lebanese Americans, and trailblazing in his own right as the first Muslim head coach in the league.
Saleh finds being the first Muslim head coach to be humbling and feels this season of his life is a part of God’s plans for him.
Although being Lebanese and Muslim are important qualities to Robert, viewing him exclusively through that lens erases some of his individuality. Let’s go back to the beginning.
Two of the best to do it (Jennifer Stewart/AP).
Saleh was born in 1979 in Dearborn, Michigan. Robert has a brother David who is one of Saleh’s greatest inspirations after surviving being in the south tower during 9/11. That motivation inspired Saleh to put his all into football, and he has been a professional coach since 2002.
His coaching career began in the college realm in 2002, and he broke into the NFL in 2005. He has been playing in various defensive-oriented coaching positions for 16 seasons with four different franchises. He has been a head coach for the NY Jets since 2021.
The Jets are experiencing an upper trajectory since Saleh has become head coach and will continue to flourish under his strong leadership.
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Dull, Robert is not. He has been married to his wife Saana since 2007, and the Lebanese power couple has six children together. He also values his friendships, being Matt LaFleur’s best man at his wedding.
We can’t wait to see you lead the Jets in 2023, Robert Saleh!
Robert Saleh with his game face on (AP Photo/John Hefti, File)
