Extra Points: Quiet Like A Lion

Ted Marchibroda was in his first year as head coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1975 and had six assistant coaches and a 23-year-old former center from Wesleyan University assigned to break down film and do whatever miscellaneous projects arose. Marchibroda had previously been defensive coordinator for the team now known as the Washington Commanders and had orchestrated the Commanders vaunted defenses of the squad's early 1970s glory days under head coach George Allen.

Bill Belichick in his first job out of college was a sponge, soaking up everything he could from Marchibroda and defensive coordinator Maxie Baughan, who had just ended his linebacker playing career.

One player who kept popping up in Belichick's film study of Washington was No. 55—linebacker Chris Hanburger, a native of Fayetteville and an All-ACC two-way player (he was center on offense) for the Tar Heels in 1963 and '64.

"When Coach Marchibroda brought George Allen's scheme to Baltimore, I wanted to learn how to run it well, so I studied those Washington teams," Belichick says. "Hanburger and those guys were monsters. Later, we would scrimmage against those Washington teams, so I had a first-hand look at how they ran that defense and man, were they great. They made it look so easy, because they were smart and had so many experienced guys on that defense."

Fast forward half a century.

When Belichick began settling into his new job as the Carolina head coach in early 2025, one of his early outreach efforts was to Hanburger, who's 84 years old and living in Darlington, S.C.

"I called him to introduce myself and we connected," Belichick says. "He was great, very welcoming. Since then, I have talked with him a few times and have gotten to know him better. Every time we talk, I ask him stories about his playing days here and also about that Washington defense. It has been wonderful to get to know him, and I appreciate all of his support of me and our program."

In an office on the second floor of Kenan Football Center that Belichick uses for film study and player meetings, he has large photos of three former Tar Heels displayed on the walls—those three in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All of them were all-stars on defense, the side of the ball where Belichick established his coaching credentials as the coordinator of the New York Giants' Super Bowl champions of the 1980s.

"It's out of the respect I have for him as a football player and a tribute to his legacy here at UNC," Belichick says. "When I was growing up in Annapolis, I watched his Washington team play every weekend. He was a great player with Coach Allen and that incredible defense. His photo on my office wall means a lot to me and I hope it shows the respect I have for him as a player here at UNC and throughout his professional career. It's only right that he be recognized at the school he gave a lot to."

Hanburger says he was quite surprised to hear from Belichick but has enjoyed several conversations and was honored when he saw the Tar Heel squad gathering to sing him Happy Birthday on August 14th.

"Coach Belichick was interested in how we operated the system defensively," Hanburger says. "It was a very good system from Coach Allen, very comprehensive. We had a lot of audibles and we had total control. We could audible at any point and didn't have to look to the sidelines to get any signals. It was a fun system. I'm not sure how much of it applies to the game today, but it struck me how much interest Coach Belichick had in what we were doing.

"One thing he said to me that stood out, that he was trying to instill in the current players the history of football in Chapel Hill. That's a nice thing to do."

Hanburger was modest in size by today's standards, standing 6-2, 220 pounds. But he was an expert technician, knew how to read plays and react before his teammates and wielded a lethal blow with his signature clothesline tackle.

They called him "The Hang Man."

"I developed the habit early on of tackling high," Hanburger says. "My fist was clenched, my arm was going around their neck. As a defensive player, I had that mentality that we ought to be able to do anything we can to get them down. If you can clothesline someone, I think you should be able to do that. If he doesn't want to get clotheslined, he can duck his head."

Hanburger was born at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, graduated from high school in Hampton, Va., and spent two years in military service before enrolling at Carolina in the fall of 1961.

"Chris was something else," says Joe Robinson, a teammate of Hanburger's on the 1963 ACC championship squad. "He had been in the military before college, so he was more mature than the rest of us, physically and mentally. He knew exactly where he was in life and where he was going. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy, but he enjoyed the camaraderie, the members of the team and playing football. Obviously he was very good at the game."

Brent Milgrom, a defensive end who lettered in 1965-66, remembers arriving at Ehringhaus Dorm in the summer of 1964 as a freshman and seeing Hanburger and teammate Charlie Davis climbing the brick latticework up the side of the six-story building.

"They were racing to see who could get to the top first," Milgrom says. "That was my introduction to Chapel Hill."

Milgrom remembers Hanburger as one of the most feared players on the team, particularly among the younger players.

"He was quiet, but he was quiet like a lion," Milgrom says. "He was a raw-boned guy. He was in great shape after those two years in the service. He never smiled. He was scary. He was nice enough, and he never made trouble. But when you walked down the hall past his room, you'd tip-toe. You didn't want to bother him."

Everyone around Tar Heel football in the early 1960s and later in the NFL had more than a healthy respect for No. 55.

"Chris was devastating with that tackle," Milgrom says. "He whipped running backs to submission with that arm."

"He punished quarterbacks, he punished anyone with the football," adds John Bunting, who was behind Hanburger at Carolina but played against him when Bunting joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1972. "He would tomahawk people at the neck, he'd chop them up. He was one heckuva player."

Don McCauley was recruited by Bill Dooley after Hanburger had moved on to the NFL, but he played halfback for the Colts throughout the 1970s, so his teams frequently ran up against the Redskin defense.

"Chris put the fear of God into you," says McCauley. "You paid attention to where he was at all times. I hoped since I was a fellow Tar Heel, he might show me a little mercy, but no luck on that."

Hanburger wasn't drafted until the 18th round in 1965, but he quickly established his bona fides on Washington's special teams. Robinson marveled at the memory of one particular Hanburger highlight from that rookie season, a clip that was shown on a "Plays of the Week" reel running on TV games on Sundays. Hanburger led the kick-off cover team downfield, leaped a blocker and then slammed head-on into the ball carrier, knocking the opponent stone cold.

"Anyone of that era will remember seeing that play," Robinson says. "It was vintage Chris Hanburger."


Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and reporting from the sidelines on radio broadcasts since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

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