December 26

In this edition of the Football History Headlines, we discuss four NFL Championship games and the Hominy Indians, as well as many more Hall of Fame Legendary stories.

Gridiron fans, gear up for another exciting day of football history! Dive into the archives and relive the moments that shaped the game we love. Today's headlines take us back in time, exploring everything from legendary quarterback duels that captivated a nation to groundbreaking rule changes that redefined the sport. So, whether you're a die-hard traditionalist or a stats guru, we have something for everyone. Let's lace up our virtual cleats and take a trip down memory lane!

December 26, 1927 - Pawhuska, Oklahoma -The All-Native American team called the Hominy Indians defeated the NFL’s New York Giants who had won the title of world champions just three weeks earlier. The website, ILoveAncestry.com has a brilliant article on the game from which we share some of the highlights. The Hominy squad was made of 100% Native American and they traveled around the country as an independent professional team. The group had never been defeated or even tied and they ended up with a 26 game winning streak! The team was owned and funded by two brothers who lived on the Osage reservation named Ira and Otto Hamilton. The players were all Native Americans who had been gathered from places all over the nation. Hominy had the greatest exposure they could ask for when they got the chance to play the NFL Champs. They took perfect advantage of that opportunity , extending their win streak as they outlasted the G-men 13-6.
According to the Luckyshow.com, the Giants would lose two more exhibition games in Florida in early January 1926 after this contest in Oklahoma. Rumors say they played in California too as Ernie Nevers promised to coach them on the West Coast should they play.

December 26, 1943 - Wrigley Field, Chicago - The National Football League Championship Game is played as the Washington Redskins faced the Chicago Bears.  The Bears were guided by Hall of Fame Quarterback Sid Luckman who had possibly the best  season ever by an NFL QB. Luckman on the season according to the Bleacher Report story on the game, went 110 of 202 passing for 2194 yards and 28 TDs with a total if 12 passes picked off. That makes his passer rating for the season an astounding 107.5! The Bears were 8-1-1 coming into the game and didn’t have their owner/coach George Halas for about half the year as he had left to serve in the Navy during the war.  The Redskins had a great signal caller too in Sammy Baugh.  These two teams had recently squared off in championship play. The Bears crushed Washington in 1940, 73-0 but in 1942 it was the Redskins who held the title as they defeated Chicago 21-7. We will leave the details of the game for you to read in the Bleacher Report article but we do have the final score, the Bears won 41-21 to capture the franchise’s 6th NFL title.

December 26, 1954 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium - Lou Groza successfully kicks 8 extra points for a new title game record in the National Football League Championship. According to the American Football Database website, it was the third straight year that the Detroit Lions were matched up against the Cleveland Browns in the season finale to determine the best team in the NFL. The Lions featured their star players Bobby Layne and Doak Walker who helped lead the team to the Western Division crown with a 9-2-1 record. On the other sideline Otto Graham and legendary Coach Paul Brown guided the Browns to become kings of the East Division sporting a 9-3 record. Doak Walker got the Lions roaring first with a 36 yard field goal but it would be the only lead Detroit would see all day as the Browns rattled off three unanswered touchdowns and cruised the rest of the game. The Cleveland Browns dismantled the Detroit Lions, 56-10 to claim yet another NFL Title! 

December 26, 1955 - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - The Browns must have enjoyed playing the National Football League Championship game the day after Christmas. They defended their TItle by traveling to meet the LA Rams.  Cleveland got up early in the game on a first half field goal and a pick six and never looked back. Otto Graham tossed two TD pases and ran the ball in for two more as the Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Rams, 38-14 per the Pro-Football-Reference website. The Browns won their 3rd NFL Championship of the 1950s.

December 26, 1960 - Philadelphia’s Franklin Field - The 1960 National Football League Championship had Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers faced with the challenge of the high flying Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers had just done the unthinkable and won the Western Division by fending off the two time defending juggernaut Baltimore Colts who dropped their last four contests to sink back in the pack of mediocre teams per a New York Times account. The Eagles on the other hand stayed one game ahead of the Browns to capture the East. One of the key plays in the game happened in the first quarter. The Packers were deep in Eagles territory after they received the ball on an interception. Charlie Bednarik stuffed fullback Jim Taylor on fourth down at the Eagles’ 5-yard line to keep the Pack from adding digits to the scoreboard on that drive. Veteran Quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, who played in multiple Champions games with the Rams threw for 202 yards and scored to help overcome the one interception he threw early as the Eagles outlasted Green Bay 17-13. Remarkably this was the lone playoff loss for Packers coach Vince Lombardi in his entire 10 year career as an NFL headman. Lombardi must have learned some lessons at the end of his second season in Green Bay at this game. Of Course over the next seven seasons the Lombardi-led Packers would win three NFL Championships and the first two Super Bowls.

December 26, 1965 - Balboa Stadium in San Diego - The 1965 AFL Championship game was held billing the hometown San Diego Chargers facing the Buffalo Bills for the League Title. In the contest it was the Bills who blanked the Chargers 23-0 in what the Onthisday.com website refers to as a repeat previous year's win over San Diego.

December 26, 1975 - Onthisday.com also tells of the 5th Fiesta Bowl game that was played. In the game the #7 Arizona State University team knocked off a tough #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 17-14.

December 26, 1976 - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum - AFC Championship game took place and for the third year in a row Oakland and Pittsburgh vied for the Lamar Hunt Trophy. The ProFootballHOF.com website tells us how the Steelers had won the title game in the previous two years and went on to hoist the Lombardi and were eyeing a three-peat but the Silver and Black  had other things in mind. The Raiders took full advantage of the Pittsburgh rushing tandem of Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris being sidelined with injuries as they held the Steelers offense to a mere 72 yards on the ground that day. The Raiders offense on the other hand were run heavy with 157 yards rushing to give the Oakland Raiders a 24-7 over the Steelers.

December 26, 1976 - Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, Minnesota - The NFC Championship game took place. The Minnesota Vikings hosted the LA Rams to see who would represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Pro-Football-Reference.com tells us that the Norsemen jumped out to an early 17-0 lead in the first half. The Rams attempted a comeback powering in 13 points of their own in response in the 3rd stanza, but Sammy Johnson of the men in Purple pounded in a 13 yard score in the fourth to seal the Minnesota 24-13 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

December 26, 1980 - What a college matchup in the Fiesta Bowl! Neighboring states collided before they were both members of the Big 10 Conference as #10 Penn State met #11 Ohio State. The Nittany Lions took home the victory as they knocked off the Buckeyes, 31-19.

December 26, 1991 - Chuck Noll retires as NFL coach after 23 years at the helm of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Noll's tenure tied former New York Giants coach Steve Owen as the third-longest stint with one team in NFL history. Former Green Bay coach Curly Lambeau and former Dallas coach Tom Landry each coached 29 seasons.The Washington Post shares that Noll started as the Steelers head man in 1969 where he and the team suffered through a 1-13 first season. All he did from there was turn the team into a powerhouse that registered 209 victories for its coach in his career and won 4 Super Bowl Titles in a span of six seasons.

December 26, 1992 - New York Jets announcer Marty Glickman retires at the age of 74 per the OnthisDay.com website.  

December 26, 2000 - According to the GeorgiaEncyclopedia.org,  Mark Richt was named as the twenty-fifth head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. The apex of Richt’s Georgia career was in the 2002 season where the Bulldogs finished with a 13-1record and won the school's first SEC championship and then defeated Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. Richt led the Bulldogs for fifteen seasons, registering an awesome 145-51 record, two SEC championship berths, and nine bowl wins.
 

December 26, 1905 - Hoopeston, Illinois - Navy Halfback Tom Hamilton was born. The National Football Foundation voters placed Tom Hamilton into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

December 26, 1924 - Claremont, California - Army’s prolific halfback Glenn Davis celebrated his birth. The College Football Hall of Fame swung its doors open wide in 1961 to welcome the legend of Glenn Davis into its memories.

December 26, 1960 - Appleton, Wisconsin - Lawrence Running Back Scott Reppert came into this world. The NFF recognized Scott Reppert as a member of one of the Collegiate greats as a new induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

December 26, 1966 - Dallas, Texas - The great defensive back of the Oklahoma Sooners, Rickey Dixon was born. Rickey Dixon was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019.