East 25

West 24

January 21, 1968

The largest AFL All-Star Game crowd in history witnessed the 1968 game. A crowd of 38,500 showed up at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL. It was a game of old and new. The old being George Blanda of Oakland at age 40 and the new being Joe Namath, the young superstar of the league.

In the first quarter, San Diego’s Leslie “Speedy” Duncan fumbled a punt at his own 25 yard line. The East quickly turned it into a 10 yard field goal by Mike Mercer of the Bills. It would only take about 10 seconds for Duncan to redeem himself. Speedy took the ensuing kickoff at his own ten, shot up the middle, eluded George Saimes of Buffalo and went 90 yards for the touchdown.

In the second period, Daryle Lamonica of Oakland hit Willie Frazier of San Diego for a 3 yard touchdown pass. Joe Namath of the Jets kept the East in the game with a 35 yard touchdown pass to his NY teammate, Pete Lammons. But, Lamonica answered, hitting another Charger, Lance Alworth, from nine yards out. When Mercer connected on his second field goal, this time from 33 yards with :37 to go, the West held a 21-13 halftime lead.

Len Dawson of the Chiefs took over for Lamonica in the third quarter, but neither team could sustain any offense. The West appeared to ice the game in the fourth quarter when George Blanda of Oakland hit a 28 yard field goal to put the West up 24-13. This especially with the fact that Namath was having trouble finding his receivers. But, Namath connected with fellow Jet, Don Maynard, for a 24 yard touchdown pass. The attempted two point conversion failed and the score was 24-19.

By this time, there was concern among the crowd and players that West coach, Lou Saban of Denver, should reinsert Lamonica into the game to get the West going. But, Saban elected to stick with the pre-game plan of playing each quarterback for a half. With two minutes to play, Larry Garron of Boston, a last minute addition to the East squad, took a pass from Namath and carried it 26 yards to the West ten. Garron then gained three to the seven and Houston’s Hoyle Granger bulled it 6 yards to the one. Namath scored the game winning touchdown on a sneak with :58 left. Again, the two point attempt failed and the score was East 25, West 24.

Lamonica came back into the game and drove the West within field goal range. But, ageless Blanda, the AFL’s scoring leader for 1967, just missed the attempt from 35 yards at the final gun, wide by inches.

Namath and Maynard shared the offensive MVP honors. Namath established a record by throwing for 249 yards and Maynard’s 128 receiving yards was also a record. Duncan was elected the game's defensive MVP and his 90 yard kickoff return was also a record.

New York's Don Maynard misses catch in endzone, but he set a record for receiving yards.

Jim Nance of Boston hurdles Kansas City's Jerry Mays.

Namath rests on the sideline.

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