david maraniss @davidmaraniss 27m27 minutes ago
1) 50 NFL seasons ago, on this date Jan. 15, in 1967, Lombardi's Packers beat the K.C. Chiefs in the first Super Bowl.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 26m26 minutes ago
2) The game was a lowercase phenomenon that first year at the LA Coliseum - super bowl, no Roman numerals attached.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 26m26 minutes ago
3) Lamar Hunt, owner of Chiefs, took the name from his grandson's toy, a high-bouncing super ball.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 25m25 minutes ago
4) The official name on game programs was World Championship Game AFL v. NFL.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 25m25 minutes ago
5) Packers trained in Santa Barbara. Lombardi considered it good luck to stay in cities named for saints.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 24m24 minutes ago
6) Lombardi was so obsessed before the game that Marie left for Las Vegas for two days and he barely noticed she was gone.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 22m22 minutes ago
7) He had to win...not just for his legacy and the Packers legacy, but for the NFL.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 21m21 minutes ago
8) Game would be watched by then the largest audience ever for a sports event, more than 65 million, but in person it didn't feel historic.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 20m20 minutes ago
9) The most expensive ticket was 12 dollars, and still more than a third of the seats were empty...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 19m19 minutes ago
10) Pete Rozelle saw Ed Sabol in locker room beforehand and handed him 15 complimentary tickets. Sabol gave them to a cameraman, who...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 17m17 minutes ago
10)...went outside and tried to find takers, and returned with five that he couldn't even give away...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 16m16 minutes ago
11) As the game began, Hornung and McGee were sitting on bench, not paying attention, making plans for unlikely event - Hornung's wedding...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 14m14 minutes ago
12) ...Max was throwing a bachelor party in Las Vegas and they were getting that lined up - two guys talking on a Sunday afternoon...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 14m14 minutes ago
13)...They could have been anywhere, and then a single word pierced their consciousness...MCGEE!
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 13m13 minutes ago
14) It was Lombardi yelling.
"Get in there!
Dowler had tried to play, but his shoulder was hurting. Lombardi needed an end.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 13m13 minutes ago
15) He could have gone with someone younger, but he trusted McGee in big games.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 12m12 minutes ago
16) Max was eager, he had watched the films, but this was still unexpected. He didn't even know where he had put his helmet...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 11m11 minutes ago
17)...and grabbed the first one he could find. It belonged to a lineman. "He looked like Ned the 3rd grader going out there," Hornung said.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 11m11 minutes ago
18) No passes came his way during the first series, but when he came back to the bench he told Hornung, "If Bart'll throw me the ball...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 10m10 minutes ago
19)..."I'll win the car. They're not even covering me."
The car was the 67 silver Corvette convertible Sport was giving to MVP.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 9m9 minutes ago
20) In the next series, he slipped by cornerback, broke clear over middle, reached back effortlessly and brought in Starr pass for 37 yd td.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 8m8 minutes ago
21) Perhaps there was something to be said for ignoring Lombardi & staying out all night. McGee was among few Packers playing free & easy.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 7m7 minutes ago
22) Winning wasn't everything to Lombardi this time...winning big was. When it got to 35 to 10 he started feeling good...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 6m6 minutes ago
23)...and when Donny Anderson smacked Fred Williamson with a churning knee, he felt even better...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 6m6 minutes ago
24) Williamson wore white cleats like Joe Namath and was a trash talker long before the phrase entered the sporting lexicon...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 5m5 minutes ago
25) He had been boasting all week about his tackling technique, which he claimed had busted open the helmets of 30 opponents...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 4m4 minutes ago
26)...hence his nickname, The Hammer.
And how exactly did the Hammer do it?
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 3m3 minutes ago
27) "With a blow delivered w/ great velocity perpendicular to the earth's latitudes, I grab the guy with one arm anywhere from waist up...
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 3m3 minutes ago
28)...and slam him to the ground. And boy, it smarts."
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 2m2 minutes ago
29) During film sessions, Lombardi concluded that Williamson was the dirtiest player he had ever seen.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 1m1 minute ago
30) "If he hits one of our men in the back or head or throws one dirty elbow, he's out of there," Lombardi told his team before the game.
david maraniss @davidmaraniss 41s42 seconds ago
31) And now Anderson had knocked him out accidentally, just by lifting a gangly leg into Williamson's chin.
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