Football (and TV) The Way It Was

Image via WikipediaInstead of the usual Super Bowl preview, we thought we'd go back nearly 50 years to December 23, 1962.  Thanks to the magic of You Tube, we recently got to view the original ABC telecast of the American Football League's championship game between the Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers, with Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman calling the action.

The Texans won the AFL title 20-17 on a 25-yard field goal by Tommy Brooker, with nearly three minutes gone in the second overtime period.  Before that, it was a tale of two games:  Dallas scored their 17 points in the first half, and the Oilers scored their 17 in the second half.  It remains the longest championship game in pro football history.  By comparison, we have yet to see a Super Bowl game end in overtime.

Usually, our football history comes through the prism of NFL Films and its well-made-if-orchestrated highlights package.  Tapes of TV broadcasts--the way most of us saw these games--are either lost or locked in a vault someplace, never to see the light of day (For example, coverage of the first Super Bowl, which was seen on two different networks).

But this game wasn't.  Somebody actually took the time to upload much of this particular AFL championship game (minus commercials) to You Tube.  Compared to today's coverage, this one looked like a cable access production.  Here's what we learned from it:

• The goalposts were at the goal line, not the back of the end zone.
• There was no instant replay, end zone cameras, virtual first-down lines, or plugs for network prime time shows.  But there was a hulking hand-held camera patrolling the Dallas sidelines, mostly getting shots of coach Hank Stram.
• Jack Buck was used as a sideline reporter.  Years later, he would team with Stram on CBS Radio's coverage of "Monday Night Football".
• The halftime entertainment was provided by a local marching band.
• Gowdy, in promoting ABC's telecast of the Orange Bowl game between Alabama and Oklahoma (then coached by Bear Bryant and Bud Wilkinson, respectively) on New Year's Day 1963, mentioned that President John Kennedy would be attending the game.  You're not going to hear that today after what happened to the President less than a year later.  In the state of Texas, no less.
• When it came time for the overtime coin toss, Buck was there at midfield with the referees and the team captains.  Dallas won the toss, but Texans captain Abner Haynes mistakenly elected to kick to the Oilers.  Houston didn't score, so no damage was done.
• Gowdy also mentioned during the telecast that the city of Houston had approved the building of a domed stadium, while Boston was considering one with a retractable roof.  That Houston stadium became the Astrodome, and the Oilers played there for many years.  Boston never built their dome, so the Patriots bounced around the city during the AFL years until they got their own stadium in Foxborough.
• The game was played at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston, where more than 37,000 squeezed into the tiny (by today's standards) venue.

Postscript:  The AFL lasted ten seasons before merging with the National Football League in 1970.  The Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963.  And the Oilers became the Tennessee Titans in 1997.