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 The
1970 Pro Bowl marked the
last game before the merger
with the AFL. The final
purely NFL affair was
witnessed by 57,786 at the
Coliseum. The coaches were
Norm Van Brocklin of Atlanta
for the West and Tom Fears
of the New Orleans Saints
for the East.
The East opened the scoring
on a 10 yard Leroy Kelly
touchdown run in the first
quarter. In the second
quarter, Atlanta’s Bob Berry
threw an interception that
led to a field goal by Tom
Dempsey of New Orleans. The
score was 10-0 in favor of
the West when Roman Gabriel
took the West on an 80 yard
drive in the second quarter.
On the drive, Gayle Sayers
had a run of 16 yards and a
reception of 36. Gabriel
carried the ball over
himself from 1 yard out.
Before the end of the half,
Dempsey connected again for
the East on a 27 yard field
goal and the score was 13-7
at the half.
Neither team scored in the
third period. With less than
five minutes remaining in
the game, a bad center snap
on a punt sailed over the
head of the East punter,
Pittsburgh’s Bobby Walden.
Walden chased the ball down
in the end zone, out
scrambling Atlanta’s Greg Brezina to recover the ball
for a safety. The score was
13-9 and the East was forced
to punt to the West.
Detroit’s Lem Barney ran the
punt back 22 yards to his
own 45. The ensuing drive
lasted eight plays with
Gabriel throwing a touchdown
pass of 28 yards to Carroll
Dale of the Packers in the
corner of the end zone to
win the game. The final
score was 16-13.
Sayers was voted the back of
the game, leading all
rushers by carrying 9 times
for 75 yards. George Andrie
of the Cowboys was voted the
game’s most valuable
lineman. Going into the
post-merger era, the West
had a 13-7 series advantage
over the East since the
East-West format was
implemented in 1951.
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