The 1958 College All-Star Game
In
1958, Otto Graham took over coaching duties for the All-Stars and did so
by steering his team to an all-time scoring high and by defeating the
Detroit Lions, 35 to 19. Graham was considered the series’ most
illustrious alumnus and would coach ten All-Star teams in the years to
come. He played in the 1943 and 1946 games and came back to coach such
players as Jim Ninowski of Michigan State, Bob Mitchell of Illinois and
Bobby Joe Conrad of Texas A&M. With such an outstanding win over their
professional opponents, Ninowski and Mitchell were both named Most
Valuable Player in a tie vote. Conrad achieved his own recognition by
tying the record for most field goals kicked in a game and for kicking
the longest field goal in the series’ history, 44-yards. Conrad
accomplished his deeds without ever having kicked in a game before.
Ninowski’s 84-yard pass play to Mitchell set the record for the longest
forward pass ever thrown in the game.
Favored to win by 13 points, Detroit ground out an opening period
touchdown, which ended with a 14-yard pass from Lion’s QB Tobin Rote to
Jim Doran who ran it in from the 10-yard line. Bobby Layne kicked the
extra point. But, it was the second period that surprised the crowd of
70,000 on August 15, 1958 as the
collegians
amassed 20 points in one quarter. The All-Stars first scored with Bobby
Conrad’s field goal from the 19-yard line. Then came the 84-yard pass
play from Jim Ninowski to Bobby Mitchell, which resulted in a TD and an
extra point from Conrad. Later in the same quarter Mitchell caught a
Ninowski pass and ran 18 yards for another TD and extra point by Conrad.
Then, with only two seconds remaining in the first half, Bobby Conrad
kicked his 44-yard field goal making the score 20 to 7 and the All-Stars
had a commanding lead.
Early in the third period quarterback Tobin Rote of the Lions was sacked
in the endzone by Bill Jobko of Ohio State to score a safety for the
All-Stars. The Lions did score in the third period, but Dick Lynch of
Notre Dame blocked the extra point to make the score 22 to 13. On the
first play of the fourth quarter, Conrad hit on a field goal from the
24-yard line. Then Chuck Howley of West Virginia intercepted one of
Bobby Layne’s passes and ran 39 yards for a TD. Conrad kicked the extra
point. Scoring continued for the All-Stars when Conrad booted yet
another field goal from the 24-yard line. The last TD of the game came
in the waning seconds when Detroit’s Ralph Pfeifer lunged over from the
1-yard line. The final score was 35 to 19 in favor of the All-Stars. One
article stated that “of all eight All-Star victories this was the most
decisive.”