Don’t ask me why this scene stuck with me. I’m pretty sure Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), a Liza Minnelli vehicle, was the second half of a double feature one night at the drive-in. Anyway, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, the Chiefs’ mouthy cornerback from Super Bowl I, was in it and spent a fair amount of time carrying this wheelchair-bound character around. Like so:
Category Archives: 1960s
Joe Theismann beating Jim Taylor in “The Superstars” tennis finals, 1979
Tennis doesn’t get any better than this, folks. I’m talking about tennis, of course, between a 29-year-old active NFL quarterback and a 43-year-old retired NFL fullback. Kudos to Packers Hall of Famer Jim Taylor for upsetting high-jumper Dwight Stones in the semis and reaching the finals of the 1979 “Superstars” against the Redskins’ Joe Theismann, who junked his way to . . . well, you’ll find out.
Speaking of junk, sports programming didn’t get much trashier in those days than “The Superstars,” an ABC production in which (mostly) athletes from a wide variety of sports competed in 10 events for money and vanity. (I say “(mostly) athletes” because actor Robert Duvall placed sixth in 1976 — and first in bowling. Who knew Tom Hagen was the Dick Weber of the Corleone household?)
Frank Gifford provides the tennis play-by-play in this clip and, being Frank, tries to breathe life into a match that, as anyone can see, was dead on arrival. What a pro. FYI: Theismann finished third in the standings that year and fourth the next before “retiring” from the “Superstars” grind to devote his full attention to winning the Super Bowl (though he did take part, victoriously, in a “Superteams” competition in 1983 with some other Redskins).
Alex Karras punches a horse in “Blazing Saddles”
Some people, me among them, think Alex Karras belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The late Lions defensive tackle definitely belongs in some kind of Hall for giving us this memorable scene — as the inimitable Mongo — in Blazing Saddles (1974):
You also might enjoy this clip, from the same movie, of Alex at his thespian best. My guess is that he’s reenacting for the townsfolk what he and his defensive mates did to the Packers offensive line when they sacked Bart Starr 11 times in the ’62 Thanksgiving Day game:
About those concussions . . .
The firestorm over concussions in the NFL spurred me to dig up these two wrestling videos. (Yes, wrestling videos.) The first features Wahoo McDaniel, the AFL folk hero, against Ric Flair. The second has Ernie Ladd, the mammoth Chargers defensive tackle who played at the same time as Wahoo, tangling with Dusty Rhodes.
That was quite the head-butt Wahoo laid on Flair. And those were quite the elbows Ernie took from Rhodes — right on the noggin.
McDaniel and Ladd both wrestled during the offseason, as did scores of other pro footballers in the early years. How much head trauma do you suppose they absorbed in the ring? Was it all just playacting, or were there some hard knocks? (Too bad we can’t ask Andy Kaufman.)
By the way, did you see Rhodes hurl that referee through the ropes? It’s a good thing no NFL officials moonlighted as wrestling refs. Or did they?
Just having a little fun here. Unless, of course, I’m dead serious.
R. C. Owens’ one-of-a-kind field-goal block
A couple of years ago, when R. C. Owens died, newspapers mentioned the unusual way he’d once blocked a field goal try for the Colts. From his New York Times obituary:
In 1962, the 6-foot-3 Owens wowed fans by standing under the goal post at the goal line (goal posts have since been moved to the back of the end zone) and leaping to block a long, line-drive field-goal attempt by the Washington Redskins. The tactic was legislated out of existence.
Unfortunately, none of Owens’ obits featured a photo of his amazing play, perhaps because papers couldn’t find one. I ran into the same problem 25 years ago when I was digging up art for my first book, The Pro Football Chronicle. Nobody had kept the negative — or something.
Too bad. As you can see, R. C. really got up there. He was already on his way down (along with the ball) when this was snapped. Don’t ask me where it came from.
(For more, see: “R. C. Owens’ one-of-a-kind block, revisited.”)
Who had the best burst?
1. Bob Hayes (Cowboys/49ers, 1965-75) making up a massive amount of ground in the 4×100 relay at the ’64 Olympics:
2. Darrell Green (Redskins, 1983-2002) running down the Cowboys’ Tony Dorsett in the ’83 season opener:
3. Willie Gault (Bears/Raiders, 1983-93) zooming by everybody in the 100-yard dash final at the ’86 “Superstars” competition:
My two cents: I’m not sure any NFL player has run faster than “Bullet Bob” Hayes. Remember, those are the best sprinters in the world he’s blowing away down the stretch. As for Gault, an Olympic-caliber hurdler, he dusted a “Superstars” field that included James Lofton, Renaldo Nehemiah and St. Louis Cardinals base-stealer Vince Coleman (who was in camp with the ’82 Redskins as a receiver) — pretty fast company. Green is more of a What Might Have Been case. Like Gault, he gave up track after college to concentrate on football, though he went on to win all four of the NFL Fastest Man competitions he entered.
Then again, Ollie Matson (Cardinals/Rams/Lions/Eagles, 1952, ’54-66), another Olympian (bronze, 400 meters, 1952), has always had his supporters. Watch him take off here after nearly getting tripped up on a kickoff return:
The thing about Matson is that he was such a glider, it never looked like he was running that fast — until you noticed players disappearing behind him.
Granted, there are other worthy candidates for this list — including Ron Brown, the receiver-returner for the Rams and Raiders (1984-91) — but these are the best clips I could come up with. Feel free to submit your own.
Jim Brown smooches Raquel Welch in “100 Rifles”
I would have preferred to post a clip here from The Dirty Dozen (1967), at the end of which — spoiler alert — NFL legend Jim Brown gallantly gives his life to wipe out a bunch of Nazi officers during World War II. Alas, I couldn’t find one. Must be the ol’ Copyright Thing.
Still, I loved Nora Ephron’s tribute to the scene in Sleepless in Seattle (1993):
The following “Best of Jim Brown” will have to do. Somewhere, sometime I read that this was the first interracial kiss in Hollywood history. (Who can say for sure?) As if that weren’t enough, the recipient was one of the hottest females on the planet, Raquel Welch. Nice goin’, Jim. From 100 Rifles (1969):
I stopped it there because my screen was starting to fog up.