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 The
1968 Pro Bowl was played at
the Coliseum in Los Angeles
before 53,289 fans. The game
featured a controversy
because Eastern coach Otto
Graham of the Redskins
benched Fran Tarkenton in
the fourth quarter. The
coach of the West was Don
Shula of the Colts.
The West took the early lead
on a field goal by Don
Chandler of Green Bay
following a fumble recovery.
With East punter, Ernie Koy
of the Giants injured, Bob
Hayes of the Cowboys became
the substitute punter. But,
his first punt went for only
six yards. This set up a
short drive and a four yard
touchdown run by Les Josephson of the Rams. In
the second period, the East
got two field goals from St.
Louis’ Jim Bakken from 45
and 25 yards to close the
score to 10-6. But, the West
benefited again from a bad
punt of 14 yards from Hayes
after which, Mel Farr of
Detroit caught a 39 yard
touchdown pass from the
Rams’ Roman Gabriel. Before
the half, Tarkenton drove
the East 80 yards and
Cleveland’s Leroy Kelly
scored on a 1 yard run. The
score was 17-13 at the half.
In the third quarter, Don
Meredith of the Cowboys
drove the East 80 yards and
hit Charley Taylor of the
Redskins with a nine yard
scoring pass. The East had
taken the lead 20-17. In the
fourth quarter, Tarkenton
had the East marching again
at midfield looking to pad
their lead. But, Willie
Davis of the Packers rushed
hard and Tarkenton scrambled
backward 34 yards where he
was hit and fumbled. The
Packers’ Dave Robinson
picked it up and ran 12
yards to the East 3 yard
line. From there, the Bears’
Gayle Sayers carried it in
and the West had regained
the lead, 24-20. Again, Tarkenton marched his team
down to the West 30 yard
line. On third and three, Tarkenton gambled with a
sideline pass to Jerry Smith
of the Redskins. But, Richie
Petitbone of the Bears
picked it off and raced 70
yards for the touchdown and
a 31-20 lead. At that point,
Graham benched Tarkenton and
turned the reins over to Don
Meredith. The West added a
late touchdown on a 19 yard
run by the Viking’s Bill
Brown. The final score was
38-20.
Shula got his second win in
the last four years as
coach. Sayers was named the
back of the game for the
second year in a row and
Robinson received the
lineman of the game honors.
Following the game, players
questioned the benching of a
player of Tarkenton’s
stature in a charity game.
“That was bush.” said one
player.
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