January 4, 1976, 50 years ago: The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders, 16-10 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, in the AFC Championship Game. The Raiders' George Blanda attempted an extra point, and made it; and attempted 2 field goals, making 1.
Two weeks earlier, in the Raiders' last regular-season game, a win over the Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland Coliseum, Blanda threw 3 passes in relief of starting quarterback Ken Stabler, completing 1, for 11 yards.
The fact that Blanda was playing at all, never mind completed a pass, was extraordinary. He was 48 years old.
George Frederick Blanda was born on September 17, 1927 in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. He played at the University of Kentucky, the 1st renowned quarterback to play for future Alabama icon Bear Bryant, and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1949. In 1950, he succeeded Hall-of-Famer Sid Luckman as the Bears' starting quarterback, and remained in that spot through the 1958 season.
He was not particularly notable in the position. In 1953, he led the NFL in both attempts and completions. In 1954, he led in passing yards per game. In 1955, he led in field goal percentage. In 1956, he got the Bears to the NFL Western Division title, but they got clobbered by the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game. He retired after the 1958 season, and he seemed destined to be a footnote in the history of professional football.
But the founding of the American Football League in 1960 changed a lot of things. He was coaxed out of retirement to become the quarterback for the Houston Oilers, and he led them to the AFL Championship in 1960 and 1961, and got them back into the AFL Championship Game in 1962. He was named AFL Player of the Year in 1961, a season that included his longest field goal: 55 yards.
In 1967, at the age of 40, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he became the backup to Daryle Lamonica. The Raiders won the AFL Championship that season. He played for the Raiders until 1975, and only started 1 game for them, but he stayed on the roster because he was still one of the most accurate placekickers in the game. In 9 seasons with the Raiders, he attempted 250 extra points, and missed only 3; and he made 62.7 percent of his field goal attempts. Even in his last season, he made 13 out of 21.
Between the NFL and the AFL, he passed for 26,920 yards, which doesn't sound like much now, but was a big total for the time. He threw considerably more interceptions than touchdowns (277 to 238), but that wasn't surprising for a quarterback who debuted in the 1940s. He kicked 335 field goals, for 1,005 points; and kicked 943 extra points. He also ran 9 touchdowns in from the quarterback position, for 54 points. This gave him 2,002 points for his career, making him the NFL's 1st 2,000-point man.
In 2026, 50 years after his last game, he still ranks 7th all-time. The current all-time leader is Adam Vinatieri, with 2,673 points. However, Blanda's 238 touchdown passes means he had a hand in 3,430 points -- and that's before you factor in how many field goals his teams scored as a result of the drives he led. For the sake of perspective: Tom Brady has passed for 649 touchdowns, which accounts for 3,894 points.
Blanda still ranks 5th all-time with 340 games played. (Morten Andersen leads with 382.) His 335 field goals has long since been surpassed. (Vinatieri leads with 599.) But his 26 seasons, his playing at age 48, and his 943 extra points made are still all-time records. A few players, mostly backup quarterbacks and placekickers (and Blanda was both), have played at 46, but Blanda remains the only one to play at 47, or 48. He and John Carney, who kicked for several teams from 1987 to 2010, are the only men to have played in the NFL in 4 different decades.
On January 20, 1976, 16 days after Blanda's last game, the ABC sitcom Happy Days, which took advantage of the 1950s nostalgia wave, aired an episode with Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard) and Ralph Malph (Donny Most) watching a game on television. It was December 9, 1956, and the Chicago Bears were playing the Chicago Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
Ed Brown, playing quarterback for the Bears, threw an interception. Richie said he wanted the other quarterback put in. Ralph said, "He's washed up. He's old. He's 30. He's got no future." Richie said, "George Blanda has 2 or 3 good years left." The Bears won the game, 10-3.
Blanda was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981, his 1st year of eligibility. He was retroactively named to the AFL All-Time Team. He died on September 27, 2010, a few days after his 83rd birthday.
*
January 4, 1976 was a Sunday. Also that day, the NFC Championship Game was played, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the Los Angeles Rams, 37-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Steelers went on to beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl X.
No comments:
Post a Comment