The 1968 College All-Star Game
In
1968 the Green Bay Packers made their third consecutive appearance in
the Chicago All-Star Game as the champions of professional football and
winner of the first two Super Bowls. Vince Lombardi had retired and the
game played on August 2, 1968 before a crowd of 69,917 was the debut of
Lombardi’s successor, Phil Bengston. Norm Van Brocklin was in as head
coach of the All-Stars and had played as one in 1949. He had a
technically well prepared team that included Larry Csonka (MVP) of
Syracuse, 1967 Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban of UCLA, Earl McCullough
of USC, Greg Landry of Massachusetts, MacArthur Lane of Utah State, Ron
Yary of USC and Curley Culp of Arizona State.
The Packers were devastating on offense as was expected but, by the
second half of the game, the All-Stars had found that they could play
against this team of supposed immortals and even out scored them in the
second half. By that time it was, of course, too late as the Packers
already had a commanding lead. Green Bay scored first after a 97-yard
drive and a 1-yard plunge by Donny Anderson in the first quarter. Jerry
Kramer kicked the extra point. Green Bay scored twice more in the second
quarter, both with passes from Bart Starr to Carroll Dale for 20
and
36 yards. Kramer kicked both extra points. At this point, Green Bay had
scored 21 points in 21 minutes of the game. But, the All-Stars were
ready to score for the first time in three years. Landry, Lane and Csonka powered the Stars to the Packer 15 and Jerry De Poyster of
Wyoming kicked a 22-yard field goal. The Packers responded with a field
goal by Wade Traynham for 30 yards to end the half with the score Green
Bay 24, All-Stars 3.
In the third quarter, the All-Stars recovered a Packer fumble, which set
up a 7-yard touchdown pass by Gary Beban to Earl McCullough. DePoyster
kicked the extra point making the score 24-10. As the fourth quarter
started, Starr passed to Dale for a 13-yard touchdown. Kramer kicked the
extra point to make it 31-10 in favor of Green Bay. The All-Stars then
drove 76 yards and, from the Packer 24-yard line, Landry passed to
McCullough for the score. Depoyster kicked the extra point. Late in the
final period, Green Bay was stopped at the All-Star 40 and Jerry Kramer
kicked a 47-yard field goal, the longest in the series’ history, for a
final score of Green Bay 34, All-Stars 17.
Note: 1968 was the last appearance for the Packers in the College All-Star Game. They had become fixtures in Chicago during the 1960's. Click HERE to read Jacqueline Mitchard's recollections of the College All-Star Game while growing up a Packer fan.