December 12, 1982: The New England Patriots host the Miami Dolphins at what was then named Schaefer Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Dolphins had dominated the AFC Eastern Division since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970, although the Patriots had had their moments. This game would feature another.
The weather heavily favored the Pats. It rained before the game, soaking the AstroTurf. Then, on the day of the game, a cold snap came, freezing the water on the field. Finally, it snowed on the morning of the game, and it kept snowing during the game.
The Patriots had occasionally played in Winter weather, but, this far in their history, nothing like this. The Dolphins, used to playing in the warmth of South Florida, were totally unsuited to this.
An emergency ground rule was put into play, where the officials could call time-out and allow the ground crew to use a snowplow to clear the yard markers. Despite this rule, the ground crew could not plow often enough to keep the field clear. With today's weather forecasting and NFL scheduling policy, a decision would have been made ahead of time to postpone it to Monday night.
Neither team's players could get a good footing on the field, and the game remained scoreless, late in the 4th quarter. With 4:45 left in regulation, Patriots coach Ron Meyer wanted to kick a field goal. He later told the media that it was quarterback Steve Grogan who suggested asking for the snowplow to clear the ground for the kick. (Grogan only attempted 5 passes all game long, completing 2, for 13 yards.)
It wasn't actually a snow plow: It was a small John Deere tractor with a shovel attached to it. The driver was Mark Henderson, a convicted burglar out of prison on a work-release program. He knew why he was there, and that it was within the rules. He told the media that his reaction was, "What are they going to do, throw me in jail?"
A path was clear for John Smith, the left-footed kicker from Oxfordshire, England, to attempt a 33-yard go-ahead field goal. It was good.
Dolphin coach Don Shula was furious: “I wanted to go out there and punch him out,” Shula told The Boston Globe, meaning Henderson. “In retrospect, I should have laid down in front of the snowplow.” And he told the Los Angeles Times, “I think it’s the most unfair thing I’ve ever been associated with in coaching. It’s the most unsportsmanlike act that I’ve ever been around.”
It wasn't. Late in the game, when the Dolphins could have tried a game-winning field goa, they were also offered the use of the snowplow by the head referee. Shula refused. The Patriots held on to win, 3-0. It became instantly known as The Snowplow Game, and it remains the most famous touchdown-less game in NFL history.
With the history of the Patriots having changed considerably in the intervening 40 years, with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady leading them to victory with proven accusations of cheating, it is easy to say that the Patriots' cheating goes back to The Snowplow Game. In fact, the rule, agreed upon by both organizations before the game, meant that Henderson's actions, and Meyer's request thereof, were legal at the time.
But the Patriots' organization was wary: Shula, already one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, was on the NFL's Competition Committee, and there was concern that he might lead Commissioner Pete Rozelle to overturn the result. It didn't happen: No NFL result has ever been overturned in the League's 100+-year history. But Shula did get the rule changed for the next season, so such a thing could never happen again.
"Mark Henderson" is a common name, common enough that, when the Patriots wanted to invite the plow driver to the final regular-season game at Schaefer Stadium, which became Sullivan Stadium in 1983 and Foxboro Stadium in 1989, to be held on December 22, 2001, they discovered, incorrectly, that he was dead. It was another Mark Henderson who lived in New England and had a criminal record. When they kept digging and found the right one, they brought him onto the field -- by then, real grass -- and he received a standing ovation.
Mark Henderson, 2007, on the 25th Anniversary
Looking him up for this post, I found the same problem: Multiple Mark Hendersons who had passed away, including 2 in 2022. All I can say for sure about Mark Henderson the plow driver is that he lived long enough to give an interview to The Boston Globe in 2010, had a son also named Mark, and that the son confirmed that the father had never been in legal trouble again after his release.
What I can confirm is that the John Deere tractor was preserved, and now sits in the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, a museum at the north end of Gillette Stadium, which was built next-door to the old stadium in Foxborough.
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December 12, 1982 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:
* The New York Jets beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 32-17 at Shea Stadium.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 35-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-0 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 23-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 30-10 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Baltimore Colts, 13-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Washington Redskins beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-16 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Rams, 27-24 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Chicago Bears, 20-14 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* The day before, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-7 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* Also the day before, the San Diego Chargers beat the San Francisco 49ers, 41-37 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Houston Oilers, 37-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.
Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:
* The Boston Celtics beat the Denver Broncos, 126-112 at the Boston Garden. Larry Bird scored 36 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Indiana Pacers, 120-108 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 99-94 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And there were 6 NHL games that day:
* The New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-0 at Madison Square Garden. It would be years before the neighbors would be on the same level, enough to make it a real rivalry.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat their in-State rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Hartford Whalers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames, 7-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
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