November 4, 2011: The Jerry Sandusky Scandal

November 4, 2011: The Jerry Sandusky scandal breaks, on an off-week for the Penn State football team. Not surprisingly, the Nittany Lions went on to lose 3 of their last 4 games (and barely won the other). Very surprisingly, after this date, Joe Paterno was removed from power, proving to him that he was not, as he believed, the most powerful person in the Pennsylvania State University system, and he never coached another game.

As someone said at the time, Sandusky went "From Penn State to the State Pen."

Here's what George Vescey, one of the greatest sportswriters of all time, had to say in the November 7 edition of The New York Times:

Football is the central fact of life in the State. When a large male newborn is on display in the hospital nursery, people make loving jokes about sending him out to JoePa to play linebacker. Not so funny at the moment, is it?

Apparently, young boys were brought to the massive football program by Jerry Sandusky, who was first a major assistant coach and later an emeritus member of the football "family." Some family. The guy had keys to the facilities, with enough freedom to take showers with the boys, and, if we believe the warrant for Sandusky, jeopardize the balance of their lives.

People saw. People knew. A few people even talked. But ultimately it got swept under the rug for years because of the rush to Saturday, those autumn game days when people funnel into Happy Valley for the biggest thing in the State...

The legalities of all this are going to have to play out. We do know that Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of abusing boys over 15 years. The athletic director, Tim Curley, took an administrative leave Sunday night so he could defend himself; and Gary Schultz, the senior vice president for finance and business, resigned Sunday night. Both were charged with perjury for their testimony to a grand jury investigating Sandusky.

That leaves Joe Paterno, the 84-year-old coach, the icon, the benefactor, and most important, the winner of 409 football games, the most by any coach at this highest level. Apparently, Paterno knew about his former assistant in 2002 and went to Curley and then he went back to supervising practices and giving news conferences and recruiting large young men to play football for the program...

The attorney general said Monday that Paterno is not a suspect in this case, so I would think he deserves a polite retirement at the end of the season.

(Bold = emphasis mine, not Vescey's or the Times'.)

A polite retirement?

Joe Paterno, often called Saint Joe, was, in effect, as culpable in this mess as the Catholic Church officials who covered up similar crimes by its priests.

The fact that Paterno was already dying of cancer was not widely known, but it meant that he wouldn't have coached in 2012 and beyond anyway. But it should not generate sympathy for him. His tolerance of Sandusky's indefensible actions is his greatest crime, but hardly his only one. For decades, his supporters said he "ran a clean program." Even before November 4, 2011, this had been revealed as a lie. But we had no idea just how big the lie was.

Paterno died on January 22, 2012. On June 22, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of the 48 counts against him. On October 9, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison, with his first chance for parole coming after 30 years -- on October 9, 2042, when he would be 98 years old.

As of November 4, 2022, Sandusky remains at State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands, a minimum-security facility in Somerset, Pennsylvania, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

*

November 4, 2011 was a Friday. The baseball season had ended 7 days earlier, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the World Series.

There were 2 college football games that night. Number 21 Southern California beat Colorado, 42-17 at Folsom Field in the Denver suburb of Boulder, Colorado. And Kent State beat Central Michigan, 24-21 at Dix Stadium outside Cleveland in Kent, Ohio.

The NBA team owners had locked the players out, so the season didn't start until Christmas Day (a day whose revenue, more TV than arena-grounds, the owners did not want to lose).

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. Vincent Lecavalier scored the winning goal with 54 seconds left in overtime.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche, 7-6 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Loui Eriksson scored the winning goal with 1:05 left in overtime.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat South Brunswick, 45-20 at Mike Elko Stadium in South Brunswick.

September 17, 1960: Beaver Stadium Opens

A "White Out Game"

September 17, 1960: Beaver Stadium opens on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University in State College, 192 miles from Center City Philadelphia, 88 miles from the State Capitol in Harrisburg, and 137 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh. Ranked Number 19 in the nation at the time, Penn State beat Boston University, 20-0.

For anybody who grew up from the late 1960s into the early 21st Century, it's hard to imagine anybody but Joe Paterno coaching the Nittany Lions. But, at this point, he was still an assistant coach under Charles "Rip" Engle, who led them from 1950 to 1965, after which point Paterno coached them until the scandal that brought him down in 2011, followed by his death from cancer early in 2012.

From their debut in 1887 until 1891, Penn State played football on the lawn in front of their administration building, "Old Main." From 1892 to 1908, they played at Beaver Field, named for James A. Beaver, who was Governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891, and then president of the University's Board of Trustees. It stood between present-day Osmond and Frear Laboratories.

In 1909, New Beaver Field, seating 30,000, was built on the original site of the Nittany Lion Inn (the current version dates to 1931), where the current stadium's parking deck now stands. Penn State had some success there, but not like what was to come under Paterno.

They outgrew the stadium in the 1950s, and Beaver Stadium was built, with an initial capacity of 69,000. With a current official capacity of 106,572, it is the 2nd-largest stadium in North America, behind the University of Michigan's Michigan Stadium. Its record crowd is 110,889, on September 29, 2018, for what turned out to be a 27-26 loss to Ohio State. (UPDATE: That record was broken on November 2, 2024, with 111,030 coming to see another loss to Ohio State, 20-13.)

The stadium is known for its "S-Zone," where students are all given white and blue shirts, supplied by the Pennsylvania State University Lion Ambassadors, to create an "S" for "State"; and "White Out" games, where everybody wears white shirts.

Opening the same day as Beaver Stadium was University Stadium, on the campus of the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. UNM played the University of Mexico, known to Mexican soccer fans as "Pumas" for their wild feline mascot. The visitors did not adjust well to the American version of football, as the host Lobos beat them, 77-6.

*

September 17, 1960 was a Saturday. Baseball pitcher John Franco was born. So was Kevin Clash, the puppeteer who originally operated Elmo on Sesame Street.

These other notable college football games were played:

* Number 1 Syracuse, the defending National Champions, opened their season the following week. So did Number 5 Illinois, Number 8 Michigan State, Number 9 Clemson, Number 10 Oklahoma, and unranked Notre Dame. So did New Jersey's teams, Rutgers and Princeton, against each other, in a 13-8 Rutgers win in Princeton.

* Number 2 Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss, beat the University of Houston, 42-0 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

* Number 3 Washington beat the University of the Pacific, 55-6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 4 Texas were upset by Nebraska, 14-13 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* The night before, Number 6 University of Southern California (USC) were upset by Oregon State, 14-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 7 University of Pittsburgh were upset by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 8-7 at the L.A. Coliseum.

* Number 11 Texas Christian University (TCU) were upset by Kansas, 21-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.

* Number 13 Georgia were upset by Alabama, 21-6 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

* Among the service academies, Army beat the University of Buffalo, 37-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat Boston College, 22-7 at Alumni Stadium in the Boston suburb of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; and Air Force opened their season the next week.

One game was played in the brand-new American Football League: The Boston Patriots beat the New York Titans, 28-24 at the Polo Grounds. Those teams would become known as the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, respectively.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Bob Turley started, but Jim Coates ended up as the winning pitcher. Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra hit home runs. Roger Maris went 0-for-4. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams hit his 520th career home run. At the time, this was 3rd in baseball history behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. He would hit 1 more. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with a walk. At the time, he had 82 career home runs. He would hit 491 more.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Ken Hamlin's home run was the 1st of 3 runs the A's scored in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-4 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium the next season. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Don Cardwell was the winning pitcher. The Cubs scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, 2 off Sandy Koufax, 3 off Larry Sherry. Earlier, Ernie Banks hit a home run off Koufax. The next year, in Spring Training, Sherry would tell Koufax to stop trying to strike everybody out. It was among the greatest advice in baseball history.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Tony Curry hit a bases-loaded double in the top of the 10th inning. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4. Eddie Mathews went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial did not play. Willie Mays went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a groundout. Willie McCovey appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* With some irony, the major league team the closest to Penn State, the Pittsburgh Pirates, were rained out of their game with the Cincinnati Reds, although it was at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Pirates swept, 5-3 and 1-0.

Vernon Law won his 20th game of the season in the opener, on his way to the Cy Young Award, then given to the best pitcher in both Leagues. Dick Stuart and Don Hoak hit home runs. In the nightcap, Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Bob Purkey. The only run came in the top of the 7th inning, when Dick Schofield doubled Hoak home. Over the 2 games, Roberto Clemente went 1-for-8 with a walk.

And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated North-East team Newcastle United, 5-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London. David Herd scored 3 goals.

January 2, 1987: Penn State vs. Miami, "The Game of the Century"

January 2, 1987: The Fiesta Bowl is held at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. The University of Miami entered the game ranked Number 1 in the country. Pennsylvania State University, a.k.a. "Penn State," came in ranked Number 2. The winner would win the National Championship.

It was one of those games that, in the pregame hype, was tagged "The Game of the Century." Fortunately, it was one of those that lived up to the billing.

Miami had won the title for the 1983 season, and was going for their 2nd. Penn State thought they had teams worthy of the National Championship in 1968, 1969 and 1973, going undefeated each season. But, each time, it was awarded to another team. In the 1982 season, they were finally awarded the title.

In the 1986 regular season, Miami went 11-0, having beaten both then-Number 1 Oklahoma and then-Number 20 Florida State at home at the Orange Bowl stadium. They also won road games against South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Head coach Jimmy Johnson could call on that year's Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who ended up playing 21 seasons in the NFL, making the Pro Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets, and passing for over 46,000 yards and 275 touchdowns; receiver Brian Blades, later a Pro Bowler with the Seattle Seahawks; Brian's brother, safety Bennie Blades, later a Pro Bowler with the Detroit Lions; and defensive end Russell Maryland, a 3-time Pro Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl winner with the Dallas Cowboys.

Penn State also went 11-0, beating then-Number 2 Alabama away, and also winning away to Boston College, West Virginia and Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions were led by running back D.J. Dozier, who would go on to play in Major League Baseball as well as in the NFL; and linebacker Shane Conlan, who made 3 Pro Bowls and played in 4 Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills.

Sports Illustrated named head coach Joe Paterno their Sportsman of the Year for 1986, citing him for showing it was possible to win big while running a "clean program." Indeed, as with the 1988 Miami-Notre Dame "Catholics vs. Convicts" game, this was seen as a contest between good, Penn State and their "clean program"; and evil, Miami and their urban, hip-hop, "thug" image, trash-talking, and wearing army-style fatigues as they got off the plane. It would be years before the general public learned just how far off the mark that really was.

Even if Miami's image had been accurate, Penn State didn't care. Linebacker Pete Giftopoulos said, "We were a team that couldn't be intimidated, and that's what Miami liked to do to other players. "How are you going to intimidate a bunch of steel-town kids from Pittsburgh, Ohio, Pennsylvania? You just can't do that."

An estimated 21.9 million people watched this game on NBC, and that is believed to be an all-time record for a college football bowl game.

The 1st quarter ended scoreless. In the 2nd quarter, Penn State fumbled, and Miami recovered at the Penn State 23. Four plays later, Melvin Bratton scored a touchdown that put the 'Canes ahead, 7-0. But it would prove to be their only touchdown of the night.

The Lions came right back, going 74 yards in 13 plays, with John Shaffer scoring from 4 yards out with 1:14 left in the half. The teams went into the locker rooms tied 7-7.

There was no scoring in the 3rd quarter. Early in the 4th quarter, Mark Seeling kicked a field goal to put "The U" back on top, 10-7. Conlan returned his 2nd interception of the game to the Miami 5-yard line, and Dozier gave the Lions their 1st lead with a touchdown run, 14-10, with 8:13 to go.

With 3:07 left, Miami began their last drive, converting a 4th down with a 31-yard pass from Testaverde to Brian Blades. With 45 seconds left, Testaverde got the 'Canes to the Penn State 5. But he got sacked on 2nd & goal, and threw incomplete on 3rd down. With 18 seconds left, it was 4th & goal. Testaverde thought he had an open receiver in the end zone, but it was intercepted by Giftopoulos, his 2nd pick of the game, the 5th off Testaverde, clinching the National Championship for Penn State.

Miami rebounded the next season, winning the National Championship, and again in 1989, and again in 1991 (albeit in a split poll). But Johnson would only be there for the 1st of those. In 1989, he was hired as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, leading them to 2 Super Bowl wins, and making himself the 1st head coach ever to win both a National Championship and a Super Bowl -- the 1st since Paul Brown in 1942 and 1950 to win both an NCAA and an NFL Championship.

*

January 2, 1987 was a Friday. No other bowl games were played on the day. The day before, Arizona State had beaten Michigan in the Rose Bowl, Oklahoma beat Arkansas in the Orange Bowl, Nebraska beat Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State beat Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, and Auburn beat USC in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Baseball was out of season. There were 10 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 129-128 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls, 113-99 at the Boston Garden. Larry Bird scored 37 points, and Michael Jordan scored 34.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Bullets, 118-101 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. Dominique Wilkens scored 30.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 91-84 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 116-106 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 117-107 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets, 114-111 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Hakeem Olajuwon scored 32.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Utah Jazz, 104-99 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Charles Barkley scored 30.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 155-118 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Despite the huge total, no Laker scored more than Magic Johnson's 32.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Sacramento Kings, 115-109 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Joe Barry Carroll, often mocked as "Joe Barely Cares," scored 35.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Boston Bruins, 7-2 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks played to a 3-3 tie at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

January 1, 1979: "You Better Pass"

January 1, 1979: The Sugar Bowl is played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. It will decide the National Championship, as Number 1 Pennsylvania State University, then an independent, play Number 2 University of Alabama, Champions of the Southeastern Conference.

It is the 1st college football game I can remember watching on television. ABC showed a picture of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Then, they showed the Penn State coach, Joe Paterno. At the time, I had no idea that Bryant had once played end, both ways, for 'Bama, and that Paterno had played quarterback and defensive back for Brown University, an Ivy League school.

But, with ABC's college football anchor Keith Jackson describing Bryant and his achievements, and his craggy, weather-beaten image, I got the impression that his was what a football coach should look like. One look at Paterno, however, with his dark blue jacket, his jet-black hair, his sunglasses (even indoors at the Superdome), his big nose, his gritted teeth, and his hunched-over appearance, I thought even then, at the age of 9, that he looked like a rat. The rest of his life only increased that perception to me.

Alabama, as the SEC Champions in the Sugar Bowl, had the first choice of uniforms, and wore their "Crimson Tide" jerseys with their crimson red helmets with their uniform numbers on the side, and looked great coming onto the field. Penn State wore all white, including plain white helmets with a navy blue stripe down the middle, no logo at all. I didn't know yet that there was such a thing as high school football, but, in hindsight, Penn State looked like a high school team. They looked so plain. This was the Number 1 team in the country? I was sure Alabama were going to clobber them.

It didn't work out that way: The game was scoreless until late in the 1st half, when Jeff Rutledge threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Bruce Bolton, putting the Tide up, 7-0. In the 3rd quarter, Penn State's defense stopped a 'Bama drive, and Alan McElroy missed a field goal to keep it a one-score game. This led to Chuck Fusina throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Scott Fitzkee to tie the game, 7-7.

Lou Ikner fielded a Penn State punt, and took it 62 yards, giving 'Bama a 1st-and-goal on the 8. After 2 stops on runs, Bryant and his offensive coordinator, Mal Moore, guessed that Paterno would now be expecting a pass. So the Bear called an option left, and Rutledge took it, and fooled the entire Nittany Lion defense, except for one defender. Seeing that defender take the bait, Rutledge pitched to Major Oglivie, and he scored the go-ahead touchdown. It was 14-7 Tide.

Early in the 4th quarter, on its own 22-yard line, Rutledge tried another pitch to Oglivie. This was a mistake, as Oglivie wasn't expecting it, and Penn State recovered a fumble. The Lions marched down the field, until they had 1st & goal on the 'Bama 8-yard line.

On 1st down, a run gained 2 yards. 2nd & goal on the 6: Fusina threw a pass to Fitzkee, who looked like he was going to score, until 'Bama cornerback Don McNeal came out of nowhere to knock Fitzkee out of bounds. 3rd & goal on the 1: Matt Suhey ran straight ahead, and tried a jump for the touchdown, but was hit by Curtis McGriff and Rich Wingo.

4th & goal. About 6 minutes left in the game. Fusina asked the referee how far the ball was from the goal line. Alabama defensive tackle Marty Lyons overheard, and said, "About a foot. You better pass." It was complete confidence in his teammates on this goal-line stand.

Paterno called a running play. Fusina gave the ball to Mike Guman. Barry Krauss hit him. So did Murray Legg. No gain. Penn State turned the ball over on downs. It remains the most famous goal-line stand in the history of college football, and it's hard to think of a more consequential one in the NFL.

Penn State held Alabama, and the punt snap was botched, resulting in Woody Umphrey shanking it. Penn State had the ball on the Alabama 30. Except the Nittany Lions were caught with 12 men on the field, and that gave Alabama an automatic 1st down. Paterno was not only losing the game, because he was being outcoached by Bryant, he was losing control.

The Tide were able to run the clock down, and the Lions had a little over a minute left when they got the ball back. They couldn't convert, and Alabama won, 14-7. The Crimson Tide were National Champions.

Bryant would lead Alabama to one more National Championship the next year, and become major college football's all-time winningest coach. He was once asked when he would retire, and he said, "Quit coaching? I'd croak in a week." He was too close to being right: He retired after the 1982 season, and died a month later.

Eventually, he was surpassed by Bobby Bowden of Florida State. Paterno, who had already had a few close calls for the National Championship, finally won one in 1982, and won another in 1986, and surpassed Bowden, and remains the winningest coach in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A). In 2011, dying of cancer, his regime collapsed in the most disgusting scandal in the history of college sports.

Chuck Fusina and Scott Fitzkee won 2 professional football championships -- not in the NFL, but in the USFL, with the 1984 Philadelphia Stars and the 1985 Baltimore Stars, under head coach Jim Mora. At that time, you could talk to Mora about Playoffs. But in the NFL, Fusina and Fitzkee were never more than backups.

Jeff Rutledge was also a career backup, "winning" 2 Super Bowl rings as the 3rd-string quarterback on the New York Giants. He became a quarterbacks coach, including with the Arizona Cardinals. Curtis McGriff was his teammate on the Giants, but was released before their 1st Super Bowl win.

Matt Suhey was the secondary running back on the Chicago Bears, behind Walter Payton, and helped them win Super Bowl XX. Mike Guman backed up Eric Dickerson on the Los Angeles Rams.

Marty Lyons became a star with the New York Jets' "New York Sack Exchange." Don McNeal starred with the Miami Dolphins, helping them reach 2 Super Bowls -- reaching 1 of them by beating Lyons' Jets in an AFC Championship Game. Rich Wingo played for the Green Bay Packers. Barry Krauss had a long NFL career, mostly with the Colts, and was with them when they moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis. Major Oglivie and Murray Legg never played pro ball, and found success in related businesses, Oglivie in concrete and Legg in construction.

*

January 1, 1979 was a Monday. The other traditional New Year's Day bowl games were as follows:

* Number 3 University of Southern California beat Number 5 Michigan, 17-10 in the Rose Bowl, in the stadium of the same name, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. USC running back Charles White, who would win the Heisman Trophy the next year, jumped over the Michigan line for the winning touchdown. The instant replay showed that he had fumbled the ball before crossing the plane of the goal line. No replay appeal in those days, and USC won.

* Number 4 Oklahoma beat Number 6 Nebraska, 31-24, in the Orange Bowl, in the stadium of the same name, in Miami. Nebraska had beaten arch-rival Oklahoma for the Big Eight Conference title, but then lost to Missouri the next week. So a rematch was set up in the Orange Bowl, and Oklahoma won it.

* And Number 10 Notre Dame beat Number 9 University of Houston, 35-34, in the Cotton Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Dallas.

Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its Conference Championships and Super Bowl XIII, which the Pittsburgh Steelers would win over the Dallas Cowboys, 35-31.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there was 1 game in the World Hockey Association. A national side from Czechoslovakia was permitted to compete, and they played the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-3 tie at the Winnipeg Arena.