The 1962 College All-Star Game
The
New York Times called it “a gallant challenge” by the All-Stars against
Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in 1962. The score, 42-20, did not
reflect the difficulty encountered by the professionals to earn that
victory. The game, played on August 3 before a crowd of 65,000, was one
of the more competitive matches in the series’ history despite its final
score. Coach of the All-Stars, Otto Graham, had several key players in
his arsenal that year including QB John Hadl of Kansas. Hadl was known
for his passing skill but was also considered a constant threat on the
option roll-out. Also on the All-Star roster that year were Lance
Alworth of Arkansas, Merlin Olsen of Utah, Curtis McLinton of Kansas and
Bob Ferguson of Ohio State. The 1961 Heisman Trophy winner, Ernie Davis
of Syracuse did not play that year due to an illness.
Scoring began the first time the All-Stars had the ball. Hadl drove his
offense 80 yards in 13 plays ending when Earl Gros of Louisiana State
cracked over for the touchdown from a yard out. Greg Mather of Navy
converted. Later in the first period the Packers responded when Bart
Starr threw his first touchdown pass of the evening to Boyd Dowler from
22 yards out. Paul Hornung’s conversion tied the score at 7-7. A fumbled
punt in the second quarter set up the All-Stars’ next score when Irwin
Goode of Kentucky recovered Lew Carpenter’s muffed punt and four plays
later, Mather kicked a 24-yard field goal. Before the first half ended,
Green Bay intercepted an All-Star pass at the 27-yard line. After a
4-yard pass to Dowler, Starr connected with Ron Kramer in the end zone.
Hornung converted and the score at halftime was 14 to 10 in favor of
Green Bay.
The All-Stars opened the second half with a 22-yard touchdown pass from
Hadl to Charlie Bryant of Ohio State and Mather’s extra point gave the
All-Stars’ a 17-14 lead.
But
with 5:32 left in the third quarter, Starr hit Dowler again for a
22-yard touchdown pass. Hornung again kicked goal and the score was
21-17. Later in the same period Mather kicked his second field goal of
the game bringing the score to 21-20 in favor of Green Bay.
But the fourth period would prove devastating to the All-Stars. Bart
Starr continued to unleash his aerial attack finding Max McGee twice in
the end zone for 20 and 35 yards. The last score of the game came on a
three yard run by Packer Elijah Pitts. The game ended 42-20. With the
last three touchdowns came three more conversion points by Paul Hornung
and a record setting mark of six extra points kicked in one game, the
most ever in the series’ history. Bart Starr set an individual All-Star
game record of five touchdown passes in one game. Green Bay also tied
the team record for touchdown passes, which had been set by the Packers
themselves when they played in the All-Star Game in 1940.