January 14, 1940 - Gilmore Stadium, Los Angeles - The 2nd NFL All Star Game went on as scheduled as the Champion Green Bay Packers would play the best players from the remainder of the League. The All-Stars featured Washington’s Slingin' Sammy Baugh and Bears Sid Luckman under center, with Detroit’s Cotton Price per the Pro-Football-Reference.com. Green Bay under coach Curly Lambeau had the star power of Don Hutson, Clarke Hinkle and Beattie Feathers. The Packers showed why they were the top team as they defeated the NFL All-Stars, 16-7.
January 14, 1946 - The NFL Draft for the 1946 season had Frank Dancewicz the flashy quarterback from the University of Notre Dame as the first pick by the Boston Yanks. The American Football Database tells us that Frank played three seasons in the NFL all with Boston. Quarterbacking runs strong in his bloodline because Frank’s grandson, Chris Pizzotti, was later the starting signal caller for Harvard’s football team.
January 14, 1951 - Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - The very first NFL Pro Bowl game took place. We had seen in prior years that the NFL used an All-Star game to celebrate their top players of the season against the team that had just recently won the title. The NFL broke away from that format to a closer facsimile to what we witness today except the players from the championship games would also participate. The first game itself was a good one too as the American Conference outlasted the National Conference, 28-27 per the Pro-Football- Reference.com. Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham claimed the Most Valuable Player Award for the game.
January 14, 1961 - The AFL landed it's first player that they signed away from the NFL. Former Chicago Bears Willard Dewveall inks a deal with the Houston Oilers according to a Medium.com story. There were others like the retired former Bear George Blanda who thought George Halas never gave him a fair shake at the QB position in Chicago.
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. Other stars in this contest of the NFL’s best players of 1961 included Jim Taylor who led the league in rushing that season with the Packers, Giants QB Y.A. Tittle, Mike Ditka the tight end of the Bears, Detroit Lions players Alex Karras, Yale Lary and Dick Night Train Lane and so many more legends which can be found on the Pro-Football-Reference website.
January 14, 1968 - Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida -In the day it was dubbed as the second AFL-NFL World Championship Game but it would later be known as Super Bowl II. The AFL’s Oakland Raiders met the NFL’s top team, the Green Bay Packers. The Washington Post has a great write up on the game I encourage you to check out for the details. Bart Starr showed why he was one of the best in the business and the Packers defense was phenomenal. Raider signal caller Daryle Lamonica was under siege most of the day and this pressure forced some crucial errors. One of these was the 60 yard pick six that Green Bay cornerback Herb Adderley had in the fourth quarter to pad an already big Packers lead. The Green Bay Packers played well as a team and upstaged the Oakland Raiders, 33-14. The game’s MVP was Bart Starr who was sacked 3 times but managed to throw for 202 yards and a score against a very good Oakland defense.
January 14, 1973 - LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California - Super Bowl VII featured a team on a mission that spoke about multiple times in this series, the Miami Dolphins. The franchise that stood in the way of gridiron immortality was the Washington Redskins. It was a hard hitting game and the Dolphins used running back Larry Csonka to fuel their offense and he pounded out a game high 112 yards on the ground against the fierce Redskin defense. The game got pretty exciting late in the contest according to a story on the WashingtonPost.com. The Dolphins held a 14-0 lead with over two minutes remaining. Washington forced Miami to attempt a 42 yard field goal to ice the game but instead the kick was blocked and the loose ball ended up in kicker Garo Yepremian’s hands and he unwisely tried to toss it forward but after a tip of the pass Washington’s Mike Bass grabbed the errant throw and found the endzone at the 2:07 mark in the final quarter. The Dolphins were forced to punt after a three and out and Washington was in business at their own 30 yard line with 1:14 remaining. The Dolphin defense came in and put an end to the comeback bid and the clock expired with two Miami defenders piled up on Redskin quarterback Billy Kilmer. The final score was Miami is a 14-7 thrilling finish to complete the first and so far the only undefeated championship season in the Super Bowl era. The game’s MVPwas Miami Safety Jake Scott.
January 14, 1990 - AFC Championship at Denver’s Mile High Stadium was a matchup of two teams that we had seen three times in a four year period of the late 1980’s, the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos. The website Taylorblitztimes.com has a great detailed article on the game. Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns 37-21
January 14, 1990 - Candlestick Park, San Francisco - The NFC Championship San Francisco 49ers crushed the Los Angeles Rams, 30-3 to advance to the Super Bowl per the Pro-Football-Reference.com. The only three touchdowns of the game occurred on the 21 unanswered points in the second quarter powered by Niners Bert Jones, Roger Craig and Joe Montana to John Taylor 18 yard scoring connection.
January 14, 1996 - Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh - The season’s AFC Championship featured the Indianapolis Colts and their gritty quarterback, Jim Harbaugh. Chuck Moody of the United Press International covered the game story as Pittsburgh’s Bam Morris plunged in with 1:34 left to put the Steelers up by four points late. The game got a little bit hairy after that though as Harbaugh launched a Hail Mary to the endzone that his receiver Aaron Bailey had in his hands momentarily until it rolled out to hit the artificial turf of Three Rivers Stadium. The Pittsburgh Steelers hung on to overcome the Indianapolis Colts, 20-16 and advance to the Super Bowl.
January 14, 1996 - Texas Stadium, Irving - The NFC Championship game had the Dallas Cowboys outlasted the Green Bay Packers, 38-27.
January 14, 2001 - Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland - The AFC Championship game had the Baltimore Ravens defeating the Oakland Raiders, 16-3.
January 14, 2001 - Giants Stadium, East Rutherford - NFC Championship,: New York Giants beat Minnesota Vikings, 41-0
