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At the
end of the 1965 football
season, it had become clear
to Americans that the
western half of the US was
football-superior. Western
teams had won the NFL
championship, the Playoff
Bowl, college football’s
East-West game and the Rose
Bowl. In fact, the West had
won 15 of 16 pro games
played with the East that
season. This was the
backdrop for the Pro Bowl of
1966. The coach of the
Eastern Conference, Blanton
Collier of the Browns, used
this point as a rallying cry
for his squad as they
prepared to play the West
coached by Vince Lombardi of
the Packers. The game was
attended by 60,124 at the
Coliseum.
With just over nine minutes
remaining in the first
quarter, Paul Krause of the
Redskins picked off 49ers’
John Brodie’s pass setting
up a 41 yard field goal by
Jim Bakken of St. Louis. Two
minutes later, Frank Ryan of
the Browns hit Cardinals’
Sonny Randle for 51 yards
that put the ball on the
West two. From there, Jim
Brown of Cleveland carried
it over and the score was
10-0 after one quarter. In
the second quarter it was
more of the same as Brown
scored on runs of two and
one yards and the halftime
score was 23-0, East.
The only scoring of the
third quarter was a 36 yard
field goal by Bakken and the
East led 26-0 after three.
In the fourth quarter,
Bakken added a 42 yard field
goal before Mel Renfro of
the Cowboys returned a pass
interception for 20 yards
and a score (he also had a
touchdown return in the Pro
Bowl the previous season).
The West finally got on the
board in the final moments
when Brodie hit the Rams’
Tommy McDonald for a 31 yard
touchdown. The final score
was 36-7. It was the most
one-sided victory in Pro
Bowl history to that date.
In this game, the East threw
eight pass interception and
fumbled twice. Brodie threw
six of the interceptions and
was booed unmercifully by
the crowd prompting one Lion
to say, “It was so loud, I
thought we were playing in
Detroit.” Vince Lombardi
summed the day up by saying,
“You can’t give the ball up
ten times and win.“ In all
fairness, Lombardi was at a
disadvantage because the NFL
had denied him a last minute
appeal to use his own
quarterback, Bart Starr, in
this game. Starr had
previously been scratched
due to injury, but had
recovered enough to play.
The incredible defensive
effort was led by the
Cardinals’ Dale Meinert, who
was selected as lineman of
the game. Jim Brown was
elected as back of the game
for the third time. He
carried 21 times for 65
yards. The much anticipated
match-up between Brown and
rookie Gayle Sayers of the
Bears never materialized as
Lombardi inexplicably called
Sayers’ number on only one
offensive play, a 15 yard
carry.
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