By Darin The 1962 American football season stood as a historic year across both professional and collegiate gridirons. It was defined by legendary coaching tenures, fierce cross-league rivalries, and grueling championship battles that went down in the record books.
Pro Football: Green Bay Dominates and Dallas Survives a Marathon
In professional football, two major leagues competed for the hearts of American sports fans: the established National Football League (NFL) and the young upstart, the American Football League (AFL).
- The NFL Championship: Head coach Vince Lombardi cemented his legacy with the Green Bay Packers, leading them to a 13–1 regular-season record. On December 30, 1962, the Packers battled freezing temperatures and the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium, securing a tough 16–7 victory to capture Green Bay’s eighth NFL title.
- The AFL Championship: The rival AFL witnessed arguably the most dramatic title game in its short history. On December 23, 1962, the Dallas Texans (who would soon become the Kansas City Chiefs) clashed with the two-time defending champion Houston Oilers. The game pushed into a grueling double-overtime period. It ended at 17 minutes and 54 seconds of sudden-death overtime when Texans rookie kicker Tommy Brooker booted a 25-yard field goal, securing a 20–17 victory in what was then the longest professional football game ever played.
College Football: The Rise of USC and Terry Baker’s Historic Year
The 1962 NCAA University Division season featured dramatic shifts in power and a historic Rose Bowl matchup.
- The National Champion: Coached by John McKay, the USC Trojans finished a perfect 11–0 season. They were voted No. 1 in both the final AP and UPI polls. The season culminated on January 1, 1963, in the famous Rose Bowl game where USC fended off a furious 4th-quarter comeback by No. 2 Wisconsin, winning 42–37.
- Undefeated Contenders: The Ole Miss Rebels also finished with a perfect 10–0 record, capturing the SEC Championship and a victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
- The Heisman Trophy: Oregon State quarterback Terry Baker won the 1962 Heisman Trophy. Baker enjoyed a spectacular individual year, leading the nation in total offense and eventually becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 1963 NFL Draft.
A Deep Dive into 1962 Football History and Highlights
The cultural and structural impacts of the 1962 season helped set the stage for the modern era of football. The sheer entertainment value of the AFL’s high-flying offenses—led by stars like Houston’s George Blanda and Dallas’s Abner Haynes—proved that the newer league could pull massive audiences and seriously challenge the NFL. This intense competition laid the groundwork for the inevitable AFL-NFL merger later in the decade.
On the collegiate side, the 1963 Rose Bowl between USC and Wisconsin marked the first time in college football history that the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams faced off in a bowl game, establishing a blueprint for modern national championship showcases.
- January 1, 1962 – Pasadena, California – The Rose Bowl had another first: the first college football game nationally televised in color. Minnesota outlasted UCLA 21-3 in this milestone broadcast.
- January 7, 1962 – Balboa Stadium, San Diego – The inaugural AFL All-Star Game was played. The contest pitted the best from the AFL’s Western Division against the greats from the AFL’s Eastern Division. RemembertheAFL.com nicely tells the story of the game. Players such as Jim Otto, Jack Kemp, and Coach Sid Gillman were on the West’s sidelines while the East boasted George Blanda, Billy Cannon, and Gino Cappelletti. The Western Division outshone the Eastern Division 47-27. The MVP of the game was the Dallas Texans Quarterback Cotton Davidson.
- January 9, 1962 – The NFL issued a rule prohibiting players from grasping a player’s face mask. According to footballzebras.com, a head protector became mandatory in 1943. Face masks were optional until 1955, but players could petition to go without one. In 1956, a rule made it illegal to touch anyone’s face mask except the runner’s. The 1962 rule updated the penalty. If a player grasped a face mask, it was a 15-yard penalty, and if flagrant, the player was disqualified.
- January 14, 1962 – LA Memorial Coliseum – The 12th NFL Pro Bowl was played as the NFL’s Western Conference edged out the Eastern Conference, by the score of 31-30. MVPs were the great Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay’s Defensive tackle Henry Jordan.
- October 7, 1962 – BIG Game Sunday as the Packers and the Lions square off. The Packers edged Detroit in a gritty 9-7 defensive slugfest at Green Bay’s City Stadium. Packers kicker Paul Hornung sealed the win with a 21-yard field goal with just 33 seconds remaining, set up by a game-changing Herb Adderley interception.
- October 8, 1962 – The famous SI was published with an Eagles legend, Tommy McDonald, depicted in a sort of Abstract art on the cover.
- October 28, 1962 – NY Giant Y. A. Tittle passes for 7 touchdowns vs. the Washington Redskins (49-34).
- November 13, 1962 – The patent for a detachable streamer for use in flag football was issued. According to an article on sportsrec.com, flag football dates back to 1933, but it didn’t really gain popularity until it became widespread on US military bases in the 1940s.
- November 17, 1962 – Grant Field at Georgia Tech – The Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech outlasted the Crimson Tide of Alabama 6-7. Legendary Coach Bobby Dodd called it “my greatest victory.” Mike McNames scored Tech’s only touchdown and made a game-saving tackle to upset Bear Bryant’s unbeaten, No. 1 defending national champs.
- December 2, 1962 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers narrowly edged the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28-27 in the 50th Grey Cup, completing the game on a Sunday after dense fog suspended the contest the previous day.
- December 3, 1962 – The Los Angeles Rams selected Terry Baker, the Heisman winner from Oregon State, with the first overall pick in the 1963 NFL Draft.
- December 4, 1962 – Inventor F.H. Chute filed a patent for the folding stadium chair (US patent 3,066,980), using molded plastic attached to a folding metal frame to improve fan comfort on bleachers.
- December 16, 1962 – New York Giants Quarterback Y. A.Tittle set the NFL’s passing touchdowns in a season record when he threw 6 scoring strikes in one game against the Dallas Cowboys to put his season total at 33. The Giants’ signal caller had a total of 346 yards passing on the day with 2 interceptions as New York outscored Dallas 41-31.
- December 27, 1962 – Quarterback Terry Baker became the first Oregon State player to win the 28th Heisman Trophy, according to Heisman.com. In 1962, Baker threw for 1,723 yards and 15 touchdowns, adding 9 rushing touchdowns and 538 yards on the ground.
- December 30, 1962 – The Giants lost the NFL Championship to the Packers, 16-7. Kicker Jerry Kramer scored three field goals, and Ray Nitschke was the MVP, per Bleacher Report. A decade later, December 30 would again become a pivotal day for championship football.