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 The
1975 Pro Bowl was played on
a Monday night at the Orange
Bowl in Miami before 26,484
fans. The coaches were John
Madden of the Raiders for
the AFC and Chuck Knox of
the Rams for the NFC. In
1975, the NFC was fed up.
They were frustrated with
all the talk of inferiority
being slung at them by the
public and press for their
four consecutive losses in
the Pro Bowl and the loss of
six of the last seven Super
Bowls.
The first period was
scoreless. The NFC scored
first when the Packer’s
Chester Marcol kicked a 33
yard field goal in the
second quarter. The AFC had
a chance to score in the
quarter, but Roy Gerela of
Pittsburgh had his 33 yard
field goal attempt blocked
by Green Bay’s Ted
Hendricks. The score was 3-0
at the half.
The AFC jumped out into the
lead in the third period on
a 32 yard touchdown pass
from Miami’s Bob Griese to
his Dolphin teammate, Paul
Warfield. Gerela made good
on his second field goal
attempt of the game from 33
yards and the score was
10-3. The AFC got another
chance in the third when St.
Louis’ Terry Metcalf fumbled
a kickoff and it was
recovered by Jack Ham of
Pittsburgh. The AFC moved to
the six yard line, but on
third and three, Griese’s
end zone pass intended for
Riley Odoms of the Broncos
was intercepted by the
Cowboys’ Cliff Harris. The
score at the end of the
third stanza was 10-3.
NFC signal caller, Jim Hart
of St. Louis, was injured
late in the first period
with a bloody gash over his
right eye that required
stitches. Late in the second
period, he was replaced by
James Harris of the Rams.
Harris had been called up by
Coach Knox because Fran
Tarkenton of the Vikings had
pulled out of the game due
to an injury. Harris was a
black quarterback from
Grambling who had been cut
after three seasons with the
Bills. Like the NFC squad,
Harris became fed up. He
said, “I got so disgusted at
one stage I thought I would
just toss it in…..I really
got the impression there was
something racist in my early
failures to make the grade.”
But, when Rams starter John
Hadl was traded after the
sixth game of the ‘74
season, Harris took over,
completing
106 of 198 passes
for 1544 yards and 11
touchdowns and
directing the
Rams to the NFC championship
game. On the first play of
the final quarter in the Pro
Bowl, Harris hit Mel Gray on
a 57 yard pass play to the
AFC six yard line. Three
plays later, he hit Gray
again, this time for 8 yards
and the touchdown. The score
was tied at 10-10. On the
first play of the next AFC
possession, Pittsburgh’s
Franco Harris fumbled. The
ball was picked up by Ken
Houston of Washington who
returned it to the AFC 15
before he fumbled. But,
Washington teammate, Chris Hanburger recovered at the
AFC 11. Three plays later,
Harris hit Washington’s
Charley Taylor for an 8 yard
touchdown strike and the NFC
had the lead, 17-10. That’s
the way it ended with Green
Bay’s Ken Ellis intercepting
an AFC pass at the NFC eight
yard line late in the game
to preserve the victory.
Harris was awarded the MVP
trophy. L.C. Greenwood of
the Steelers turned in a
strong performance on
defense in this game. At one
point in the second quarter,
he sacked Harris twice for
losses totaling 16 yards and
stopping an NFC drive to
preserve the AFC first half
lead. Chuck Knox described
his team’s emotion before
the game, “Our fellow were
so keyed up and so fed up
with talk of AFC superiority
that they volunteered for
the kickoff team, which you
know is a suicide
assignment.”
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