Record-breaking American-Croatian coach Bill Belichick claims 6th Super Bowl title
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
4 February 2019 – American-Croatian NFL coach Bill Belichick (66) has won his 6th Super Bowl title when his New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.
Belichick’s New England Patriots beat the LA Rams 13-3 in NFL’s showpiece on Sunday and the legendary coach now joins George Halas and Curly Lambeau as the only coaches to win six NFL championships since postseason play began in 1933.
Belichick is the NFL’s longest-tenured active head coach and has won four Super Bowl championships in a six-year span.
Sunday was his 12th Super Bowl appearance, 9th as a head coach, and is the most of all time. He is also the oldest head coach to win the Super Bowl.
Belichick, whose paternal grandparents Ivan Biličić and Marija Barković emigrated from Karlovac in Croatia in 1897 and left for the USA, where they settled near Pittsburgh, is proud of his Croatian heritage.
“I am very proud of my dad’s family tradition and history with Croatians. I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful country a couple of times and I’m proud of that heritage,” Belichick was quoted as saying.
His father, Steve Belichick (born Stephen Biličić), played for the Detroit Lions and was an assistant coach and scout with the United States Naval Academy football team for 33 years.đ
He was quick to praise his players after the win. “It’s a great day for our football team that
“It’s all about the players, they’ve worked so hard all year and competed every week and they competed today, like champions…..they played like champions.”
