The Super Bowl is chosen years ahead of time, in the hope that it will be a neutral site. Twice, teams have played in the Super Bowl in their own market, but not in their home stadium:
* Super Bowl XIV, January 20, 1980: The Los Angeles Rams, who then played home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. But they lost the game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-19.
* Super Bowl XIX, January 20, 1985: The San Francisco 49ers, who then played home games at Candlestick Park, played at the old Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto. They beat the Miami Dolphins, 38-19.
Miami has hosted the Super Bowl a record 11 times, each time at what was then the Dolphins' home stadium: II, III, V, X and XIII at the Orange Bowl; XXIII, XXIX, XXXIII, XLI, XLIV and LIV at what's now named Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The Dolphins have been in 5 Super Bowls, but in none of those 11.
New Orleans has hosted the Super Bowl 10 times, each time at what was then the New Orleans Saints' home stadium: IV, VI and IX at Tulane Stadium; XII, XV, XX, XXIV, XXXI, XXXVI and XLVII at the Superdome. But the Saints have only been to 1 Super Bowl, XLI, and that was in Miami (or, rather, its suburbs).
Dallas Cowboys fans were sure that they were going to play Super Bowl XLV at home, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. But they went 6-10, and didn't come close to making the Playoffs.
The Minnesota Vikings almost did it, getting to the NFC Championship Game in the 2017-18 season, with Super Bowl LII set for their new U.S. Bank Stadium. But they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, with Tom Brady cheating leading them to victory, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in Super Bowl LV, which is being played at their ground, Raymond James Stadium. (Raymond James is a financial services company, formed by the 1964 merger of Robert A. James Investments and Raymond & Associates. They are headquartered across the Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Brady, who has previously been in 6 winning Super Bowls and 3 losing ones, won't have it easy, as the Bucs will be playing the defending Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes already has 1 Super Bowl ring without cheating, something Brady cannot truthfully claim.
Thus, the Bucs will be the 1st team to play in the Super Bowl in their own stadium. They will be the 1st team to play in an NFL Championship Game in its own stadium since January 2, 1966, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Cleveland Browns 23-12 at Lambeau Field. That would be the last title game before the NFL and AFL Champions began playing each other the next season, in the game that would later be officially renamed the Super Bowl. In those days, the right to host the Championship Game alternated between the winners of the Eastern and Western Divisions.
The Bucs will be the 1st team to play in an unquestioned world championship game for pro football since the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants, 31-16, before 57,545 fans at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, in the NFL Championship Game on December 27, 1959, an event mentioned (but not shown) in the 1982 film Diner, set in Baltimore.
So no NFL team has played in a World Championship game at home in 61 years. How long has that been?
*
The Colts were led by some of the greatest players of all time: Quarterback Johnny Unitas, running back Lenny Moore, receiver Raymond Berry, defensive end Gino Marchetti, and defensive tackle Art Donovan. They were coached by Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank. These men won back-to-back titles in 1958 and 1959, beating the Giants of Frank Gifford and Sam Huff in both games. The 1958 game went to overtime at Yankee Stadium, and has been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played."
There are 8 players on that '59 Colt team still alive: Moore, Berry, Dick Szymanski, Andy Nelson, Mike Sommer, Ed Cooke, Dave Sherer, and Jerry Richardson, who would later found a fast food empire, and found a 1995 NFL expansion team, the Carolina Panthers.
Unitas, Moore, Berry, Donovan, Gifford, Huff, Charlie Conerly, Roosevelt Brown, Andy Robustelli, George Blanda, Bill George, Stan Jones, Lou Groza, Jim Brown, Mike McCormack, Gene Hickerson, Dick "Night Train" Lane, Bobby Layne, Lou Creekmur, John Henry Johnson, Alex Karras, Yale Lary, Dick LeBeau, Joe Schmidt, Bobby Dillon, Forrest Gregg, Paul Hornung, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer, Willie Davis, Ray Nitschke, Jim Ringo, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Les Richter, Ollie Matson, Chuck Bednarik, Norm Van Brocklin, Tommy McDonald, Sonny Jurgensen, Jack Butler, Ernie Stautner, Len Dawson, Y.A. Tittle, Joe Perry, Hugh McElhenny, Leo Nomellini, Bob St. Clair and Bobby Mitchell were all active players in 1959 who would go on to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only Moore, Berry, Huff, Kramer and Jurgensen are still alive.
The American Football League had been founded, but had not yet begun play. The founding teams were the New York Titans (who became the Jets in 1963), the Boston Patriots (who changed their name to the New England Patriots in 1971), the Buffalo Bills, the Dallas Texans (who moved to become the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963), the Houston Oilers (who moved to become the Tennessee Titans in 1997), the Denver Broncos, the Oakland Raiders (who moved to Los Angeles in 1982, back to Oakland in 1995, and to Las Vegas in 2019), and the Los Angeles Chargers (who moved to San Diego in 1961, and back to Los Angeles in 2017).
Both Leagues had reached the Pacific Coast. But not yet the South. The AFL put teams in Dallas and Houston. The NFL would also put a team in Dallas. But there were, as yet, no teams in Florida, or Atlanta, or New Orleans.
The only NFL stadium in use in 1959 that is still in use today is Lambeau Field in Green Bay. No NBA or NHL arena in use then is in use now, although a few from back then still stand. And the only MLB parks still in use are Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Amos Alonzo Stagg was still alive. Fran Tarkenton was at the University of Georgia. Bill Parcells, Roger Staubach, Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers and Joe Namath were in high school. Mean Joe Greene and Larry Csonka were 13 years old, O.J. Simpson was 12, Terry Bradshaw was 11, Lyle Alzado and Joe Theismann were 10, Bil Belichick was 9, Ron Jaworski was 8, Randy White was 6, Tony Dorsett and Walter Payton were 5, Earl Campbell was 4, Joe Montana was 3, Andy Reid was a year and a half, Lawrence Taylor was 10 months old; and John Elway, Dan Marino and Jerry Rice weren't born yet. Nor had any of the current managers and head coaches of the major league teams in the New York Tri-State Area yet been born. (The oldest, Lindy Ruff of the Devils, was born on February 17, 1960.)
The Colts successfully defended the NFL Championship they had won the year before. The other titleholders were the Los Angeles Dodgers in baseball, the Boston Celtics in basketball (winning their 1st of 8 straight), and the Montreal Canadiens in hockey (winning their 4th of 5 straight). The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Ingemar Johansson.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 5 times; 3 times each in Japan and Canada; twice each in Austria, France, Italy, Russia and Korea; and once each in Mexico, Germany, Bosnia, Spain, Norway, Australia, Greece, China, Britain and Brazil. The World Cup has since been held twice each in Mexico and Germany, and once each in America, Chile, England, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
Alaska and Hawaii had, within the calendar year, become the 49th and 50th States. There were 22 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. There had been a Civil Rights Act in 1957, but it was relatively toothless. There was, as yet, no Civil Rights Act barring segregation in public facilities, no Voting Rights Act, no Fair Housing Act.
There was also no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Environmental
Protection Agency, no OSHA, no Title IX. The idea that abortion and same-sex marriage would one day be legalized was ludicrous; but then, so was the idea that corporations were "people," and entitled to the rights thereof.
The President of the United States was Dwight D. Eisenhower. His Vice President was Richard Nixon, and he was preparing to run for President. So was the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Lyndon Johnson of Texas. So was Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Former Presidents Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman, and the widows of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, were still alive.
Gerald Ford was a young Congressman from Michigan. Jimmy Carter was farming in Georgia. Ronald Reagan was an actor who was no longer young enough to be a romantic leading man. George H.W. Bush was in the oil business in Texas. Joe Biden was in high school. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump were 13 years old. Jill Biden was 8. Barack and Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump, weren't born yet.
The Governor of the State of New York was Nelson Rockefeller; of New Jersey, Robert G. Meyner; and of Maryland, where this game was played, J. Millard Tawes. The Mayor of the City of New York was Robert F. Wagner Jr.,, and of Baltimore, J. Harold Grady. He had succeeded Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., whose son Thomas III would also serve as Mayor. The daughter of Tommy Jr., and the sister of Tommy III, Nancy Pelosi, would become a Congresswoman from California and the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
There were still living veterans of America's Indian Wars, and a surviving member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch. Walter Williams, who died a week before the game in question, was hailed as the last surviving veteran of the American Civil War, and was buried with full military honors -- complete with American soldiers folding a Confederate flag that had draped his coffin. It was discovered that he was born not in 1842 as he had claimed (making him 117 years old), but 1854 (making him 105, but 11 at the time of the surrender at Appomattox, and thus not a Civil War veteran).
The Nobel Peace Prize had recently been awarded to Philip Noel-Baker, a British politician who had long worked for disarmament. The Pope was John XXIII. The current Pope, Francis, was then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a 23-year-old novitiate in the Society of Jesus.
The Prime
Minister of Canada was John Diefenbaker, and of Britain, Harold Macmillan. The monarch of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. The holders of England's Football League title were Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers, who would go on to take the FA Cup in the season in progress, with the current holders being East Midlands team Nottingham Forest. Lancashire team Burnley would succeed "Wolves" as League Champions.
There
have since been 13 Presidents of the United States, 12 Prime Ministers of
Britain, and 6 Popes.
Major novels of 1959 included Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. It has not been made into a feature film. But all of these others have, some sooner than others: Psycho by Robert Bloch, The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, Advise and Consent by Allen Drury, The Tin Drum by Günter Grass, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe, The Magic Christian by Terry Southern, The Rescuers by Margery Sharp, and the James Bond story Goldfinger by Ian Fleming. Even the supposedly "unfilmable" Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.
The year also so the publication of Cornelius Ryan's book about the D-Day invasion, The Longest Day; and the premieres of the plays Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, Becket by Jean Anouilh, and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. These would all be filmed over the next few years as well.
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were still writing. Stephen King was 12 years old. George R.R. Martin was 11. J.K. Rowling wasn't born yet.
Major films of late 1959 included Ben-Hur, A Summer Place, Operation Petticoat, On the Beach, Suddenly, Last Summer, and a film version of Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Gene Roddenberry was writing for TV shows, such as the Western series Have Gun - Will Travel. George Lucas was 15 years old. Steven Spielberg was 13. James Bond had not yet appeared on film: His only live-action appearance was in 1954, on an episode of the CBS anthology series Climax!, in an Americanized adaptation of Casino Royale.
The Doctor Who franchise had not yet been created. The Adventures of Superman had to stop production 6 months earlier, because its star, George Reeves, died of a gunshot wound, officially a suicide. There hadn't been a live-action Batman since Robert Lowery in a serial 10 years earlier. The DC superheroes Supergirl and the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern had just debuted. Batgirl and the Ray Palmer version of the Atom had yet to debut. So had the modern Marvel heroes: The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and so on.
The Mickey Mouse Club had recently aired its last first-run episode. Premiering this year were Rawhide, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, The Untouchables, Rocky and His Friends (debuting the character of Bullwinkle), and a TV version of the comic strip Dennis the Menace.
No one had yet heard of Fred Flintstone, Andy Taylor, Rob Petrie, Jed Clampett, Dr. Richard Kimble, Napoleon Solo, Maxwell Smart, Willy Gilligan, Herman Munster or Gomez Addams.
The Number
1 song in America was "Why" by Frankie Avalon. Elvis Presley was still in the U.S. Army. Frank Sinatra had released an album titled No One Cares, and sang the songs on it (including a version of "Stormy Weather") as if he believed it. Joan Baez had recently performed at the Newport Folk Festival for the 1st time. Major musical events of the month (plus one month in each direction).
The Primettes were formed, and would eventually become The Supremes. The Beach Boys, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison were still in high school. So was Robert Allen Zimmerman, not yet calling himself Bob Dylan. Lou Reed had just entered Syracuse University.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best were in a band together, calling themselves Johnny & The Moondogs. Soon to join them was Stuart Sutcliffe, who suggested changing the name to The Beatles, in tribute to The Crickets, the band of Buddy Holly, who had been killed in a plane crash earlier in the year.
Elton John was 12 years old, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen were 10, Stevie Wonder was 9, Joey Ramone and Chrissie Hynde were 8. Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince were all less than 2 years old. Chuck D would be born the next year.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $8.89 would
buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 4 cents, and a New York Subway ride 15 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was 28 cents, a cup of coffee 33 cents, a McDonald's meal (cheeseburger, fries, shake -- there was no Big Mac until 1968) 49 cents, a movie ticket 68 cents, a new car $2,200, and a
new house $12,400. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the preceding Thursday (Christmas Eve, before closing for the holiday weekend) at 670.69.
The tallest building in the world was the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan. There were cars with telephones in them, but not "mobile phones" as we now understand that term. Telephone numbers
were still based on "exchanges," based on the letters on a rotary
dial. So a number that, today, would be (718) 293-6000 (this is the number for
the Yankees' ticket office, so I’m not hurting anyone's privacy), would have
been CYpress 3-6000.
There were no ZIP Codes, either. They ended up being based
on the old system: The old New York Daily News Building, at 220 East
42nd Street, was "New York 17, NY"; it became "New York, NY
10017." There wouldn't be all-number calling until May 11, 1962, or ZIP Codes until July 1, 1963.
This was the year that Xerox put the 1st photocopier on the market. Computers were so large, they took up an entire wall of a city-block-long building. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee were all 4 years old. Credit cards were still a relatively new thing, and there were no automatic
teller machines in America.
There were artificial kidneys, but no artificial hearts. Transplanting a kidney
was possible, but not a heart, lung or liver. There was no birth control pill (the 1st would hit the market the next year),
but there was no Viagra, either. Satellites, including some with live animals, had been put into in orbit; but,
as yet, no people.
In the last few weeks of 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 sent back the 1st photos of the far side of the Moon. Riots broke out in the Belgian Congo, and in nearby Rwanda, a period of civil violence known as "The Wind of Destruction" began. The 1st section of Britain's 1st freeway, the M1 Motorway, opened. The Antarctic Treaty was signed. And Fidel Castro continued to consolidate his successful revolution in Cuba. A TV-movie about him, made while he was still alive and in charge, would carry the tagline, "He fought for freedom. He settled for power."
In America, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the last design of the late Frank Lloyd Wright, opened to the public. The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas was murdered, inspiring Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood. The musical The Sound of Music opened on Broadway. And the MOS transistor was introduced, revolutionizing electronics.
Victor McLaglen, and former Heavyweight Champion Max Baer Sr., and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Sunny Jim Bottomley died. Mike McCarthy, and Neal Broten, and Florence Griffith Joyner were born.
December 27, 1959. The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Colts were playing in the NFL Championship Game, on their home field.
Today, it will happen for the 1st time since then. Then, the home team's quarterback, and the winning team's quarterback, was Johnny Unitas, who would, upon his retirement, be called by many the greatest quarterback of all time. Today, the home team's quarterback is Tom Brady, who has been called by many the greatest quarterback of all time.
Johnny Unitas never had to cheat. Tom Brady has cheated. Will he do so again? Almost certainly. Will it pay off for him? I hope not.
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