December 31

For many, New Year's Eve is synonymous with parties, countdowns, and resolutions. But for football fans, December 31st holds a special place—it's often a day packed with exciting regular-season finales and playoff matchups!

In this edition of the Football History Headlines, we discuss the Raider's first AFL Championship win, the legendary 1967 Ice Bowl Game, as well as many more Hall of Fame Legendary stories.

We'll delve into the archives and revisit some of the most thrilling, dramatic, and history-making games that unfolded on this unique football holiday. From last-second Hail Marys to dominant defensive displays, get ready to relive the moments that left fans buzzing as the clock struck midnight and a new year began. So, grab your favorite jersey, settle in, and reminisce about the top American football stories of December 31st!

December 31, 1961 - New City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin - The NFL Championship of 1961 pitted the Giants against the Packers. Green Bay Packers won their first of 5 NFL titles in a 7-year span by Packers and head coach, Vince Lombardi. shutdown New York Giants 37-0 per the Pro Football Reference website. Paul Hornung scored a TD, kicked three field goals and three extra points to lead the Packers. As a side note New City Stadium was renamed to Lambeau Field in 1965 after the death and in honor of the legendary Packers coach Curly Lambeau per an interesting story on the stadiumsofprofootball.com website.

December 31, 1967 - Oakland’s Alameda County Coliseum - The AFL Championship game pitted the host Raiders against the Houston Oilers. Quarterback Daryle Lamonica who had been claimed off of waivers from Buffalo earlier in the season led the Silver and Black to a 13-1 record per the American Football Database. Houston on the other hand went from last place in the AFL’s Eastern Conference the previous season to the top position in the 1967 season. Lamonica had two scoring passes and one TD with his legs while George Blanda booted four field goals through the uprights to help Oakland win its first AFL Championship. Final score Oakland Raiders 40, the Houston Oilers 7.

December 31, 1967 - Lambeau Field, Green Bay - The NFL Championship which is often remembered as the "The Ice Bowl."  With game time temps around -13°F Lambeau Field lived up to its nickname of the frozen tundra.  Some interesting facts about this game. Referee Magazine tells how head ref Norm Schachter said there was only one official whistle blown all game and it was right before the opening kick off. At the time only metal whistles were available right before kick off the Umpire lost some skin off of his lips the crew never tweeted another one the rest of the game and Schachter’s own whistle was found to have the wooden ball frozen in place inside the metal part. As for the players it would have been a great game no matter what the temperature was as there would be 12 future Hall of Famers on the field that day in the arctic conditions plus each head coach would get a bust in Canton too according to a JS Online article. Even when you don’t consider the great people involved or the extreme weather it was an awesome game to boot! Drama at the end as Bart Starr keeps the ball and plunges into the frozen end zone. The Green Bay Packers last second heroics defeated the upstart Dallas Cowboys, 21-17 in the coldest NFL game on record!

December 31, 1972 - Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh - The AFC Championship game was played as Pittsburgh a nere week removed from their thrilling Immaculate Reception win over Oakland faced the undefeated Dolphins. The Miami Dolphins were too much for the Steelers in this one as they kept the loss column clean knocking off Pittsburgh, 21-7. Yes these were the 1972 Dolphins who would go on to win the Super Bowl and become the only Super Bowl era team to go undefeated and win the title.One interesting question arises why were the Steelers the home team if Miami clearly had the better record? Well I found the best answer on Funtrivia.com by Drewh2os; “From 1970 through 1974, after the merger of the AFL and NFL, teams were not seeded by winning percentage. Home playoff games were determined by a preset rotation through each of the three divisions. Select division winners would play all playoff games at home, regardless of the comparative record of their opponent. the AFC Eastern Division Champion Miami Dolphins had gone undefeated yet played the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh because the AFC East was not in the "home game" rotation that year and Pittsburgh was.” The current system of the best winning percentage team receiving Home field advantage throughout the playoffs started in 1975.

December 31, 1973 - 40th Sugar Bowl: #3 Notre Dame beats #1 Alabama, 24-23

December 31, 1974 - 41st Sugar Bowl: #8 Nebraska beats #18 Florida, 13-10

December 31, 1991 - J Donald Crump resigned as CFL Commissioner. According to a Wikipedia post Crump was the 7th commissioner of the Canadian Football League and held the position for just shy of two years. Previously he had been an executive with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

December 31, 1997 - Marv Levy retires as coach of the NFL Buffalo Bills after 12 seasons, including 4 consecutive losing Super Bowl appearances. Marv was 72 year-old at the time.

December 31, 2017 - Cleveland Browns with a 28-24  loss to Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field earned the dubious claim of becoming only the 2nd team in NFL history to finish a season with 0-16 record. The other was the 2008 Detroit Lions. Pro Football Reference shows us that a Ju-Ju Smith Schuster 96 yard kickoff return TD in the third quarter was the difference maker in the contest.

December 31, 1875 - Uniontown, New Jersey - Lafayette College’s stellar guard Charles “Babe” Rinehart was born. The NFF says that Rinehart was one of the first players outside of the Ivy League to garner All-America recognition from the legend Walter Camp, who picked the teams.  Other experts of the gridiron of the era had high regard for Babe as Parke Davis, an authority of football's early era, named Rinehart to his All-Time All-America first team, while New York Sun football editor George Trevor hailed Rinehart as, "one of the great guards of the era."  The College Football Hall of Fame placed the name of Babe Rinehart into their fold in 1964.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons of the 1896 Lafayette football team taken by an unknown.

December 31, 1928 - Los Angeles, California - The University of Washington’s star halfback from 1949 through 1951, Hugh “the King” McElhenny was born. The website footballfoundation.org informs readers that McElhenny with his speed and open field prowess marked the record book up with new ink at Washington during his career. During his  junior season of 1950, Hugh set single-game marks for rushing with 296 yards, touchdowns scoring 5 of them and total points at 30 as the Huskies embarrassed rival Washington State, 52-21, in the season finale. McElhenney followed that up with a spectacular Senior year as he ran back a 100-yard punt return for a touchdown against USC and finished the season with 17 touchdowns and 125 total points which led to him receiving first team All-America honors. The National Football Foundation selected Hugh McElhenny into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981. In 1952 Hugh was picked by the San Francisco 49ers as their top pick and his NFL career spanned over 13 seasons in San Francisco, Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit and New York. Hugh played in 6 NFL Pro Bowls and was the games MVP in 1958. He finished his career  with 11,375 net yards. In 1970 Hugh McElheny received his much deserved place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The title of the photo above in the banner is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and is a photo of the 1896 Lafayette College football team taken by an unknown for the Lafayette Newspaper posted January 15, 1897.