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On
Dec. 27, 1942, the world
champion Washington Redskins
met the NFL All-Stars before
18,672 at Shibe Park in
Philadelphia. The game
netted $75,000 donated to
the Merchant Marines Fund.
It marked the first time in
5 tries that the All-Stars
were able to beat the league
champion. It was the only
victory for a league
all-star team under the old
pre-1950's game format. The
game was played on a frozen
field and was missing one
key ingredient. Redskin
All-Pro quarterback, Sammy
Baugh, missed his flight
from Texas and was unable to
play, which prompted an
investigation by league
commissioner, Elmer Layden.
The All-Star team, mostly
comprised of Chicago Bears
players, came to be known as
the Bear-All-Stars. Also
failing to appear in the
game was Green Bay's Don Hutson for the All-Stars due
to an injury. The coaches
were Heartley "Hunk"
Andersen for the All-Stars
and Ray Flaherty for the
Redskins.
Washington took an early
lead after 6 minutes of play
in the game when Ki Aldrich
return a punt 30 yards for a
touchdown. That was all the
scoring in the first half as
the Redskins mounted a goal
line stand and stopped the
Stars inside the one yard
line as time expired. The
Redskins drove the length of
the field to the All-Star
eight to start the second
half. But, Pittsburgh's Bill
Dudley intercepted fullback
Andy Farkas' jump pass and
returned it 97 yards for a
touchdown. It was the
turning point of the game.
In less than five minutes,
the All-Stars scored again.
Sid Luckman drove the Stars
offense, comprised of 8
Bears, to the Skins 2 yard
line. A fistfight broke out
between Chicago's Lee Artoe
and Fred Davis, but
officials intervened and no
penalties were assessed. The
fight erupted between the
two again before the next
play and Davis was ejected.
On the next play, John Petty
of the Bears carried it over
and the score was 14-7. The
Redskins immediately came
back to tie the game when
quarterback Roy Zimmerman
hit Rob Seymour with a
thirty yard pass to the
All-Stars 15. On 4th and 9
from the 14, Zimmerman hit
Seymour at the ten. He
brushed off Packer Charley
Brock and carried it in to
tie the score at 14-14.
Early in the 4th quarter,
Artoe booted a 44 yard field
goal out of Cecil Isbell's
hold for the winning margin.
The Skins missed a potential
game tying field goal in the
final 20 seconds. The final
score was 17-14.
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