December 28, 1958: Pro Football's "Greatest Game"

Alan Ameche scores the winning touchdown.

Lenny Moore (24) provides the key block on Emlen Tunnell.

Johnny Unitas (19) watches.

December 28, 1958: The NFL Championship Game is held at Yankee Stadium. The New York Giants, Champions of the NFL Eastern Division, play the Baltimore Colts, Champions of the Western Division. It is the 1st Championship Game for the Colts, the 10th for the Giants, who had previously won it in 1934, 1938 and 1956. (Why Baltimore, a Northeastern city, was placed in the League's Western Division, I don't know.)

The Giants had Charlie Conerly as their quarterback, and the biggest football star of the time, Frank Gifford, at running back. They were the 1st team to really make defense a priority, led by future Hall-of-Famers Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli and Emlen Tunnell. Two years earlier, they had destroyed the Chicago Bears in the Championship Game, 47-7.

The pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium, set up for football

But the Colts were on the rise. Their quarterback was Johnny Unitas. He had Raymond Berry to throw to, Lenny Moore in his backfield, and Jim Parker to block for him. All 4 would make the Hall of Fame. His defense was led by Hall-of-Famers Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan.

The 1st half was a bit sloppy, and didn't live up to the legend. Pat Summerall, future broadcasting legend, began the scoring with a field goal in the 1st quarter, putting the Giants up 3-0. In the 2nd quarter, Alan Ameche, who won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Wisconsin in 1954, scored a touchdown to put the Colts ahead. Unitas threw a touchdown pass to Berry, giving the Colts a 14-13 lead at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Mel Triplett snuck the ball over the goal line to put the Giants back in it. Early in the 4th quarter, Conerly threw a touchdown pass to Gifford, giving the Giants a 17-14 lead. As the clock wound down, Unitas drove the Colts, but couldn't get them over. So Steve Myhra was sent in to kick a field goal as time expired. With the clock reading 0:00, the scoreboard read 17-17.

No NFL Championship Game had ever ended in a tie. Overtime was needed, for the 1st time in NFL history. (The League didn't institute overtime for the regular season until 1974.) The Giants won the toss, but couldn't score. Unitas led an inspiring drive, toward what would have been left field in The Stadium's baseball setup, which finally ended with Ameche scoring from the 1-yard line -- appropriately where Monument Park would later be in The Stadium's post-renovation period (1976-2008).

Bob Wolff, who had been in the same Stadium 2 years earlier to call Don Larsen's perfect game for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, was at the microphone for NBC again, and had the call: "Unitas gives to Ameche... The Colts are the World Champions! Ameche scores!" He later said he was glad he didn't "bury the lead" by saying, "Ameche scores!" first.

This game had the largest TV audience in NFL history to that point, 45 million people. The fact that it was in New York, and involved a New York team, helped it loom large in the public consciousness. This was the game that launched the NFL on a path to becoming, at least in perception, more popular than Major League Baseball.

It made legends of the Colts, and Unitas in particular. He would go on to be recognized as the greatest quarterback of all time. It's been 62 years, and some people still think he is. And the Colts, playing in a city that didn't have a big college football team -- Morgan State University is a historically black school, the U.S. Naval Academy is a national school, and the University of Maryland is closer to Washington -- became known as the team of America's working class, an "America's Team" in a way that felt artificial when the Dallas Cowboys later called themselves that.

Johnny Unitas

It also became known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played." It has been noted that it would never have been called that had the Colts beaten, say, the Philadelphia Eagles. But it was the New York team that they beat, in New York City. And so, every so often, polls are taken that show this game as the "greatest." The most recent was in 2019, for the NFL's 100th Anniversary. In 1981, John Thorn left his comfort zone, baseball, and published Pro Football's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

The teams had a rematch in the 1959 NFL Championship Game. In those days, home field was rotated between the Eastern and Western Champions, and the Colts hosted it at Memorial Stadium, beating the Giants again.

It remains the longest game in New York Giants history.

When The Sporting News ranked its 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, Unitas came in 5th, Marchetti 15th, Parker 24th, Berry 40th, and Moore 71st. When the NFL Network ranked its 100 Greatest Players in 2010, Unitas was 6th, Parker 32nd, Berry 36th, Marchetti 39th and Moore 94th.

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December 28, 1958, as you may have guessed, was a Sunday. There were no more NFL games to be played. It was the off-season for baseball.

There was only 1 NBA game played that day: The Cincinnati Royals beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 120-116 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Jack Twyman of the Royals scored 32 to lead all players in this game. Bob "Slick" Leonard, later to coach the Indiana Pacers to 3 ABA Championships, led the Lakers with 20 points.

The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960. The Royals moved to Kansas City, becoming the Kings, in 1972, and to Sacramento in 1985.

All of the NHL's "Original Six" were in action that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at the old Madison Square Garden. This was an anomaly, as the Canadiens were in the middle of a run of 5 straight Stanley Cups, and the Rangers were in a down period.

* The Detroit Red Wings, beat the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Chicago Stadium. ("Black Hawks" was written as 2 words until 1986, when the team's original charter document was found, and it was discovered that "Blackhawks" was written as one word, and it has officially been so ever since.) 

January 17, 1971: The 1st Super Bowl Decided On the Last Play

January 17, 1971: Super Bowl V is played at the Orange Bowl in Miami. This was the 1st Super Bowl to actually have the Roman numeral attached: What were retroactively named "Super Bowl I" and "Super Bowl II" were "The AFL-NFL World Championship Game"; and what were retroactively named "Super Bowl III" and "Super Bowl IV" were "the 1969 Super Bowl" and "the 1970 Super Bowl."

This was also the 1st Super Bowl after the AFL-NFL merger, and the creation of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

This was also the 1st NFL Championship Game, under any name, played on artificial turf. And it was played as though God was angry for taking the big game off of the grass He had intended.

Both teams "couldn't win the big one," and needed a redemption story. The AFC Champions were the Baltimore Colts. Along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, they had been in the NFL before the merger, but, since the NFL had 16 teams and the AFL had 10, those 3 were moved to make it 13 and 13.

The Colts, led by quarterback Johnny Unitas, won the NFL Championship in 1958 and 1959, and lost the NFL Championship Game in 1964. It 1968, they won it, but now had to face the AFL Champions in the Super Bowl, and without Unitas, who had gotten hurt in preseason. It shouldn't have mattered: His replacement, Earl Morrall, had led them to a 13-1 record, and the 1 loss, as was their loss in the 1964 Championship Game, was to the Browns, and they'd avenged it, 34-0 in the title game.

But the Colts, 18-point favorites, were shocked by the New York Jets. Few favored teams, in any sport, have ever played so poorly in a Final as the Colts did that day. In the 3rd, quarter, head coach Don Shula got desperate, and asked Unitas if he was ready to go in. He said he was. Shula admitted years later that he should have sent Unitas in to start the 2nd half. Unitas led a touchdown drive, but it wasn't enough: The Jets backed up the guarantee of their quarterback, Joe Namath, and won, 16-7.

In 1970, Shula was offered the head coaching job of the Miami Dolphins, and the Colts didn't try too hard to keep him. They hired Don McCafferty, and went 11-2-1, 1 of the losses coming to Shula's Dolphins. But they beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Divisional Playoff, and the Oakland Raiders in the 1st-ever AFC Championship.

A victory in Super Bowl V would be full redemption for the disaster of 2 years earlier, and on the same field, no less. It would be a 1st title for stars like tight end John Mackey and linebacker Mike Curtis, and a crowning achievement for the 37-year-old Unitas, now recognized as the greatest quarterback the game had yet seen.

Standing in their way were the Dallas Cowboys. An expansion team in 1960, they won the NFL Western Division title in 1966 and 1967, but lost the Championship Game to the Green Bay Packers both times. They lost in the Divisional round in 1968 and 1969, both times to the Browns.

But in 1970, Tom Landry's Cowboys went 10-4, beat the Detroit Lions in the Divisional round, and beat the San Francisco 49ers in the 1st-ever NFC Championship Game. Quarterback Craig Morton, defensive tackle Bob Lilly, and the team that had lost a thriller at home on New Year's Day in 1967 and the Ice Bowl in Green Bay on New Year's Eve that same year was ready to take the final step.

Something had to give. But, for most of the game, both teams gave, and neither could fully take. There would be 11 turnovers between the teams. In the days to come, the game became known as the Blooper Bowl.

I had just had my 2nd birthday the month before this game, so I didn't see it live on TV. But as a kid, I rented a film of it from my town's library. Although it was in color, it was silent with captions, and one captions read, "FUMBLEITIS IS CONTAGIOUS."

A field goal by Mike Clark of the Cowboys was the only scoring in the 1st quarter. Clark kicked another in the 2nd quarter, and even that was after Morton was flagged for intentional grounding to blow a chance at a touchdown. Still, at the rate things were going, 6-0 Dallas it must have seemed like an insurmountable lead.

But 3 plays after the ensuing kickoff, Unitas threw a pass to Eddie Hinton. He couldn't handle it, and it bounced off his hands, and off those of the Cowboys' Mel Renfro, and then into those of Mackey, who took it 75 yards for a touchdown. In a moment that would seem ironic at the end of the game, Colt kicker Jim O'Brien had his extra point attempt blocked. It was 6-6.

Later in the quarter, the Cowboys took advantage of a Unitas interception to launch a touchdown drive, with Duane Thomas catching a touchdown pass from Morton. Later still, Unitas was hit, threw another interception, and had to leave the game with a broken rib. It was 13-6 Cowboys at the half. If the Colts were to get redemption, it would have to be from the hands of Morrall -- a full redemption, because Unitas himself didn't need it.

Jim Duncan fumbled the Cowboys' opening kickoff of the 2nd half, and the Cowboys recovered. They drove to the Colts' 1-yard line. They had the chance to put the game away. But Curtis hit Thomas, causing him to fumble before he could reach the end zone. Appropriately, it was Duncan who recovered it. The Colts drove, but had to settle for a 52-yard field goal attempt by O'Brien, which was a little short.

The 4th quarter began with the Cowboys clinging to their 13-6 lead. (It's worth pointing out that no team between the 1948 and 2018 seasons scored as few as 13 points in an NFL Championship Game, under any name, and still won.) The Colts managed a drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown run by Tom Nowatzke. This time, O'Brien made the PAT, and it was 13-13.

The turnovers, dumb penalties, and inability to capitalize on these opportunities continued, until Curtis intercepted a Morton pass and returned it to the Cowboys' 28-yard line in the last minute of regulation. With 9 seconds to go, O'Brien was sent in for a 32-yard field goal attempt. It was the most pressure-ridden kick since Lou Groza had to take the Browns from behind to win over the Los Angeles Rams in the last minute of the 1950 NFL Championship Game, and did.

O'Brien split the uprights, and, with 5 seconds to go, the Colts led, 16-13.

The story goes that it was the last play of the game. In fact, it wasn't: There were 5 seconds left. O'Brien squibbed the ensuing kickoff. There was time for one last desperation play for the Cowboys, and Morton threw for Walt Garrison. But Jerry Logan intercepted it, and the Colts were the World Champions.

Unitas played 1 more season for them, and 1 awful last season for the San Diego Chargers in 1973, and retired. The Colts seemed to have used up all of their remaining good luck on that one kick, and rebuilt. With Bert Jones as quarterback, they won the AFC Eastern Division title in 1975, '76 and '77, but couldn't get past the Raiders or the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach the AFC Championship Game. Then they fell apart again. In 1984, the team was moved to Indianapolis. In 1996, the Baltimore Ravens were born, and have gone on to win the Super Bowl in 2001 and 2013.

Having lost another big game, Landry decided he'd had enough: As the Cowboys were moving into a new home, leaving the Cotton Bowl for Texas Stadium, he got a new quarterback, benching Morton for Roger Staubach. The Cowboys beat the Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, getting their own redemption. They dominated the NFC East for another decade, winning Super Bowl XII, but losing Super Bowls X and XIII.

When The Sporting News ranked its 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, Unitas came in 5th, Mackey 48th, and Hendricks 64th. When the NFL Network ranked its 100 Greatest Players in 2010, Unitas was 6th, Mackey 42nd, and Hendricks 82nd.

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January 17, 1971 was, of course, a Sunday. Robert Ritchie, the Michigan rich kid who masquerades as the blue-collar countrified rapper Kid Rock, was born on this day. So was Jonathan H. Smith, who, as rapper-producer Lil Jon, has a bit more credibility, though his work can be equally annoying.

Baseball was out of season. The Baltimore Orioles were the titleholders, having won the World Series 3 months earlier over the Cincinnati Reds, giving Baltimore a rare MLB-NFL double. It was their own redemption story, having been embarrassed by the New York Mets the year before. But the Bullets couldn't quite make it titles in 3 sports at once: They won the NBA's Eastern Conference Championship, but the Bucks swept them in the NBA Finals.

There were 3 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 120-113at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then still using his birth name of Lew Alcindor, scored 44 points.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 106-105 at the San Diego Sports Arena. The next season, the Rockets moved to Houston.

* And, like their neighbors, the Colts, the Baltimore Bullets won on this day, beating the Seattle SuperSonics, 111-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association: 

* The New York Nets beat the Carolina Cougars, 120-112 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Kentucky Colonels, 137-124 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. Bill Netolicky led all ABA scorers with 37 points.

* The Memphis Pros beat the Utah Stars, 117-116 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* And, just like their Dallas neighbors the Cowboys, the Texas Chaparrals could not win on the day, losing to the Denver Rockets, 129-123 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. These Rockets would become the Denver Nuggets in 1974. The Chaps would move, and become the San Antonio Spurs in 1973.

There were 6 NHL games played on the day:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-3 at the Chicago Stadium. The Broadway Blueshirts took a 3-0 lead in the 1st period, and blew it, with Bill White scoring the winner for the Hawks with 3:35 left in regulation.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 9-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the California Golden Seals, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues were not scheduled.