West 31

East 30

January 14, 1962

The 1962 Pro Bowl may have been the best in history. The coaches were Norm Van Brocklin of Minnesota for the West and Allie Sherman of the Giants for the East. A crowd of 57,409 watched the thrilling game.

The scoring started early with New York’s Y.A. Tittle driving the East into range and Eagle Bobby Walston hitting a 33 yard field goal. The West responded when Baltimore’s Johnny Unitas connected with teammate Raymond Berry for a 16-yard touchdown pass. On the East’s next possession, the Lions’ Dick “Night Train” Lane picked off a Tittle pass and returned it 42 yards to make the score 14-3. In the 2nd quarter, Tittle responded with a nine play, 76 yard drive finishing with a 9 yard scoring strike to Dallas’ Dick Bielski. For the West, the Lion’s Jim Martin kicked a 27 yard field goal to make the score 17-10 at the half.

The West widened the margin in the third quarter as Detroit’s Yale Lary picked off Cleveland’s Milt Plum’s pass and returned it to the East ten. Green Bay’s Bart Starr hit Minnesota’s Hugh McElhenny for 10 yard touchdown pass. The East countered when Plum drove them 80 yards and hit Walston with a 13 yard touchdown strike, but the extra point was blocked leaving the score at 24-16 at the end of the third. The East took the lead in the final period with two touchdowns. Tittle hit teammate Alex Webster for a 2 yard touchdown and Cleveland’s Jim Brown ripped off a record 70 yard scoring run to make the score 30-24. As the East was stalling the clock out inside the final two minutes, Brown fumbled when hit hard by the Bears‘ Bill George at the East 42 and George pounced on it. That gave Unitas the only chance he needed. Unitas drove the West to the 12 yard line and hit the Ram’s Jon Arnett in the end zone for the game winning touchdown on the final play. Arnett was on his knees when he made the catch. The extra point gave the West the victory, 31-30 with no time on the clock.

Jim Brown was voted the game’s outstanding back and Green Bay’s Henry Jordan was the lineman of the game. Joe Schmidt, Detroit Lions linebacker, had his helmet wired to absorb the shock of tackles in conjunction with a study by Northwestern University. The safety study was considered quite remarkable in that day and the specially adapted helmet cost $5000.00.

Jon Arnett carries for the West. He would score the winning touchdown on the game's final play.

John Unitas carries in second quarter as Bob Gain attempts to tackle him.

"Night Train" Lane's interception and return.

RETURN