Daryle Lamonica (3) back to pass. Blocking for him
are Jim Otto (00), Dan Archer (78) and Jim Harvey (70).
Note the infield dirt, left over for baseball.
December 31, 1967: The American Football League Championship Game is played at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on this New Year's Eve. The Oakland Raiders hosted the Houston Oilers.
The Oilers had played in the 1st 3 AFL Championship Games, winning in 1960 and 1961, but losing in 1962. Their starting quarterback was George Blanda. Pete Beathard was now the Oilers' quarterback. This would be the Raiders' 1st title game. Blanda was now playing for them.
But while he was their main placekicker, he was not their starting quarterback. That would be Daryle Lamonica, who threw the ball so often, and so far, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." Raider coach John Rauch, having been a quarterback himself, knew he had two good ones. Lamonica would not be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Blanda would, along with receiver Fred Biletnikoff, center Jim Otto, guard Gene Upshaw, and cornerback Willie Brown.
The game kicked off at 2:00 Pacific Standard Time (5:00 Eastern), and the temperature was 47 degrees. Just a few minutes earlier, the NFL Championship Game had ended in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and, to those inside Lambeau Field, 47 degrees would have seemed like beach weather in comparison.
The only scoring in the 1st quarter was a 37-yard field goal by Blanda. But the Raiders pulled away in the 2nd quarter, with Hewritt Dixon scoring on a 69-yard run, and Lamonica throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Dave Kocourek. It was 17-0 Raiders at the half.
In the 3rd quarter, Lamonica scored on a quarterback sneak, and Blanda kicked a 40-yard field goal. Blanda kicked one from 42 yards, giving the Raiders a 30-0 lead early in the 4th quarter. The Oilers finally scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Beathard to Charley Frazier. But the Raiders put it away with another field goal from Blanda, this one 36 yards, and a 12-yard touchdown pass from Lamonica to Bill Miller. The final was Oakland 40, Houston 7.
This was the 1st league championship for Raiders owner Al Davis. There would be more. Moreover, while Oakland had been the much-maligned "little brother" to cosmopolitan San Francisco across the Bay, this game was the beginning of a shift.
The San Francisco Giants had won the National League Pennant in 1962, and just missed Pennants in 1964, '65 and '66. But the Raiders were now AFL Champions, and Oakland had just become home to the NHL's Seals and the ABA's Oaks, and were about to become home to baseball's Athletics. Oakland would soon have 4 teams, to San Francisco's 3 -- and when the San Francisco Warriors moved in 1971, taking the name "Golden State Warriors," taking the place of the Oaks who had moved, Oakland would, briefly, have 4 teams to San Francisco's 2.
From this game until the 49ers' NFC Championship of January 10, 1982, the City of San Francisco had no league champions in any sport, while the City of Oakland had 8: The 1967 AFL Champion Raiders; the 1969 ABA Champion Oaks; the 1972, 1973 and 1974 World Series Champion Athletics; the 1975 NBA Champion Warriors; and the 1976 and 1980 NFL Champion Raiders. And that doesn't even count the Oakland Clippers, earlier in 1967, winning the title in the National Professional Soccer League, which could hardly have been called "major league." But it did happen.
For a few years, sports-wise, Oakland was the place to be. It was a golden age -- or, as A's and Seals owner Charlie Finley might have put it, a Green and Golden Age.
*
December 31, 1967 was a Sunday. The 1967 NFL Championship Game was played the same day. While the Oakland Coliseum has been known for chilly conditions, there was no issue with the weather there on that day. That would not be the case for the NFL title game: It was well below zero at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in a game that became known as the Ice Bowl. I have a separate entry for that event. The Packers went on to beat the Raiders, 33-14 in Super Bowl II, in a much-warmer Orange Bowl in Miami.
There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the expansion San Diego Rockets, 147-118. It was the 1st game the Lakers played at their new arena, The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And the San Francisco Warriors beat the other expansion team, the Seattle SuperSonics, 126-124 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. For the Warriors, Nate Thurmond had 34 points and 25 rebounds.
There was 1 game played in the American Basketball Association, which was in its 1st season: The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Indiana Pacers, 121-106 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Pipers would go on to win the 1st ABA Championship. But before the 1972-73 season, they were out of business. The Pacers would win the ABA title in 1970, '72 and '73, and were 1 of the 4 teams absorbed from the ABA into the NBA in 1976.
There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0, in one of the last events at the old Madison Square Garden.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 9-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 6-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Oakland Seals, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars were not scheduled.
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