Nice informative post Cakes. Fwiw, my avatar's of Dick Night Train Lane. Dick 'Night Train' Lane, #81, CB: Originally projected as a TE when he first joined the NFL (#81). "Night Train" nearly decapitating Jon Arnet of the Rams, 1962 with what was referrd to as the "Night Train Necktie" : Dick Night Train Lane notes: - 14 interceptions in a season, a record that's stood for over 60 years (in a 12-game season). - attended Scottsboro Jr. College (Neb.), then the U.S. Army for 4 years. - after the army, didn't like his job at an aircraft factory so he showed up at Ram's training camp. - Rams originally projected him as WR/TE (thus the #81) but had HOF'ers Tom Fears & Elroy Hirsch, so they tried Lane out as a defensive back--good move Rams, originally. Lane felt underpaid, requested a trade after only 2 seasons. Went to Chicago Cardinals, 5 years on a losing team even though he once as a split end caught a 98 yard TD. Traded to Detroit Lions with whom his career re-ignited. - 6x All-Pro, 7x Pro Bowl. Voted greatest CB in the first 50 years, 2nd greatest non-drafted player. Miscellaneous: liked "used cars" : Night Train Lane was married to famed singer Dinah Washington and was the last of her seven--count 'em SEVEN!--husbands at the time of her death--dude! ________________________________________ Tommy McDonald, #25, WR: Eagles HOF'er Tommy McDonald was a HB at Oklahoma which partially accounted for his wearing #25. He was also a sprint champ which is why they also played him at DB. (in the video below, towards the end when he's in the open, you can see he was pretty much faster than anyone chasing him). Trivia: caught a TD pass in the Eagles' 17-13 win over the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi told his team after the game that they will not lose another championship game--they didn't. ** That 1960 NFL Championship Game at Philadelphia was played on a Monday (Dec. 26), because in a "non Blue Law-type world" back then, they weren't going to play the game on Christmas. McDonald notes: - Never lost a college game (part of the 47-game winning streak Oklahoma teams of Bud Wilkinson) - Heisman Trophy runner-up in 56, Maxwell Award winner and Sporting News Player of the Year. - 2 NFL Championships (Eagles in '60, Cowboys in '68) - only missed 3 games in 12 years, however, he was (in his early NFL days) the last guy besides a kicker not to wear a facemask. Little guy, huge stones. McDonald beating the Giants' (by way of Cleveland) Erich Barnes:
I hadn't know that was Arnett in the photo. The #26 is hard to make out. I don't have any tidbits to add on Lane. As for McDonald, he didn't win a title with the Cowboys in 1968. He was with the Browns and neither team won the NFL title anyway, although they did meet in the playoffs. Of course, it was the Colts who won that season. I recently saw the Tel-Ra highlights of all the games from 10-29-61. On that date, McDonald caught a game-winning touchdown in the final moments at Washington. The pass came from Sonny Jurgensen. It was Jurgensen's best ever game, yardage-wise. The Eagles couldn't run the ball that day (15 carries, -12 yards).
I think that middle photo is from the 1974 game that Dierking mentioned having attended earlier in the thread. Namath, mostly due to weather issues in both games, was 10 of 37 vs Buffalo that year.
I get sad Cakes looking at the old Shea photos, that was a great experience and I looked forward to It every Sunday...
Yeah, the stadium wasn't shared with the Giants and the Jets played on grass. The above photo where Namath releases a pass before Tombstone Jackson (#87 for Denver) can sack him looks like it was from the 1968 loss. You can't quite make out if there was a logo on that helmet. Jackson only played at Shea twice as a member of the Broncos- in 1967 and 1968. The Broncos did not have helmet logos in 1967. Also, the 1967 game was played in a quagmire and the 1968 game was played in pleasant weather.
Lot of weather games at Shea, can't have weather factor in on these new crap fields...thanks to the Mets I froze my ass off many December Sundays in the horseshoe that Shea was
Thx for the heads up. I posted that 1968 Cowboy reference off a site without giving it a 2nd thought ('68: of all years to not catch who the NFL champs were). As for that Te-Ra film source, how'd you access it? I clicked on http://www.telra1.com and could only come up with this: Tel Ra Productions LLC Sports Marketing | Video Production Coming Soon! __________________________________ on-topic: Joe Namath #12 (1965-1976, QB, Alabama) Hall of Fame coach Don Shula stated that Namath was "one of the three smartest quarterbacks of all time." Apologies to those "Jet fans" who take issue with this pix (not really):
Eagle eye catch Matt. While taking in the whole pix (and noticing the overflowing Shea stands) I saw that as well. Little Belichick in the Weebster?….. I too detest Shula as much as mushy lima beans, but when a HOF rival says that about you, it says something.. Glad ya liked the "leapin' lizzard king" pix JS ; )
Namath, embarrassed by his inebriated pass at Suzy Kolber, attempted to put the incident behind him ……. however, being the pussy hound he still is, he soon continued firing passes into tight windows….this one with (divorced) hottie reporter Kimberly Guilfoyle.
