On the TUNNEYSIDE of SPORTS December 26, 2015 SPECIAL EDITION – CHRISTMAS AND THE NFL!
After further review…It was 5:30amPST on Christmas Day, 1965 when I silently backed my Buick Skylark out our driveway and motored down Edgewood Dr. and onto the Los Angeles freeway system to LAX. It was there I met Norm Schachter who was to be the referee in a playoff game the next day in Green Bay. I was assigned as the field judge in the Schachter crew of six. It was my first NFL playoff assignment in my sixth year as an NFL official; and although I had officiated five ProBowls my first five years, this assignment was my first in championship games.
Excited for the assignment, of course, but it meant traveling early on Christmas Day leaving behind at home my wife and four kids – ages 12-9-5-and 1 to greet Santa as he came down our chimney. It was a situation that I would face often during my 31 years as an on-field NFL official. Referee Schachter faced the same dilemma as we shared our stories on the flight from LAX to ORD and onto GRB.
In 1965 there were only two NFL conferences with the Baltimore Colts and Green Bay Packers both in the Western Conference. They had tied for first place at 10-3-1 and had to play the day after Christmas to see who would play the Cleveland Browns for the NFL Championship. The Super Bowl was yet to be.
It was near freezing on Lambeau Field at kickoff time. The ground crew had done a great job covering the field with hay and removing chunks of ice so that the turf, although mostly dirt brown, was playable. Some 50-thousand fans with pots of coffee were still arriving as we prepared for the kickoff. The Packers with Bart Starr were playing in their first playoff game since 1962. The visiting Colts featured Johnny Unitas as their QB, but an injury that season had put Unitas on the bench for this game as well as Gary Cuozzo, the Colts backup QB. Thus, starting at QB for the Colts was their running back – Tom Matte.
The Packers won the toss and received the kickoff, but in their first series fumbled the ball and the Colts recovered. A few plays later they scored – Colts, 7; Packers, zero. On that scoring drive, QB Starr was injured trying to make the tackle. Both starting QB’s, who everyone had come to see, were now on the bench. Packers QB Zeke Bratkowski couldn’t move the ball and the Colts took over moving within field goal range when Lou Michaels put them ahead 10-0.
As a field judge I had three fouls in that game: one on GB’s #87 Willie Davis (who later became a good friend) for a late hit; then two DPI’s (defensive pass interference) on #20 of the Colts. But the real story happened with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter and the score:Colts 10,GB,7. Don Chandler, Packers place kicker lined-up about 25-yards out and kicked a slicing ball that went high and “just” over the inside of the right upright with me standing under that post signaling “Good”. The ball was 20-feet high as it sailed over that upright, which at that time was only 10 feet above the crossbar. To this day – 50 years later – Coach Shula remains doubtful!
The game went to “Sudden Death” (as it was called in those days). Michaels, the Colts kicker missed a field goal in the overtime. However, Chandler, the Packers kicker, kicked one right down the middle. Coach Shula, the NFL’s most winningest coach with 347 victories, later said that the NFL rules were changed the next year to extend the uprights from 10 feet above the crossbar to 20 feet, which he calls “the Tunney Extension” – and continues to grouse that he should have his winning record “extended” to 348 games! Hey coach, time to “let it go!”
To contact Jim go to www.jimtunney.com or email jim@jimtunney.com.
