1963 San Francisco 49ers season

The 1963 San Francisco 49ers season was the franchise's 14th season in the National Football League and their 18th overall.

1963 San Francisco 49ers season
Owner	Victor Morabito
General manager	Louis Spadia
Head coach	Red Hickey (0–3) Jack Christiansen (2–9)
Home field	Kezar Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	7th NFL Western
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The 49ers attempted to improve on their 6-8 record from the previous season and make it to the playoffs for the first time in 5 seasons. However, the team lost all of their preseason games, and lost their first 3 games of the season under incumbent coach Red Hickey, who resigned after the loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. Under interim (and later incumbent) head coach Jack Christiansen, the team won only 2 of their last 10 games, and finished with a 2-12 record, missing the playoffs for the 6th straight year.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1963 NFL Draft

1963 San Francisco 49ers Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Note
1	8	Kermit Alexander	DB	UCLA
2	21	Walt Rock	G	Maryland
3	36	Don Lisbon	DB	Bowling Green
4	46	Hatch Rosdahl	G	Penn State	from Philadelphia Eagles
	49	Traded to the Bears
	50	Hugh Campbell	DE	Washington State	from Washington Redskins
5	64	Vern Burke	DE	Oregon State
	65	Jim Pilot	DB	New Mexico State	from Cleveland Browns
	66	Gary Moeller	G	Ohio State	from Chicago Bears
6	77	Pat Emerick	G	Western Michigan
7	92	Ernest DeCourley	T	Moorhead State
8	105	Roger Locke	E	Arizona State
9	120	John Maczuzak	T	Pittsburgh
10	133	Dick Lopour	B	Huron
11	148	Steve Shafer	B	Utah State
12	161	Bob Benton	T	Mississippi State
13	176	Dick Schultz	T	Ohio
14	189	Bill Tobin	B	Missouri
15	204	Oliver Ross	B	West Texas State
16	217	Jim Bogdalek	T	Toledo
17	232	Ken Reed	G	Tulsa
18	245	John Sellers	T	Bakersfield J.C.
19	260	Bob Price	G	North Texas State
20	273	Don Davis	B	McMurry

Preseason

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Location	Attendance
1	August 10	Minnesota Vikings	L 28–43	0–1	Portland, Oregon	20,837
2	August 16	St. Louis Cardinals	L 22–24	0–2	Salt Lake City	19,038
3	August 25	Cleveland Browns	L 7–24	0–3	Kezar Stadium	28,335
4	August 29	Dallas Cowboys	L 24–37	0–4	Bakersfield, California	9,927
5	September 7	at Los Angeles Rams	L 0–17	0–5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	34,405

Personnel

Staff / Coaches

1963 San Francisco 49ers staff

Front office Team Owner - Victor Morabito General manager – Louis Spadia Head coaches Head coach - Red Hickey (0-3, resigned) Jack Christiansen (interim, 2-9) Offensive coaches Chief of Offense / Offensive Coordinator - Bill Johnson Offensive Ends – Billy Wilson

Defensive coaches Defensive Assistant – Dick Voris Defensive Backfield / Secondary – Jim David Special teams coaches None - N/A

Roster

1963 San Francisco 49ers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 John Brodie 15 Lamar McHan 11 Bob Waters Running backs (RB) 24 J. D. Smith FB 17 Jim Vollenweider HB 42 Don Lisbon 36 Joe Perry FB 38 Mike Lind FB 32 Lloyd Winston Wide receivers (WR) 30 Bernie Casey 26 Kay McFarland RB/WR 81 Dave Parks 88 Clyde Conner Tight ends (TE) 85 Monty Stickles 84 Gary Knafelc

Offensive linemen (OL) 76 Len Rohde T 62 Mike Magac G 78 John Thomas LG 75 Clyde Brock T 77 Bruce Bosley C 72 Leon Donohue RG 79 Bob St. Clair RT Defensive linemen (DL) 67 Walt Rock DE 73 Leo Nomellini 86 Dan Colchico 74 Clark Miller 60 Roland Lakes 70 Charlie Krueger 65 Chuck Sieminski DT 66 Roy Williams DT

Linebackers (LB) 55 Matt Hazeltine 64 Dave Wilcox 53 Mike Dowdle MLB 52 Karl Rubke 54 Ed Pine Defensive backs (DB) 37 Jimmy Johnson 28 Howie Williams DB 29 Dale Messer DB 40 Abe Woodson 39 Kermit Alexander 44 Eddie Dove DB 45 Elbert Kimbrough S 40 Abe Woodson Special teams 36 Tommy Davis K/P

Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 15	Minnesota Vikings	L 20–24	0–1	Kezar Stadium	30,781
2	September 22	Baltimore Colts	L 14–20	0–2	Kezar Stadium	31,006
3	September 29	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14–45	0–3	Metropolitan Stadium	28,567
4	October 6	at Detroit Lions	L 3–26	0–4	Tiger Stadium	44,088
5	October 13	at Baltimore Colts	L 3–20	0–5	Memorial Stadium	56,962
6	October 20	Chicago Bears	W 20–14	1–5	Kezar Stadium	35,837
7	October 27	at Los Angeles Rams	L 21–28	1–6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	45,532
8	November 3	Detroit Lions	L 7–45	1–7	Kezar Stadium	33,511
9	November 10	Dallas Cowboys	W 31–24	2–7	Kezar Stadium	29,563
10	November 17	at New York Giants	L 14–48	2–8	Yankee Stadium	62,982
11	November 24	at Green Bay Packers	L 10–28	2–9	Milwaukee County Stadium	45,905
12	December 1	Los Angeles Rams	L 17–21	2–10	Kezar Stadium	33,321
13	December 8	at Chicago Bears	L 7–27	2–11	Wrigley Field	46,994
14	December 14	Green Bay Packers	L 17–21	2–12	Kezar Stadium	31,031
Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

Notes

• In the September 29 game at Minnesota, John Brodie suffered a season-ending injury.
• The following week at Detroit, Bob Waters made his first career start at quarterback.
• On October 20 against Chicago, Lamar McHan took over as starting quarterback for the Niners, and led them to their first victory since December 2, 1962.

Standings

NFL Western Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Chicago Bears	11	1	2	.917	10–1–1	301	144	W2
Green Bay Packers	11	2	1	.846	9–2–1	369	206	W2
Baltimore Colts	8	6	0	.571	7–5	316	285	W3
Detroit Lions	5	8	1	.385	4–7–1	326	265	L1
Minnesota Vikings	5	8	1	.385	4–7–1	309	390	W1
Los Angeles Rams	5	9	0	.357	5–7	210	350	L2
San Francisco 49ers	2	12	0	.143	1–11	198	391	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Awards, records, and honors

Tommy Davis: Pro Bowl selection
Abe Woodson: Pro Bowl selection

External links

• 1963 49ers on Pro Football Reference
• 49ers Schedule on jt-sw.com