re: One of the original “Chinese Bandits” has left us

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The Bandits were defensive specialists and usually did not play both ways.

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The former is true, but the latter suggests a misunderstanding of what was going on.

The substitution rules forced a change in philosophy in order to keep star players rested. The result of Dietzl's experimentation was the White, Go(ld) and Chinese Bandit squads - when a player was pulled during that time, he could not re-enter the game until the next quarter. Dietzl and staff would then try to predict what the final possession would be and sub the backups (Go or CB) in for that, with the goal of inserting the White team at the beginning of the next quarter.

Although Dietzl and Mac dearly loved the Bandits, they wanted the White team on the field with the game on the line.

Bottom line - all the players of that era played both ways out of necessity - typically, Dietzl wanted the White team on the field at key points, whether on defense or offense. The backups were tailored to their specialty, but a turnover or other unforeseen turn of the game would cause them to play the other way.