|
The
1957 Pro Bowl was played
before 44,177 fans at the LA
Coliseum. The coaches were
Chicago’s Paddy Driscoll and
Jim Lee Howell of the
Giants. The Giants had
beaten the Bears 41-7 in the
1956 NFL championship game.
The West drew first blood
when the Cardinals’ Ollie
Matson fumbled the ball at
his own 22, which Detroit’s
Joe Schmidt recovered at the
East 12 yard line. From
there, it took just three
plays to score as Chicago’s
Ed Brown took the ball in on
a quarterback sneak. In the
second quarter the East tied
it with a lot of luck. On
the touchdown drive, Matson
fumbled after a 10 yard
gain, but Cards teammate
Jack Simmons recovered the
ball, gaining four yards in
the process. As the Giants’
Frank Gifford tried to ram
the ball across the goal two
plays later from the one, he
was hit by Lion Yale Lary
and fumbled. But, Kyle Rote
fell on the ball in the
endzone for the touchdown.
The score was tied at 7-7.
Just before the half, the
West blew an opportunity
when Detroit’s Bobby Layne
fumbled at the one after
being hit by Ernie Stautner
of the Steelers and Mike
McCormick of the Browns.
Failing to move the ball,
the East punted and the West
got the ball back at their
own 45 with a minute to
play. A 22 yard Layne pass
to Green Bay’s Billy Howton
set up Baltimore’s Bert
Richichar for a 45 yard
field goal attempt. It was
good and the West led 10-7
at the half.
Three minutes into the third
quarter, Sam Baker connected
on a 52 yard field goal to
knot the score at 10. But,
Tobin Rote drove the West
into field goal range again
and Richichar connected
again, this time from 44
yards. The rest of the
afternoon belonged to
Richichar, who kicked a 44
yard field goal and equaled
Baker’s 52 yarder in the
fourth quarter. The West
defense did the rest by
intercepting East passes
twice and the final score
was 19-10.
For the first time, the Pro
Bowl MVP award was divided
between two players. To the
offensive player of the game
went the George Halas award
as it had for the first 6
Pro Bowls since 1951. But a
new award was given for the
lineman of the game and that
went to Ernie Stautner of
the Steelers. The win was
big for Richichar, who won
the Halas award with his
four field goals. It was
Richichar who had missed the
field goal the previous year
that had resulted in the
questionable touchback at
the end of the controversial
game. “The West kinda got
the shaft in last’s year’s
Pro Bowl” Richchar said, “so
this helped to make up for
it.”
|