- 2 days ago
The 1950s NFL
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00:00I owe my soul to the company store
00:04I said to my dad
00:11He said, let me see if I understand this right
00:17He said, they've offered you $6,000 to play something
00:22I thought you had to work
00:24I said, well, what do you think I ought to do?
00:26He said, I think you ought to take it
00:30During the 1950s, pro football's rough, rugged image
00:34was embraced by a prosperous but placid America
00:36The sport gradually assumed a larger-than-life posture
00:40in the popular culture of the period
00:42But for those who played during this era
00:50the game of their lives was a small-scale sport
00:53minimal in scope, modest in ambition
01:00When I first came into the league
01:02there were only 33 players on the team
01:03and there was not any movement of players
01:06and we played together year after year after year
01:09and the fans, they didn't have that many players to learn
01:12and they're all there every year
01:13and so they knew all of them
01:15they knew the names of every player on the team
01:17You had a 12-team league playing a 12-game schedule
01:21for most of the decade
01:23A nice little, tidy little package
01:27The entire NFL season in those days
01:30consisted of 72 games
01:32Today's season is over 240 games
01:35Pro football's popularity grew by leaps and bounds
01:50Per-game attendance increased in every year of the decade
01:56Season ticket prices are $21
02:00Individual game tickets
02:02if you prefer to buy them that way
02:03are $4 and $5
02:06Awkward baby steps
02:09marked this coming-of-age period
02:11On-field pageantry
02:13and on-air highlight shows
02:15have yet to reach maturity
02:17You have all the dope ready for this weekend, Glenn?
02:19I sure have, Paul
02:20This week's script is really action-filled
02:23Thanks, Glenn
02:23And now here is our lovely Miss Antifreeze of 1958
02:27Yvonne Lime
02:28Thank you very much, Paul
02:30And what about game number one this week, Yvonne?
02:32Well, our first game this week
02:34is the Chicago Cardinals
02:36playing the Washington Redskins
02:37...and Crazy Legs
02:39Hop Along and Night Train
02:42The Hula Hoop
02:45And the Alley-Oop
02:47These nicknames like 50s fads and fashions
02:51became part of the American scene
02:52But at the dawn of the decade
02:54pro football was barely even on the map
02:57Pro football was a relatively minor sport
03:00It was for aficionados
03:01People knew
03:03A small number of people
03:04in each city knew
03:05that this was a great sport
03:07The national sports psyche
03:09was Major League Baseball
03:12The be-all-end-all
03:13The be-all-end-all was the World Series
03:15Suddenly, there is this new game
03:20And it is a quantum jump
03:22for the average fan
03:24in what he has ever seen
03:26in terms of speed and power
03:28But it hadn't gotten hold
03:30of the national psyche
03:32It's only two years
03:33that the ball's going from
03:35Friends, we greet you
03:38from the office of Burt Bell
03:39Commissioner of the National Football League
03:40at 1518 Malnut Street
03:42in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
03:43The fastest growing sport in football
03:45and certainly one of the most spectacular
03:47Burt...
03:47Burt Bell was the guy
03:49who molded the clay
03:51of what professional football
03:54would become
03:54We expect that the greatest year
03:57and show the greatest football
03:59was never known
04:00in the history of the world
04:01To deal with strong-willed people
04:03like George Halas in Chicago
04:05and George P. Marshall in Washington
04:08took a diplomat
04:10on the order of Disraeli
04:12There is no excuse for expansion
04:15in the National Football League
04:17We furnish football now for free
04:20through television
04:21Expansion can only weaken the personnel
04:25Burt Bell came to every training camp
04:28Talked to us like a father
04:31If you never needed anything
04:32or so forth and so on
04:34Yes, you can get in touch with me
04:36Each camp that he visited
04:38The same spiel
04:39but that always ended up with
04:40Don't forget boys
04:42Call me collect anytime
04:44night or day
04:45Mohawk 4
04:464400
04:47So I called the National Football League office
04:50He picks up the phone
04:51You think you could call the National Football League office today
04:53And the commissioner pick up the phone
04:55He pick up the phone
04:56He said, Johnny, what you need?
04:58I say, Mr. Bell
04:59I'm getting ready to buy a house tomorrow
05:01I'm looking for my check
05:03I don't have it
05:03He said, it's no problem
05:04So he just come right over here
05:05and get it
05:07And also remember
05:08This is a man
05:08Who made up the league schedule
05:10Today they used a computer
05:11He would sit there
05:13With a table in Narbuth
05:14And I'd say
05:15What in the hell is this?
05:17It was a checkerboard
05:18And dominoes on there
05:20With the names of the teams
05:21I want to say that I never saw anything like this
05:26For 60 or 70,000 people to do this
05:30For the Green Bay Packers
05:32And the city of Green Bay
05:33It certainly should set an example
05:36In football-hungry Green Bay
05:40Fans felt like they could drop in at any time
05:44The Packers won just 35 games during the decade
05:48But with America becoming a tuned-in nation
05:51Television ensured that every NFL team
05:54Could become a hometown franchise
05:56Television allowed fans across the country
05:59To feel that Green Bay spirit
06:01Certainly are no stranger at all
06:04To our television cameras
06:05As Bob mentioned before
06:08If you aren't already
06:09Do you plan to be a Packer fan in the future?
06:11Oh, I certainly do
06:12There's no doubt about that
06:13I'm looking forward to that game this afternoon
06:14The Chicago Cardinals won fewer games
06:20And far fewer fans than the Packers
06:22This hard-luck franchise stumbled and sputtered
06:27In surroundings straight out of the Twilight Zone
06:29The Cardinals
06:30We were at the University of Chicago
06:32And we were on an old practice field that they had
06:35And I looked up in the stands
06:37It was all covered with black tar
06:40The seats, all the seats were covered over with black tar
06:42And there were little smokestacks sticking up
06:45Through the stands
06:45And I said to whoever I was talking to at the time
06:49I said, that's kind of funny looking
06:50That they'd have stands that looked like that
06:52With little chimneys coming out through the stands
06:55He said, yeah, that's where they invented the atom bomb
06:57Ha!
07:02With a pair of thriving franchises
07:04In Los Angeles and San Francisco
07:06The NFL was pointing the way west for professional sports
07:10We had three games
07:12We had 105,000, 103,000
07:15And then 100,000 in a row
07:17And that was before big television
07:19With exciting players like Jaguar John Arnett, number 26
07:23The Los Angeles Rams were averaging 83,000 fans a game by 1958
07:29The Rams' glossy sheen
07:32Was enhanced by their proximity to Hollywood
07:34One of the team's most prominent stockholders
07:37Was comedian Bob Hope
07:39Hey, those long passes, John
07:41Those long runs
07:43Boy, you're almost as good as I am
07:45Who are you?
07:47They call you crazy hips?
07:49Yeah, what about them?
07:50The nose?
07:55Watch it, I'm a stockholder
07:56Watch it
07:57The Rams exuded class in the front office
08:00As well as on the field
08:02A public relations director named Pete Rozelle
08:05Burnished the team's golden image
08:07The Rams were kissed by sunshine and starlets
08:11They were envied by almost everyone
08:14Who played east of the Mississippi
08:15We used to take a lot of razzmatazz
08:17Yeah, from the opposing team
08:19With the, given the mouth business
08:21The Hulk calling us the Hollywood Fags
08:23Or whatever they wanted to call us
08:24And because, you know, we had it too good out here
08:28And they didn't have it that good back east
08:31And they didn't
08:32And Edgar Jones, Donnie LaValle
08:34And Cliff Lewis
08:34Agreed that they ought to be in pictures too
08:36The Browns head for one of the sound stages
08:40Hoping to get a glimpse at some star
08:42One time we got invited in
08:44At the Island Ladd's house
08:45A little guy
08:46Played Shane or something like that
08:48Yeah, he's a good actor
08:49We were riding by him
08:50We saw him out there washing his car
08:52And we said, hey, you're Alan Ladd
08:54He says, yeah, I know who you guys
08:56But I don't know your names
08:57You're the Colts
08:58He says, yeah, he said, come on in
09:00So five of us went into his house
09:02When the 50s began
09:05Pro football was considered a game
09:07For roughnecks and renegades
09:08But the Rams roster was stocked
09:10With photo-friendly athletes
09:12Who possessed genuine glamour
09:13As well as true grit
09:15Quarterback Bob Waterfield
09:18Was like Gary Cooper
09:19A strong silent type
09:21His wife was actress Jane Russell
09:23In Hollywood, Jane Russell
09:25Accompanied by husband Bob Waterfield
09:27Lead celebrities attending
09:29The gala Imperial Ball
09:31When I would go by the dressing room
09:33They wouldn't pay any attention to me
09:35They'd come out and they'd want
09:36The guy's signature
09:39And they never looked at me at all
09:42Elroy Hirsch
09:43Was perhaps the game's
09:45Most well-known player of the period
09:46Hollywood placed a call to crazy legs
09:53But while Hirsch was a game-breaker
09:55On the field
09:56It proved to be a bust
09:58At the box office
09:59It's no secret that the fans and papers
10:08Are really on us
10:09You know what they're saying
10:10They were front-runners
10:13They were foley
10:15Now that the pressure is on us
10:16They're even saying
10:18We haven't got the guts
10:19To be a championship outfit
10:21Well, are we going to take it?
10:26Come on, let's get out there
10:27In real life
10:32Just as in fiction
10:34The Rams demonstrated
10:35Their championship character
10:37In the first game
10:43To ever be televised nationally
10:45The Rams showed why
10:47They were arguably
10:47The most exciting team
10:49In any sport
10:49They also demonstrated
10:51How entertaining
10:52Pro football could be
10:53While pro football
10:59Was beginning to take off
11:00Leaving the ground
11:02Could be an ordeal
11:03Before the jet age took hold
11:05Air travel was a marathon test
11:07Of endurance and patience
11:09Traveling from Cleveland to L.A.
11:12Took you 24 hours
11:14We had four motor planes
11:15Go from Cleveland to Chicago
11:17To Chicago to Denver
11:19And Denver down to L.A.
11:21Welcome aboard, Cleveland Brown
11:23We'll fly at 10,000 feet
11:25With a speed of 230 miles an hour
11:27And we'll land at Denver
11:28I know we'll have a nice trip
11:30One time we were playing L.A.
11:33Coming out of Denver
11:34All the fat guys sat
11:36In the back of the plane, see
11:37And you gotta go up
11:39Over those mountains
11:40It took us an hour
11:41In that B-24
11:42To go up over the mountains
11:44In fact, our quarterback
11:46Lamar McHand
11:47He was afraid to fly
11:48He would get on the plane
11:50And just lie down in the aisle
11:52And that's the only way
11:54He could bring himself to do it
11:55He'd have a couple of
11:57Something to settle himself down
11:59And he'd lie down in the middle aisle
12:01And that's where he made the trip
12:02On these long flights
12:04Planes were transformed
12:06Into airborne training rooms
12:08And high altitude recreation centers
12:10One of the more interesting aspects
12:12Of the trips
12:13Are the card games that go on
12:14And Bill O'Connor
12:16Halfback Tommy James
12:17And Senator Tommy Thompson
12:19Try to outdo each other
12:20With the 52
12:21I guess that there were
12:22Early ones were the Packers
12:25But they traveled in two planes
12:27So the planes weren't big enough
12:29To really accommodate the whole team
12:31So it almost had to be
12:33Train rides initially
12:34Beat the Bears
12:35Shout the Packer fans
12:36In a rousing send-off
12:38As the train leaves
12:39For the Bear game at Chicago
12:41The long train ride
12:43Like from Chicago to L.A.
12:44Took three days
12:45Where the train made an extended stop
12:48We'd be out doing calisthenics
12:50I can remember a couple times
12:52Stopping and getting out
12:53And just finding an open field
12:55And practicing
12:56No goalposts, no nothing
12:58Cows had been there before us
13:01So it was a little hazardous
13:02We went out
13:03Took three days
13:04To go to California by train
13:06We stopped and we practiced
13:08And then we finally got there
13:09And of course
13:10Now we win the game
13:12And then I say to myself
13:13Oh my God
13:15Now we gotta go back
13:16Three more nights
13:18And so for four days
13:19By train
13:20Oh, it was terrible
13:21Johnny Oshefsky
13:23Johnny O
13:24Was my roommate
13:25On the train
13:26And we talked for hours and hours
13:29About what he had done growing up
13:30And what I had done growing up
13:32And what I hoped
13:33Was gonna happen in my life
13:34And what he hoped
13:35Was gonna happen in his life
13:36And it was a close time
13:38Yes
13:38You made a lot of close friends
13:40Because you had a lot of
13:42I guess you could call it
13:43Intimate time
13:44With your teammates
13:46Hmm
13:48Will over with
13:55Willie Gallimore
13:56Puts the Bears on their way
13:57To another score
13:58Willie Gallimore
13:59Reverses his field
14:00Bumbles the ball
14:04Gets it back
14:05Shakes off tackler after tackler
14:07The game's broadening popularity
14:09Was propelled by pure speed
14:11Boom, boom, boom
14:12For the first time in pro football history
14:34Because of the way the game had opened up
14:36And you had offensive players
14:38You could just get down the field so fast
14:39You literally had to defend
14:41Every blade of grass on the field
14:43Yeah, I'll call me speedo
14:44Cause I don't believe
14:45I'm wasting time
14:48Hmm
14:48Hmm
14:49Hmm
14:49Well, I'm known for pretty women
14:52And that cause never changed their minds
14:55Hmm
14:56Hmm
14:56Well, now
14:58Some of them call me Joe
14:59Some of them call me Mo
15:01Yes, man, my speedo
15:03We don't have a thing
15:04But strong arms earned more attention than fleet feet
15:07Baltimore's premier performer is number 19
15:11Johnny Unitas
15:11In four seasons
15:13Unitas shot from sandlot obscurity
15:15To professional football's player of the year
15:18Detroit will be banking on its ace quarterback
15:21Bobby Lane, number 22
15:23Lane, a standout performer in past championship games
15:26Plays at peak when the pressure is on
15:28Quarterbacks with folk hero qualities
15:32Became the focal point of the NFL's new narrative
15:35The farther the ball was thrown
15:40The more enthusiastically fans responded
15:42In professional football
15:45A major element in how it took off
15:48Was how they perfected the forward pass
15:50Now that didn't have to do with
15:52Guys slugging it out in the trenches
15:54That had to do with superior athletes
15:57Throwing and catching the ball
15:59And how quick striking it could be
16:02And the long bomb
16:04Ten seconds left
16:05The Lions lead it
16:0731-28
16:08Again, on the flank to the right
16:10This has got to be the alley-oop
16:11There's no time for anything else
16:12Tittle throws
16:13Oh, it's a double tee
16:14He's going downfield
16:15He has a goal
16:16And he goes up
16:16He's good
16:17There's this sense about the decade
16:24That just about anything was possible
16:26The teams were willing to try anything
16:28To move the football
16:29And to make the game more exciting
16:31And to become a
16:33Smart
16:33You don't see guys do that today
16:35Where he bobbled the ball
16:38Because he knew if he got tackled there
16:41He would have been down
16:42So he bobbled the ball
16:44So when he had possession
16:46He would already be in the end zone
16:47That's smart
16:49More popular game nationwide
16:52The game's wide open style
16:56Also included weird wild plays
16:59These free-for-alls
17:01Offered a bizarre blend
17:02Of improvisation
17:03Inspiration
17:04And desperation
17:05There was a lot of laterals
17:26And funny things
17:27Sort of sandlot plays sometime
17:29If you might want to say so
17:30That worked
17:31Oh, shit, what's that?
17:57Plays where a runner with the ball
18:01Would be tackled
18:02Maybe a leg tackle
18:03But the defender
18:04Wouldn't hold him down
18:05And he'd sort of scramble up
18:07And run additional distance
18:08Because at the time
18:09You had to be pinned down
18:10To end the play
18:11Dangerous
18:12Because oftentimes
18:14When you started to get up
18:16There would be somebody else
18:17Arriving like a Sam Huff
18:18Or a night train lane
18:19Or somebody like that
18:20And you could get hit pretty hard
18:23You had to make sure
18:24That if you made a tackle
18:26That guy was not going to
18:27Get up and run again
18:28And it was hard
18:30On that running back
18:31Because you'd think nothing
18:32About dropping your knees
18:33In the middle of his back
18:34So that he wouldn't
18:35Get up and run
18:35You would sometimes
18:38Make different moves
18:39You might go into someone
18:40That's going to tackle you
18:42But try to put yourself
18:43In a position
18:44To spin a little bit
18:45There was a couple
18:46Incidents like that
18:47I knew I was going to get hit
18:48And I forearmed him
18:49Thinking I would roll over him
18:52And be able to get up
18:53And run again
18:54San Francisco's Hugh McElhenney
18:57Was definitely a hard man
18:59To pin down
19:00A 49er coach
19:02Had tabbed him
19:03The king of the halfbacks
19:04But the subsequent
19:05Shorthand for this nickname
19:06Ensured that pro football
19:08Like rock and roll
19:09Would have its own
19:11Hip-swiveling king
19:19McElhenney
19:27McElhenney is one of the
19:28Great runners
19:29In pro football
19:29And he proves it
19:31Right here
19:31As he takes
19:32Tittle's short pass
19:33And he looms
19:34Lion after line
19:36On a beautiful
19:36Game winning dash
19:38McElhenney never ran
19:41For a thousand yards
19:42In a single season
19:43Yet this ball carrier
19:45Who ran at breakneck pace
19:47Symbolized the breathtaking
19:49Tempo of pro football
19:50During the 1950s
19:52He was sort of
19:53A hero among all of us
19:55To be honest with you
19:56Should look like
19:57He would walk in a restaurant
19:59And they would say
19:59There's the king
20:00See
20:01Settle back
20:11While Marlboro
20:13Takes you to the
20:13Los Angeles Coliseum
20:15And meet one of the
20:16Most spectacular runners
20:17In pro football
20:19John Arnett
20:20Of the Los Angeles Rams
20:22I grew up in the area
20:23Where every movie
20:24Ever watched
20:25A person drank a cocktail
20:27And had a cigarette
20:28Meet Paul Hornan
20:30Of the Green Bay Packers
20:31Charlie Connolly
20:32Of the New York Giants
20:34Settle back
20:35With your Marlboro Charlie
20:36Alex Webster
20:37Always smoked
20:38On the sidelines
20:38Yeah
20:39You know
20:39He would get
20:40Under that cape
20:41Half time
20:41Because they were
20:42Going to get smoked on
20:43I'd say 75-80%
20:45Of the players
20:46Did smoke
20:47I did see
20:48Bobby Lane
20:49We had an assistant
20:51Coach who smoked
20:52And he was smoking
20:53During practice
20:54And we were back
20:56In the huddle
20:56And we came back
20:57In the huddle
20:57And Bobby reached
20:58And got the cigarette
20:58From the assistant coach
21:00And took a couple
21:01Of drags off of it
21:03While he was calling
21:04The play
21:04Conditioning was awful
21:06I mean just bad
21:07Dick doesn't go in much
21:09For fancy Dan
21:10Calisthenics
21:11But feels that
21:12Plenty of this jogging
21:13Is the best conditioner
21:14For his legs and body
21:15Dick is never out of shape
21:17And a warm up like this
21:19Is all he needs
21:20To play a full game
21:21Of bruising football
21:22It's open condition
21:25That's easy Captain Midnight
21:26Plenty of sleep
21:28Exercise
21:28And the right kind
21:29Of foods
21:30And I drink
21:31Chocolate flavored
21:32Ovaltine
21:33But be sure
21:34It's Ovaltine
21:35And not just
21:36An ordinary milk flavoring
21:37Art Donovan
21:38Used to bring
21:39Hot dogs with him
21:39From home
21:40To the locker room
21:41The day of a game
21:42Have him in his locker
21:44Be sitting there
21:44Eating five
21:45Six
21:45Seven
21:46So Artie fell in love
21:47With eating hot dogs
21:48And he used to
21:49Bring them on the field
21:49Put them on the bench
21:50In a bag beside him
21:51Eat them when he came
21:53Out of the game
21:53Narcotics or dope
21:54Was never even
21:55A consideration
21:56And we didn't even know
21:58I think marijuana
21:59Everybody talked about
22:00Marijuana
22:00But I didn't know
22:01Anybody that smoked it
22:02So our biggest
22:03I guess biggest abuses
22:05Would have been
22:06Beer
22:08They said
22:09Did you lift weights
22:10When you were playing
22:11The only way I lifted
22:12Was a 24 ounce can of Schlitz
22:14Students in their seats
22:19Figures on the blackboard
22:21That's coach Paul Brown
22:24At the head of the class
22:25Luke Groza has a question
22:28And coach Paul
22:30Has the answer
22:31Paul Brown epitomized
22:34What's going on
22:35Elsewhere in the culture
22:36The ultimate organization
22:37Man
22:38The ultimate bureaucrat
22:39The ultimate father figure
22:41Treating his players
22:43As if they were children
22:44He stressed the good guy
22:47Good person image
22:49And that was a part
22:50Of the Cleveland Browns
22:51Creed
22:52And if he felt
22:53A player couldn't meet that
22:54Then he was gone
22:56He once traded
22:57Doug Adkins
22:57Because he caught him
22:59Belching in a meeting
23:00Paul Brown
23:03Founded the Cleveland team
23:05Well Doug Adkins
23:06Ended up
23:07A hall of famer
23:09All time great
23:10And
23:11Paul Brown was fired
23:17The year before
23:18Doug Adkins
23:19Won a championship
23:20So uh
23:21I don't think that
23:23Was a good decision
23:24Named it
23:27And shaped it
23:28In his cool
23:29Conservative image
23:30But to the players
23:33The man known
23:34As father football
23:35Remained distant
23:36And aloof
23:37In all the years
23:38I played for him
23:39He never took a shower
23:40With the team
23:41He had a phobia
23:44About that
23:44He'd go back
23:45To the hotel
23:46Clean up
23:48He always wore a shirt
23:49To practice
23:50Shiny shoes
23:51And then he'd go back
23:53To the hotel
23:54From a coaching standpoint
23:56We have no regrets
23:58Really
23:59We gave it
24:00Everything we had
24:00And you just take it
24:02Like it bounces
24:03And fight
24:04And scratch
24:04And do the best you can
24:06And our men
24:08Tried hard
24:08The Browns won
24:11Four consecutive titles
24:12In the All-American
24:13Football Conference
24:14And when they joined
24:15The NFL in 1950
24:17They were almost
24:18Equally dominant
24:19Led by players
24:20Such as fullback
24:21Marion Motley
24:22Number 76
24:23The Browns went
24:24To the championship game
24:26Each of their first
24:26Six seasons
24:27In the NFL
24:28Quarterback Otto Graham
24:32Number 14
24:33Embodied the Paul Brown
24:34Idea
24:35Graham was a leader
24:38A winner
24:39And a clean cut
24:40Family man
24:41Who became
24:42One of the decade's
24:43True
24:43Marquee players
24:45Trying on staying
24:55All night
24:55Otto
24:55This afternoon's game's over
25:00There'll be more games
25:00I guess we're about
25:03The worst team
25:04That you've ever had
25:05No you're wrong Otto
25:06You gave your best
25:07Out there today
25:08You and all the boys
25:09If today you met
25:10A better team
25:11They deserve to win
25:12Defeats and setbacks
25:14Are all a part
25:14Of growing up
25:15Sometimes we learn
25:17More from a defeat
25:18Than we do
25:18A better trade
25:19Now you listen to me
25:21Young man
25:21Adversity not only
25:23Tests one's character
25:24But it also strengthens it
25:25And don't you forget that
25:27Otto Graham
25:28Set one sort of example
25:30And Detroit's
25:31Bobby Lane
25:31Set another
25:32Lane was known
25:34For playing hard
25:35All the time
25:36Even after curfew
25:37Over the course
25:40Of his career
25:41In Detroit
25:43Lane really became
25:45The epitome
25:45Of the good old boy
25:46You know
25:47The guy that
25:48Working class fans
25:50Who like to hang out
25:51At the bar
25:51And argue about football
25:52With their buddies
25:53Could most easily
25:54Identify with
25:55In the 50s
25:56You'd go down
25:56And pick up your check
25:57On Monday morning
25:58And Bobby would be
26:00Waiting for you
26:00There at the stadium bar
26:01And he'd take out
26:03A $50 bill
26:04Or a $100 bill
26:05And lay it on the bar
26:05And say
26:06Okay let's have
26:08A few drinks
26:08And you would
26:09It bonded
26:11And gave you
26:12The camaraderie
26:13That I think
26:14A lot of other teams
26:15Didn't have
26:16The Detroit Lions
26:17Won a couple championships
26:19In the 50s
26:20And they did so
26:22With a team
26:23That was at least
26:23Known for
26:24You know
26:25A bunch of
26:26Overgrown boys
26:27Who knew how to party
26:28And have a good time
26:29Certainly
26:30No lion
26:31Was more overgrown
26:32Than beefy lineman
26:33Les Bingaman
26:34Number 65
26:35The game's biggest player
26:37You're looking at
26:39Les Bingaman
26:39320 pounds of dynamo
26:42And here
26:43Mounted on a lineman's
26:44Blocking sled
26:45Is Ford's new
26:46Lifeguard steering wheel
26:48Watch what happens
26:49When these two tanks
26:50What a wallet
26:53But he wasn't injured
26:55Because the steering wheel
26:56Cushioned the shock
26:57And his body
26:58Never touched
26:59The steering post
27:00But it was the indestructible
27:03Bobby Lane
27:04Who stood as the
27:04Lion's lightning rod
27:06This is a man's game
27:08This is a man's game
27:09That's the title
27:10Of a cover story
27:11In Time Magazine
27:12Bobby Lane
27:13Epitomized
27:13Bobby Lane
27:14Played by men
27:17For men
27:18You know
27:19In the audience
27:19Not women
27:20Not kids
27:21You know
27:21This is
27:22This is a man's game
27:24Part of the appeal
27:26For Bobby Lane
27:26Was just
27:27This image of
27:28Fearlessness
27:29He projected
27:29Otto Graham
27:30Put the face mask
27:31On his helmet
27:32In 1953
27:33A lot of quarterbacks
27:34Did
27:34Bobby never put
27:35The face mask on
27:36When he retired
27:37In 1962
27:38He still wasn't
27:39Waring a face mask
27:40Didn't wear hip pads
27:41Didn't wear thigh pads
27:43And the flimsiest
27:44Shoulder pads
27:44Somebody
27:47Got by me
27:48And threw Bobby
27:49For a loss
27:50And Bobby's got the ball
27:51And laying there
27:52On his back
27:52And he came up
27:53Off that ground
27:54With that index finger
27:55Just at me
27:56Right in front
27:57Of the world
27:58Just chewing my butt
28:00Up down and around
28:01And I looked down
28:01On Bobby
28:02And I said
28:03Bobby
28:03I guarantee
28:04For the rest
28:05Of my career
28:06I'll never
28:06Ever let anybody
28:08Everybody get to you
28:10And I think
28:11That's probably
28:11What made me
28:12End up as an all pro
28:13That I didn't want
28:15To take the wrath
28:16Of Bobby Lane
28:16Because he wanted
28:17To win so badly
28:19If he said
28:20He could do it
28:21And if you gave him time
28:23He would do it
28:24On the sideline
28:25The Lions
28:26Bobby Lane
28:26Keeps his passing arm warm
28:28For with the
28:28Trite trailing
28:29Time becomes
28:30The all important factor
28:31The clock shows
28:33Less than three minutes
28:34To be played
28:35As Bobby Lane
28:36Fades to fire
28:37Another aerial
28:38Lane's going all the way
28:41On this one
28:41He has a man open
28:42It's Jimmy Dorn
28:44And he grabs it
28:45For a sensational touch
28:46The Lane led Lions
28:47In Cleveland
28:47Met in three consecutive
28:49Championship games
28:50Detroit won two of them
28:52I don't know
28:53That the Lions
28:54Were in fact
28:55Wilder and woolier
28:56Than every other team
28:57They're probably
28:58Wilder and woolier
28:59Than Paul Brown's
29:00Cleveland Brown's
29:01Because Brown wouldn't
29:01Have allowed them
29:02To get away with it
29:03But because they were
29:05A championship team
29:06And because they had
29:07In Bobby Lane
29:08A particularly charismatic
29:10Figure to focus on
29:12They're the team
29:12That developed that image
29:14My first year
29:20I played for $8,000
29:22That's what I signed
29:23For Carl Rosenblum
29:25And Don Kellett
29:26Who was the general
29:27Manager of the
29:28Baltimore Colts
29:29At that time
29:29They came down
29:30There and signed me
29:31Don Kellett
29:32Asked me
29:32Did I have any money
29:33I said yeah
29:33$20
29:33So they gave me
29:35$250
29:36And I thought
29:38Maybe they were
29:38Being nice and kind
29:39And giving me the money
29:40The first check
29:41I got
29:42They started
29:42Taking it out
29:43I didn't know
29:44That was a loan
29:44Taking it out
29:47Of $250
29:48Someone has to be killed
29:51And it felt like
29:54You know
29:55You're a second class
29:57Citizen at the time
29:58To baseball
29:58Baseball had everything
29:59I mean
30:00$100,000
30:01Ball players
30:02You know
30:02Ted Williams
30:03Was playing
30:03Mickey Mantle
30:04$100,000
30:05In 1959
30:06I was the most
30:07Valuable player
30:08On defense
30:08In the National
30:09Football League
30:10I was making
30:11$9,000
30:11Playing in New York City
30:14I had to have a job
30:15So I went to
30:17A friend of mine
30:18Who ran a
30:19Thoroughfare market
30:21In Fairmont
30:22West Virginia
30:22And I said
30:23Hey
30:23You need somebody
30:25To bag groceries
30:26Carry them the car
30:26I can do that
30:27Everybody had
30:28An off-season job
30:29And the practices
30:32Would sometimes
30:33Be scheduled
30:33So that the players
30:34Could also
30:35Earn a couple bucks
30:36At another job
30:36During the season
30:38And I played
30:39A game on Sunday
30:39Go to work
30:407 o'clock
30:41In the morning
30:41On Monday
30:41And did that
30:42For quite a few years
30:44And was making
30:45More money
30:46As the terminal manager
30:47For this truck line
30:48With the company car
30:49Than I was making
30:50Playing football
30:50We would have a meeting
30:539 o'clock
30:54Which lasted
30:54Till 10
30:5510.30
30:56Then we went out
30:58On the field
30:58At 11 o'clock
31:00And we stayed
31:01For an hour
31:01An hour and a half
31:0212.30
31:03We were done
31:04I got myself
31:05A sandwich
31:06And I went to work
31:07With a ready mix
31:08Concrete company
31:10And that's where
31:11I got my nickname
31:12Concrete Charlie
31:13Low salaries
31:15Often forced players
31:16To pool their resources
31:17It wasn't unusual
31:19For three or four
31:20Of a team's bachelors
31:21To share living arrangements
31:22During the season
31:23When I was single
31:26Bill Pellington
31:27Shuler and I
31:28We bought a house
31:29A restaurant
31:30A restaurant
31:34And I guess the laugh
31:36Is so odd
31:37And you know
31:38There were three wild guys
31:40And then Shuler got married
31:42And Pellington got married
31:43Then I got married
31:44Wives of the players
31:46Naturally are among
31:47The most enthusiastic fans
31:49Jackie Groza
31:50Is on the left
31:51And her companion
31:51In the white scarf
31:52Is Mary Alice Bumgardner
31:54Wife of Rex Bumgardner
31:55A former bronze halfback
31:57And now a sheriff
31:57In West Virginia
31:58We had a Tuesday rule
32:00And it was we
32:02It was Tuesday rule
32:03And everyone always laughed
32:04About the Tuesday rule
32:05Because you were not
32:06Supposed to have
32:07Any kind of intimacies
32:08After Tuesday
32:09And they always said
32:11It was the worst
32:12Kept rule in the league
32:13When a young man's
32:14In his 20s
32:15You think that
32:16The rule's gonna
32:17Have any effect
32:18I don't think so
32:19So I think that was
32:21Totally a figment
32:22Of Weeb's imagination
32:23I mean that was
32:24Bad news
32:25The fact that you
32:26Did something like that
32:27The night before the game
32:28That was supposed to
32:29Take so much out of you
32:30And that was the myth
32:32That took so much out of you
32:34That you couldn't
32:35Possibly perform
32:36The next day
32:37Jane Russell demonstrated
32:40That wives had ways
32:41To break these rules
32:42In a scene that recalled
32:45One of her movies
32:45The actress surprised
32:47Husband Bob Waterfield
32:48And his road roommate
32:49Don Paul
32:50Billy, Don's wife
32:52And I had
32:54Gone to Chicago
32:55Because the game
32:57Was gonna be that Sunday
32:58We were in
33:00The Ambassador East
33:02And they had the team
33:03And the Ambassador West
33:04But there was a tunnel
33:06Underneath that you
33:07Could walk through
33:08Under the road
33:10Under the street
33:11So I put on my fur coat
33:13Over my pajamas
33:14And I went under the tunnel
33:16And I knocked on the door
33:18And Don opened the door
33:19And he said
33:20What are you doing here?
33:21And I said
33:22Don
33:22Go east
33:24I'm staying here tonight
33:26And he just
33:27Had a fit
33:29But he went
33:30Our camera has a tough time
33:38Penetrating the blizzard
33:39As Paige Cothran
33:40Attempts a field goal
33:41It's blocked
33:42And the Steelers
33:43Have killed the threat
33:44I don't remember
33:47Enjoying playing
33:49In those conditions
33:49We had like three or four
33:52Charcoal buckets
33:53On the sideline
33:54That's the only way
33:55To keep warm
33:55That's the only way
33:56We had to keep warm
33:57We had one
33:58Charcoal hamburger maker
34:01At Yankee Stadium
34:02And the quarterbacks
34:03And the kickers
34:04Were all around
34:05And you couldn't
34:05Get close to it
34:06And you had a pail of water
34:07And three or four dippers
34:08And if it was cold
34:10The water froze
34:11And you had no way
34:12To get water
34:12In the battle
34:13Of the blizzard bowl
34:14As Grimes takes a pitch
34:15Out from Rope
34:16He breaks through the line
34:17And heads for the sidelines
34:18Where he crashes
34:19Into several tacklers
34:20He's slowed down
34:23Comes through
34:24Without his helmet
34:25And races down
34:27The clearing
34:27For a TD
34:28Covering 57
34:30Teams located
34:31In cold weather cities
34:32The NFL season
34:33Was hard on players
34:34And playing surfaces
34:36Like they have today
34:39You had to practice
34:39On the football field
34:40On which you played
34:41And it wore them out
34:42Quite a bit
34:43By November
34:45Most fields were dusty
34:47And devoid of grass
34:48These deserts
34:50Could be rendered perilous
34:51By pounding rain
34:52As evidenced by game
34:54At the polo grounds
34:55Between the Cardinals
34:56And Giants
34:57During that game
34:58It rained so hard
34:59That one of our guys
35:01Got in the bottom
35:03Of a pile
35:03And the water
35:05Was so deep
35:05He'd be almost drowned
35:06While bad weather
35:10Ruined the field
35:11For some players
35:12It leveled the field
35:13For others
35:14I love to play in the mud
35:16Because I wasn't the fastest
35:18Guy in the world
35:18But you put us in mud
35:20And I'm just as fast
35:20As most of the guys
35:21Most guys can't run in mud
35:23The Colts once experienced
35:27Sloppy field conditions
35:28Resulting from a force of nature
35:30Unrelated to weather
35:31And the only thing
35:32They had before
35:33The football game
35:33Was a circus
35:34Alright
35:36So circus
35:36You got elephants
35:37And you got horses
35:38And for a whole week
35:40They're going all over
35:41The damn field
35:41And the day of the game
35:43They never even had
35:44The common decency
35:45To rate the field
35:46So every once in a while
35:48We put our hand down
35:49And some guy
35:50Come on and say
35:51Jesus
35:52With a handful of horse
35:53You know
35:54Or elephant dung
35:55So I said
35:56As long as we're moving
35:57And flipping out
35:57The offensive line
35:59Who cares
35:59For those who like
36:04Their football
36:04Rough and tough
36:05Watch this unusual shot
36:06As recorded by
36:07Our sideline camera
36:08Luke Carpenter
36:09Grabs a pass
36:10And is hit
36:10And hit hard
36:11By three grusing rounds
36:12The 50s was
36:14Knock'em sock'em
36:16Knock you down
36:17And didn't seem to be
36:19A tremendous amount
36:19Of rules
36:20It's all legal
36:21In this great game
36:22Of football
36:23You had
36:23The rule of the jungle
36:26And it was brutal
36:27The game was opening up
36:33And players
36:34Were moving faster
36:35There were more collisions
36:36And less conscience
36:37The 49ers
36:39Hardy Brown
36:40Used his shoulder
36:40To knock out
36:4121 opponents
36:42In a 12 game season
36:43In 1951
36:44Throughout the league
36:49Hitting became
36:50Increasingly vicious
36:51And more players
36:52Were injured
36:53But the stars
36:55Were expected
36:56To play through
36:57The pain
36:57No matter how severe
36:59I cracked something
37:02Here
37:02And by the time
37:03We flew home
37:04Went to the hospital
37:06And they said
37:06It was a severely
37:07Sprained ankle
37:08So they wrapped it
37:08And I played up
37:09The rest of the year
37:10As a matter of fact
37:10Against Green Bay
37:12I made 157 yards
37:13And I went from
37:15205 pounds
37:17To 178
37:18I couldn't sleep
37:18At night
37:19My leg was aching
37:20So I went back
37:20To the hospital
37:22And the doctor
37:23And said
37:24You know
37:24You had a broken leg
37:25So I played
37:25Like this
37:26Four or five games
37:27On a broken leg
37:28Tom Tracy
37:29Of Detroit
37:30His knee
37:31Came through
37:32Chuck's bicep
37:34And just
37:35The bicep
37:37The big muscle
37:38Flopped down here
37:39On the forearm
37:39Right in here
37:41So what they did
37:42They pushed it up
37:44Taped it
37:45And I played
37:46And that's the way
37:47It is today
37:48We were able to do
37:49Almost anything
37:49We wanted to
37:50Defensively
37:51I mean
37:51Clothesline guys
37:52Guys come out
37:53Of the backfield
37:54The first move
37:55The defensive end
37:56Would do
37:56Was bring his arm
37:57Around and hit him
37:57Right in the face
37:58And boom
37:59That was taught
38:03That was the practice
38:05The first move
38:07Was to hook him
38:08Under the neck
38:08It might hurt him
38:09He might not be able
38:10To speak for a few days
38:12But you know
38:13That was just the way
38:14It was
38:15Phil Pellington
38:17He clotheslined
38:19And the guy
38:19He hit a kid
38:20In the all-star game
38:22And the kid
38:22Never played again
38:23Kid swallowed his tongue
38:24Our trainer
38:26Eddie Block
38:27Saved the kid's life
38:28Big daddy saying
38:30Don't look at him
38:31None of us
38:31Will want to play
38:32We could have
38:33Beat the all-stars
38:34That game
38:35By a hundred points
38:36They didn't want
38:37To play anymore
38:37What kind of animals
38:39Are we playing against
38:39They found out
38:41The players of the 1950s
38:49Were not afforded
38:50Much protection
38:50Either by the rules
38:52Or by the flimsy
38:53Equipment of the time
38:54So the players
38:55Established
38:56And enforced
38:57Their own system
38:58Of justice
38:59This is the way
39:00It was
39:01Whoever
39:02Did any vicious
39:04Head hunting
39:04Or whatever
39:06You can believe
39:07They got paid back
39:08If they didn't get
39:09Paid back that game
39:10If somebody else
39:11Seen them
39:11They got paid back
39:12Players would take
39:14Care of that
39:14Themselves
39:15And the officials
39:15Knew that
39:16The officials knew
39:17That we would
39:18Police the game
39:19Ourselves
39:19I know there was
39:29A stage there
39:29In the middle 50s
39:31That it got
39:32Really dirty
39:32And again
39:34I remember
39:34Talking to
39:35Carol Rosenblum
39:36About it
39:36And telling him
39:36You know
39:37I said
39:37They better do
39:38Something about
39:38This sir
39:40This game
39:40Is going to
39:40Get totally
39:41Out of hand
39:41I said
39:42They better do
39:43Something about
39:43This sir
39:45This game
39:45Is going to
39:45Get totally
39:46Out of hand
39:46I think that
39:47The public
39:48Just didn't
39:48Care too much
39:49For that type
39:49Of viciousness
39:51The people
39:52Who loved it
39:52Were the players
39:54And their friends
39:55A brawl
39:59Could be the result
40:00Of a short temper
40:01Or a long memory
40:02Chuck Bednarik
40:04Once waited
40:05A full year
40:06To avenge
40:06A late hit
40:07By Cleveland's
40:08Chuck Knoll
40:08He's lined up
40:10Next to Lou Groza
40:11Who's going to do
40:11The kicking off
40:12And my roommate
40:13Frank Wido
40:14Was next to me
40:15And I said
40:16Hey Frank
40:16I said
40:17You see that
40:18Number 65 there
40:19Yeah Charlie
40:21I said
40:21Let's get him
40:22Okay Charlie
40:24And Groza
40:25Kicked the ball off
40:26I don't know
40:26Who got it
40:27It was a kickoff
40:27Return left
40:28But I know
40:29All we did
40:30We went towards
40:3165
40:32And finally
40:33When we got to him
40:34I tackled him
40:36Knocked him down
40:36Stumped on him
40:37Frank came along
40:38We were beating
40:38The crap out of him
40:39Beating the crap out of him
40:41He got up
40:42Literally frothing
40:43From the mouth
40:44You son of a
40:44You're dissing
40:45I'll get you
40:45I'll get you
40:46When this game is over
40:47I'll get you
40:48Chuck Knoll and Bednarik
40:50Are walking off the field
40:52Chuck Knoll takes his
40:54Cam helmet off
40:56With the face mask
40:57And Bednarik pops him
40:59I went
40:59And of course
41:02Everybody gathered around
41:04We come in the locker room
41:06Like this
41:06The first thing
41:08Paul Brown says
41:09He says
41:10Chuckie
41:11You know you shouldn't
41:12Ever take a fight
41:13With Bednarik
41:14With your helmet off
41:15At the time
41:16They were doing that
41:17The Dumont television network
41:19That were televising
41:20They're doing
41:21The phone was still ringing
41:22He picks it up
41:22And the commissioner said
41:24What are you trying to do
41:26We're trying to sell this game
41:28And you
41:29You know
41:30Work this guy over
41:31Right on the closing credits
41:32If the league was to grow
41:35Burt Bell knew it had to
41:37Clean up its image
41:38In 1955
41:40When Life magazine
41:41Did a cover story
41:42On the NFL
41:43Entitled
41:43Savagery on Sunday
41:45Bell sued
41:46Here's this article
41:48That comes out
41:49In one of the most
41:49Influential magazines
41:51In the country
41:52With pictures
41:53The league
41:54Decided they were
41:56Going to challenge
41:57This article
41:58And sue
41:59Life magazine
42:00For libel
42:01The league
42:02Won the case
42:03And what was more important
42:05As far as the NFL
42:06Was concerned
42:07Was that
42:07You never really saw
42:09A story like that
42:10About the NFL
42:10Thereafter
42:11No other magazine
42:13Attempted to write a story
42:15Focusing on that part
42:16Of the game again
42:17Which was
42:17Just what the NFL
42:19Wanted
42:19And which was why
42:20They opposed the suit
42:21In the first place
42:21As commissioner
42:23Bert Bell
42:24Was the league's
42:24Most vigorous defender
42:25And he made sure
42:27The players
42:27Were its most visible salesmen
42:29He came to training camp
42:31And would tell us
42:32To be very friendly
42:33To the fans
42:34After the games
42:35Before the games
42:36You shake hands
42:36You sign autographs
42:37And things like that
42:38Because he was trying
42:39To build something
42:40He would go through
42:41All the do's and don'ts
42:43About where you hang out
42:45How you're seen
42:46Off the field
42:47How you conduct yourself
42:49How important it is
42:50With the bubblegum cards
42:51Now becoming a big thing
42:52To be a person
42:53That was presentable
42:55To make the game
42:56As exciting as they could
42:57But basically
42:58He was looking
42:59For that image again
43:00Off the field
43:01It wasn't phony
43:02But presented them
43:03As people separate
43:04From the person
43:05You saw on the helmet
43:05Ed Sullivan's show
43:07On Sunday night
43:08Where he introduced
43:09The athletes on television
43:10My father said
43:10I want to make sure
43:11He's to tell the PR guy
43:12Joe Labum
43:13I want one of our players
43:14On every goddamn Sunday night
43:16I know that you'll get
43:17The kick I get
43:18But I'm saying
43:19Alex Webster
43:20Close up
43:20Alex stand up there
43:21And take a bow
43:22Will you please
43:22From professional football
43:25Otto Graham
43:26Yes ma'am
43:28Stand up there
43:28And take a bow
43:29And I'd like also
43:32To ask
43:33One of the Chicago Bears
43:34One of the great ones
43:35Of the Chicago Bears
43:36Stand up and take a bow
43:37Rick Caceres
43:39Rick would you stand up
43:40And take a bow
43:40Cezares
43:41I want him on television
43:45Everywhere
43:45I want him to wear a suit
43:46I want him to look good
43:47This is Alan Amici
43:49Of the Baltimore Coast
43:50Who today
43:51In the first sudden death playoff
43:53In professional football
43:55Went across the goal line
43:58With the winning touchdown
43:59So let's have a tremendous hand
44:01For Alan Amici
44:03He saw television
44:05The 50's
44:06These people coming back
44:07From the war
44:08They were looking for entertainment
44:09How would you take
44:11These great athletes
44:12What better way
44:13Than on television
44:14The club of Varno
44:20There's a game alright
44:21But the only way
44:22We'll find out where
44:23Is if we play
44:23Well
44:24The Giants play
44:26In New York
44:27And New York
44:28Is the media capital
44:29Of the world
44:30And therefore
44:32Any great New York athlete
44:33Is
44:34Made larger
44:36Driven
44:37More quickly
44:38To iconic status
44:39Or superstar status
44:41Because the owners of CBS
44:43And NBC
44:44And the New York Times
44:45And all the magazines
44:47Are based here
44:48The Giants attracted
44:50That influential New York crowd
44:52By winning the NFL title
44:53In 1956
44:54Our sideline camera
44:56Records a classic shot
44:57Of the Giants
44:58Marvelous Mel Trippler
44:59The hard fighting pullback
45:01And a quake and shake and charge
45:02Bulldozes to the Chicago
45:04Three yard line
45:05The Giants success on the field
45:07Led to even more success
45:08Off the field
45:09And that
45:10Caused resentment
45:11Around the league
45:12Most of the guys
45:13Were making
45:14Nine
45:14Ten
45:15Twelve thousand dollars
45:16And the guys in New York
45:18Was
45:18They were getting
45:19All of this extra money
45:20For the advertisement
45:21The commercials
45:22And things like that
45:23And everybody in the league
45:25Resented that
45:25I don't care what they say
45:26If you talk to somebody
45:27They say they didn't
45:28They tell them a lie
45:29Hey Joe
45:30Are you still using
45:30That greasy kid stuff
45:31On your hair
45:32What else
45:33Vitalis
45:34That's what else
45:35And they have
45:35The all-American boy
45:37Gifford
45:37That's it
45:37Rub it in good
45:38Gifford was
45:39A kind of image
45:41And the first one
45:43In football
45:43Of what
45:44Ordinary American men
45:46Would have wanted
45:48To have been
45:49Oh I wish
45:50I could have been
45:51Frank Gifford
45:52Is this feeling
45:52Come on sport
45:53Get that greasy stuff
45:54Out of your hair
45:54And then
45:55Try Vitalis
45:56Frank Gifford
45:59May have symbolized
46:00The glamour
46:01Of pro football
46:01In the big city
46:02But the giants
46:04Of the 1950s
46:05Became best known
46:06For their punishing defense
46:07It was in New York
46:11At Yankee Stadium
46:12That the fans
46:13First began chanting
46:14For the defense
46:15And it was there
46:16That a ferocious linebacker
46:18Named Sam Huff
46:19Number 70
46:19Became a national celebrity
46:21Sam Huff
46:25New York's
46:25Great linebacker
46:26Is one more publicity
46:27For the pro games
46:28Defensive maneuvers
46:29Than any other
46:29Single player
46:30The end of the decade
46:32Suddenly defense
46:33Brutal hard defense
46:35Is celebrated
46:36We went from venerating offense
46:39Above all other things
46:40To defense
46:41To toughness
46:42Sports writers
46:43Tried to come up
46:43With key terms
46:44That would kind of
46:45Pin this down
46:45Sanction savagery
46:47They would call it
46:48Vengeance with style
46:50You know
46:50Try to get some kind
46:52Of sense of that balance
46:53Between the artistry
46:54Of football
46:54And the brutality
46:56Of football
46:57The camera loves it
46:59Because the camera
47:00Catches the action
47:02The violence
47:02The collision
47:03And you can't narrate that
47:05On radio
47:07But you show it
47:08On television
47:09And the fans know
47:11Immediately
47:12This is big time
47:14I remember when
47:15My father saw Sam Huff
47:16On the front of
47:17Time magazine
47:18See boys
47:19He said
47:19There he is
47:20On the front of
47:20Time magazine
47:21He said
47:22I told you
47:22Defense is going to
47:23Begin to take over
47:24The Giants have made
47:25Defense the big thing
47:27And I remember him
47:27Calling Chris Sheckle
47:28One time
47:29He said
47:30Chris don't forget
47:31To introduce the defense
47:33The fans are in love
47:34With the defense
47:34Not with the
47:35God damn offense
47:36Ha ha ha ha
47:38To take you into
47:41Territory that is
47:42Forbidden
47:42To persons
47:43Other than the players
47:44And people
47:45On official business
47:46On behind the scenes
47:48Well let's suppose
47:49It's a Sunday morning
47:50The day most
47:51Cold games are played
47:52The players
47:53Get a briefing
47:53Just like a pilot
47:55About to take off
47:55On a flight
47:56Just before game time
47:58The backfield men
47:59Warm up their
48:00Pitching arms
48:00And now
48:02The Colts are ready
48:03For action
48:04And here's how
48:05They did
48:06On the field
48:06During one of
48:08The most exciting
48:09Seasons in
48:10National Pro Football
48:11History
48:11Over the course
48:14Of the decade
48:15The Baltimore Colts
48:17Led by fullback
48:18Alan Amici
48:18And quarterback
48:19Johnny Unitas
48:20Went from being
48:21One of the NFL's
48:22Worst teams
48:23To one of the best
48:24The Colts
48:26The Colts quite
48:26It was not
48:28One of the best
48:29Teams in the NFL
48:30It was the best
48:31Team in the NFL
48:32Territory owned the town
48:35And their players
48:36Were among the first
48:37To use their names
48:38To score points
48:39In business
48:40This is Alan
48:42Horse Amici
48:43I'd like to invite you
48:44To try a powerhouse
48:45Sandwich
48:46At my drive-in
48:47At 5800
48:48Righteous Town Road
48:49I'll meet you
48:50At Amici
48:50I remember we bought
48:53Our first row house
48:54And paid $8,000
48:55For this house
48:56John Unitas
48:58Came over
48:58And laid our kitchen floor
48:59Everybody pitched in
49:01Painted
49:02And helped us
49:03Get that little
49:04Row house ready
49:04There was never any
49:06You know
49:07Your husband's name
49:08In the paper
49:08And mine isn't
49:09Or you have a new car
49:11And I don't
49:11I don't think
49:12That anyone cared
49:14Who scored the touchdown
49:15As long as someone
49:16Scored it
49:17I used to come on the field
49:18And something would say
49:19Look around the stands
49:20You see all these people
49:21At pre-game warm-up
49:23And I'd turn around
49:24And I'd look around
49:24I said man
49:27Phew
49:27I don't believe this
49:29I said I'm a Baltimore Colt
49:31And I'd be pulling
49:32At my jersey
49:33Looking at that blue
49:34The Colts of the late 50s
49:37Were rich in star quality
49:38Yet they had
49:40A working class humility
49:41That matched
49:41The blue collar fabric
49:42Of Baltimore
49:43It was a dramatic contrast
49:46To the high profile
49:48Giants team
49:48They met in their
49:49First championship game
49:50Yankee Stadium
49:55Jam packed
49:55For the greatest
49:56Playoff game
49:57In pro football history
49:58New York Giants
50:00Versus the Baltimore Colts
50:01For the national pro title
50:02It has been called
50:04The greatest game
50:05Ever played
50:06But with eight fumbles
50:08And eight quarterback sacks
50:09It was hardly that
50:11It was really
50:1259 minutes of prelude
50:14Setting the stage
50:16For an unforgettable finish
50:17With only seven seconds left
50:20Steve Myra boots a field goal
50:21To tie up the score
50:22And that brings on
50:23The first extra period
50:25Sudden death play
50:25In football history
50:27The championship game
50:30Between the Colts
50:31And the Giants
50:32Is everything people
50:34Think it is
50:35Because people
50:36Think it is
50:36It came at a
50:38Particularly dramatic
50:39Moment
50:40And it happened
50:41In New York
50:42Where all the
50:44Media people
50:46Had their ears
50:46To the ground
50:47They knew that
50:48Something was happening
50:49Here
50:49And that this was
50:50Ripping theater
50:51Out on the horse
50:52And he crashes over
50:54For the winning tally
50:55Baltimore Colts
50:56Win the pro football title
50:5723 to 17
50:59It's just everything
51:01The whole country wanted
51:03There were no losers really
51:05Because the game
51:06Is lifted up
51:07And it gets
51:08Parody
51:09With pro baseball
51:11The football championship now
51:13Is as important
51:14As the world series
51:15That's a great moment
51:16In American life
51:17And it has happened
51:18With astonishing speed
51:21And it took
51:22For the Baltimore players
51:23For American football
51:26To catch up to baseball
51:28It was down here
51:29At the beginning
51:30Right up here
51:33At the end
51:34Celebration was about
51:40One game
51:41And one championship
51:42But for Burt Bell
51:44It was much more
51:45It was the culmination
51:47Of his life's work
51:48After the
51:5058 game
51:51Ended
51:52I remember
51:53Burt Bell
51:54Standing there
51:54He was very emotional
51:56He was crying
51:56And then years later
51:58You know
51:58I began to realize
51:59That Burt Bell
52:01Was a man
52:01That understood
52:02The significance
52:03Of what had happened
52:04There that day
52:04He
52:06I think it's accurate
52:08To say
52:08He had been
52:08Nursing the NFL
52:09Along for quite a while
52:11And he knew
52:11That this was
52:13A turning point
52:14Just ten months later
52:16Burt Bell
52:17Was dead
52:17He suffered
52:18A heart attack
52:19While watching
52:20An Eagles-Steelers game
52:21At Franklin Field
52:22Pete Rozelle
52:24Was named commissioner
52:25And the league office
52:26Moved from Bell's
52:27Second floor walk-up
52:28In Philadelphia
52:28To a suite
52:30On Park Avenue
52:30In New York
52:31It symbolized a move
52:33Toward a larger
52:33More corporate game
52:35As the decade
52:36Came to a close
52:37So too
52:38Did an era
52:39In pro football
52:40Hmm
52:44For the NFL
52:47The 1950s
52:49Was the decade
52:50That served as the bridge
52:51From the sandlots
52:52To the Super Bowl
52:53A time when
52:55The sheer joy
52:56Of the game
52:56Reflected the glow
52:58Of post-war America
52:59For the players
53:01Of that generation
53:02Pro football
53:03Was more than
53:04Just a game
53:05It was
53:06The game
53:07Of their lives
53:08I would have to say
53:10The main motivation
53:11For playing football
53:13In the era I played
53:14Is because I liked to do it
53:16I will bet you my life
53:17That I had more fun
53:19Playing football
53:19Than the guys do now
53:20My life is coming
53:22To an end
53:22And I'm very proud
53:23Of what I did
53:25At my time
53:26And to be able
53:27To say that
53:28In my day
53:29I was one of the best
53:30That played the game
53:31Not the best
53:32But one of the best
53:33And to say
53:34I was a part of that
53:35That was great
53:36In the 50s
53:37Was the cornerstone
53:40I believe
53:41Of what pro football
53:43Is today
53:44For a guy
53:46Who said his life
53:46Was coming to an end
53:47He survived
53:4922 years
53:50After this came out
53:51I would say
53:53I was at the right place
53:54At the right time
53:55With the right people
53:56And I think
53:57One of the most fortunate
53:59Things that has ever
54:00Happened to me
54:00Was being able
54:01To play
54:02In the era of pro football
54:03That I got to play in
54:04I wouldn't trade it
54:06For any era
54:07Of the NFL's history
54:09And it was
54:11An absolutely
54:12Great experience
54:14It was just
54:16A bunch of guys
54:18Who enjoyed
54:19Playing the game
54:20With an opportunity
54:22To play for a living
54:23A meager living
54:25But a living
54:26Huh
54:27I was born
54:31One morning
54:32It was drizzling rain
54:33Fighting and
54:34отметiren piano
54:43Just how you guys
54:44Anh
54:45You
54:46You
54:48You
54:49You
54:51You
54:53You
54:54You
54:55You
54:55You
54:56You
54:57You
55:02You
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