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Edited by Larry Harris - Press Box: Front Row - October 9, 2009
This time a year ago, there was a flurry of activity in Baltimore concerning a certain football game that once captured a nation's fancy. Books were written and published, a lavish three-day celebration was in the works, and many fans of a certain age were dusting off old scrapbooks and looking in their attics for horseshoe memorabilia.
After all, the 50th anniversary of the "Greatest Game Ever Played" would only come around once, and here was a last chance to honor the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants players who were on the field in Yankee Stadium that day in 1958. Of course that sudden-death championship game won by the Colts introduced thousands of TV watchers to the National Football League and is regarded a half-century later as the single most important event catapulting pro football to its present pinnacle in the sports world.
And then there was the 1959 game.
Huh?
Oh yes, there was a championship game the next season. It matched the same two teams with basically the same personnel and it was played in Baltimore's revered Memorial Stadium. The result was the same -- another Colts crown.
But mention that game today, and eyes glaze over. There are no plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that 31-16 victory, and even some of the gentlemen who played in it scratch their heads when quizzed about the details.
"I couldn't even tell you the score," admitted the Colts' great Pro Football Hall of Famer Lenny Moore, the forerunner of today's bevy of hybrid runners/receivers who turns 76 next month. "My memory of that game has faded into the past."
Moore recorded a lot of touchdowns in his fabled career, so he can be forgiven for a memory lapse, but two days after Christmas, Moore scored the game's first touchdown on a 60-yard bomb from John Unitas almost before the crowd of 57,545 even got seated.
"Isn't that something?" mused Moore. "Nobody ever talks about it; nobody ever mentions that game. Of all the places I have been, all the places I go to, all the people I talk to, no one brings up the subject."
Ordell Braase, that team's underrated "other end" opposite the great defender Gino Marchetti, also has trouble recalling the game. Now 77, the longtime Baltimore resident spends part of the year in a home near Sarasota, Fla.
"Gosh, that game has really taken a backseat, hasn't it?" Braase said. "Maybe it's because the game wasn't played in the drama and surroundings of New York. Both teams made very few changes in personnel from the '58 game. I don't recall it being one of the best-played games, but the challenge to repeat was still there. I think we pretty much overwhelmed them late in the game."
Braase is correct in that respect. After the opening Unitas-Moore explosion, the Colts offense pretty much stalled and left things to the defense. The Giants, eager for revenge, put together a few drives that ended up in three Pat Summerall field goals and actually took a 9-7 lead into the fourth quarter.
Unitas put the Colts ahead to stay with a short touchdown run early in the period, and that's when the Baltimore defense said enough is enough.
There are still a few old Colts who do recall some of the details, and one is Andy Nelson, the 76-year-old pulled pork barbecue king of Baltimore who was an All-Pro safety in 1959.
"I managed to intercept a [Charlie Conerly] pass in the fourth quarter and got it back pretty close to the goal line," said Nelson from his thriving pig palace in Cockeysville. "Then John hit Jerry Richardson [yes, the same man who now owns the Carolina Panthers] in the end zone and a couple minutes later Johnny Sample picked one off and took it a long way [42 yards] for a touchdown and that broke their backs.
To be honest, I thought our '59 team was better overall than the '58 team. We had more confidence and we had that great line and linebackers. Not many people realize it but we intercepted 75 passes in two 12-game seasons back then. Our defensive backs coach was Charley Winner, and he's the only coach from that era who's still alive now."
According to Nelson, another Colt who never got his just due for that game was middle linebacker Dick Szymanski, who shortly afterward moved to offense and a lengthy career as Unitas' center.
"Sizzy must have had 15 tackles in that '59 game," Nelson said. "He was just everywhere."
Sizzy, who now lives near Orlando, turned 77 Oct. 7. He says he was just doing his job that day and that it was the glamorous nature of his position to make a lot of tackles.
"Let's face it, a middle plugger should be in on a lot of tackles," he said. "Often he's the guy who winds up on top of the pile and gets the benefit of someone else's work. I don't know the tackle count, but the Giants played us tough for three quarters."
Szymanski also has a theory about why the '59 game has received such little ballyhoo.
"It never had the excitement of the '58 game," he said. "Remember, both teams made a ton of mistakes and it was up and down the field and into overtime. There had never been a championship game like that in the history of the league -- and there has never been another one since. Our second title, by comparison, was tame."
And so that glorious day in 1959 fades without further fanfare into the yellowed pages of tattered scrapbooks and withering memories. Sam Lamantia, the Ed Block Courage Award founder whose organization has been a prime mover in past celebrations, said he has not fielded a single call to put together another party or even a luncheon.
Nelson and Szymanski do recall they got extra pay after winning the championship. The winners received $4,674 for a full share, which was actually less than the $4,718 they made the previous year. The losing Giants made $3,083.
Last February's Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers got $78,000 apiece for their winning effort.
-- Larry Harris
1959 Baltimore Colts (9-3)
Sept. 27 W 21-9 vs. Detroit
Oct. 3 L 26-21 vs. Chicago
Oct. 11 W 31-24 at Detroit
Oct. 18 W 21-7 at Chicago
Oct. 25 W 38-21 vs. Green Bay
Nov. 1 L 38-31 vs. Cleveland
Nov. 8 L 27-24 at Washington
Nov. 15 W 28-24 at Green Bay
Nov. 22 W 45-14 vs. San Fran
Nov. 29 W 35-21 vs. Los Angeles
Dec. 5 W 34-14 at San Fran
Dec. 12 W 45-26 at Los Angeles
CHAMPIONSHIP (at Baltimore)
Dec. 27 W 31-16 vs. New York
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