Symank's family was of Wendish descent, a Slavic group that emigrated to Central Texas in the mid-nineteenth century from Germany.
[4] While he was a Gator, he earned two varsity letters in both football and track, and became a captain in the university's ROTC unit.
In the second quarter, Symank made a hit on Unitas that resulted in three broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Baltimore fans, and especially the press, were not so forgiving and many sports columnists accused Symank of breaking Unitas' ribs in a questionable play.
Years later, when Symank was a Baltimore Colts assistant coach, and Unitas was retired from football, the two became close friends.
Symank led the Packers in both interception-return and kickoff-return yardage, helping his team get to the 1960 NFL Championship Game.
During the game, the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, on second down, threw a pass from the Packers' five-yard-line that Symank intercepted in the end zone for a touchback.
Despite the Packers furious fourth-quarter efforts, they fell eight yards short of winning the 1960 NFL championship as time expired; the final score was Philadelphia over Green Bay 17–13.
During the 1961 season, Lombardi led the Packers to an improved record of 11–3, a Western Conference title, and a short trip to the 1961 NFL Championship Game.
Before Symank ever wore a Giants uniform, he was traded again to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played his final 9–5 season under coach Wally Lemm.
During Symank's seven-year NFL career, he played in eighty-nine regular season games, recovered twelve fumbles, intercepted nineteen passes and returning them for 387 yards and a touchdown.
Symank was the head football coach for Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1969 and 1970,[9] He picked his former Packers teammate and quarterback Lamar McHan as his offensive coordinator and C. O. Brocato, a very successful coach at Jesuit High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, as his defensive coordinator.
Symank was the eleventh head college football coach for the Arlington Mavericks, and he held that position for three seasons, from 1971 until 1973.
He and his assistants assumed command over a completely demoralized team and set out to rebuild the program using the same techniques he had learned from Lombardi.