The 1961 College All-Star Game
Otto
Graham, former Cleveland Brown star and coach of the Coast Guard Academy
was back with his fourth All-Star team on August 4, 1961. This team,
said to have been the best group of All-Star players in eleven years,
included Bill Kilmer (MVP) of UCLA, 1960 Heisman Trophy winner Joe
Bellino of the Naval Academy, Tom Matte of Ohio State, Norm Snead of
Wake Forest, Bob Lilly of TCU, and Bill Brown of Illinois. But, they
would have to face the Philadelphia Eagles and quarterback, Sonny
Jurgensen, before a crowd of 66,000 at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Jurgensen wowed the crowd at one point with a behind the back pass to
teammate Pete Retzlaff as the Eagles proved they were better than the
oddsmakers had given them credit for. Philadelphia had been picked to
win as was customary but the nine-point spread was the slimmest odds
ever given to a pro team in this series.
An 8-play, 80-yard drive by the Eagles in the first quarter ended with a
27-yard TD pass from Jurgensen to Tommy McDonald. The Eagle’s Bobby
Walston kicked the extra point. A second scoring opportunity arose in
the first quarter after Irv Cross’ 28-yard punt return to the All-Star’s
25-yard line set up a Jurgensen pass to Retzlaff which resulted in
another touchdown. With 5:35 left in the second period, the Eagles took
over on the All-Star 24-yard line when a fourth down gamble
had
failed to pay off. King Hill, also quarterbacking the Eagles during that
game, threw a strike to McDonald, who made a neat over-the-head grab and
scored on the play. With Walston’s conversion the score was 21-0 at
halftime.
McDonald hooked up with Jurgensen one more time in the fourth period for
a 24-yard touchdown reception, but the game was not completely over. At
13:07 of the last period Bill Kilmer of UCLA drove his team 75 yards in
six plays. He tossed an 18-yard pass to Glynn Gregory of Southern
Methodist who scored. George Fleming of Washington kicked the extra
point. And, on the last play of the game Dick Grecni of Ohio University
intercepted a King Hill pass then ran 57 yards for the last touchdown.
Fleming kicked the extra point and the score ended Eagles, 28 -
All-Stars, 14.