1966

NFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The Cotton Bowl, Dallas

Packers vs. Cowboys

Plus:

The First SUPER BOWL

Packers vs. Chiefs

The 1966 NFL Championship Game at the Cotton Bowl (Green Bay Packers vs Dallas Cowboys) and the First Super Bowl (Green Bay Packers vs Kansas City Chiefs) at the Coliseum are now available on DVD from Rare Sportsfilms, Inc! The original films have just been restored by Rare Sportsfilms in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the ’66 NFL season. Each film was originally presented by American Express half a century ago, and each has a special introduction by Frank Gifford. Both films are included on this new 54-minute full color DVD!

The 1966 NFL Championship Game film titled “One Big Play” shows all the highlights of the climactic game of the ’66 NFL season. But this year the stakes were even greater, for in accordance with the coming NFL-AFL merger, the winner would go on to Los Angeles and represent the NFL in the very first “Pro Football World Championship Game” (later to be dubbed “The Super Bowl”) against the champions of the 7-year-old American Football League. Ironically, this game would be played in Dallas, where the beginnings of the secret negotiations for an eventual merger had taken place between Cowboy General Manager Tex Schramm and former Dallas Texans owner Lamar Hunt just six years earlier. “One Big Play” shows how close the Dallas Cowboys came to actually playing in the first Super Bowl! Narrated by Ray Scott, the film is done in an analytical style, showing different angle replays of the big moments in the game. Many soundbites throughout also let you hear the players on both sidelines.

The Packers begin the game as if they will win easily as Elijah Pitts gains 32 yards to the Cowboy 47-yd line on the opening play from scrimmage. Soon, a 17-yd TD pass from QB Bart Starr to Pitts puts the first points of the game on the Cotton Bowl scoreboard. Don Chandler kicks off to Dallas and Mel Renfro fields the kick and returns it to the 20 where Gale Gillingham knocks the ball loose. Super slow motion film shows how the fumble occurred. The ball is immediately picked up by Jim Grabowski who runs it in and the Packers have scored 14 points in 12 seconds! Undaunted, the Cowboys work the ball down the field, and Dan Reeves’ 3-yd TD run puts up the first 7 Cowboy points. After holding the Packers, Dallas soon scores again on a 23-yd TD run by Don Perkins, and before the first quarter is over, the Cowboys have come back to tie the game at 14-14. To start the second quarter however, Starr hits Carroll Dale with a 51-yd TD bomb and Green Bay is quickly back in front, 21-14. A Dallas FG by Danny Villanueva from the Packer 11 brings the score to 21-17 by halftime. After a Pitts fumble at the Cowboy 21, Villanueva again connects on a FG, this one from 32 yards out, and the Cowboys now trail by only 1 point, 21-20. Later in the third quarter Starr hits Boyd Dowler with a 26-yd TD pass to make the score 28-20. In the final quarter the Packers are going for the clinching TD, and a 28-yd TD pass to Max McGee (his last pass reception before his coming Super Bowl heroics) gives the Packers a 14-point lead as they get ready for Chandler’s important extra point try. Coach Vince Lombardi is upset on the sidelines, as DT Bob Lilly’s king-sized hand blocks the kick. Lilly said later “I knew then we were back in the ballgame”. There is 5:20 left and Dallas must score two TD’s. On third down and 20 from the Dallas 32, Cowboy QB Don Meredith completes a 68-yd TD bomb to TE Frank Clarke, to bring Dallas closer at 34-27. The Cowboys hold Green Bay and heavy pressure on kicker Chandler results in a short punt, with Dallas taking over on the Green Bay 47 with 2:19 left. On first down, Meredith again goes for the big play, hitting Clarke for 21 yards. Two plays later, as the Cowboys advance, Clarke beats his defender Tom Brown, who is called for pass interference. This puts the ball on the Packer 2-yd line, first and goal, with 1:52 remaining. But ahead is an agonizing four down sequence which still causes Cowboy fans nightmares. RB Dan Reeves gets one yard on first down and the Cowboys are halfway to a tie game. On second down tackle #68 Jim Boeke moves before the snap, and the Cowboys are penalized back to the six. But slow-motion film shows something else happening on this play. Dan Reeves is smashed hard by Packers Bob Brown and Lee Roy Caffey. Now on second and six, Meredith tosses Reeves an easy little swing pass to the left, but Dan drops it because of double vision. On third and six, Meredith completes a four-yard pass to Pettis Norman on his knees at the two. The Cowboys have used up 70 seconds and are only back to where they were on first down. The Cowboys and Packers are now down to one big play. Who will make it - the Cowboys or the Packers? On 4th and two, Meredith rolls out to the right and DE Dave Robinson gets between #62 OG Leon Donohue and Meredith, grabbing him as he throws a fluttering pass with nothing on it into the end zone. Packer safety Tom Brown redeems himself by grabbing off the biggest interception of his life and the Packers have won another NFL Championship Game, this one more dramatic than any of the others! But, just two weeks away would be another game for the Packers - this one against the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs - in the First Super Bowl!

The original film of the First Super Bowl is titled “The Spectacle of A Sport” and is narrated by the original “voice” of NFL Films, John Facenda. Lots of pre-game build-up - winning players get $15,000 per man with two networks covering the game nationally - and pageantry are shown, including the Grambling Marching Band, celebrities in the stands, Al Hirt and his trumpet, the NFL and AFL “rocket men” and head coaches Hank Stram and Vince Lombardi shaking hands before the game. Done in an analytical style, the film concentrates on the differences of the Packers and Chiefs, including the players and style of play as the game progresses. The Chiefs are spotlighted first, showing what they did well, and how the Packers had to adjust to the Chief’s success with the play-action pass after the first quarter. Again, you’ll hear soundbites from the sidelines, especially regarding the Fred “The Hammer” Williamson incident late in the game (Willie Wood, Bob Jeter, Max McGee, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke and Lombardi), as well as post-game locker room comments from the Chiefs (coach Hank Stram, Chris Burford and E.J. Holub). The stars of the Chiefs are shown in action, including QB Len Dawson, Curtis McClinton (TD reception), Mike Mercer, Otis Taylor, Burford, Holub, Reg Carolan, Mike Garrett, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Willie Mitchell and Fred Williamson. The big play of the game comes early in the third quarter, when Dawson, rushed on third and long, throws an interception to Willie Wood, who takes the ball to the Chiefs 5-yd line. Elijah Pitts scores from there and the Packers now have a 21-10 lead. Max McGee’s second TD catch of the day builds the lead to 28-10 after three quarters, and Pitt’s second TD in the final period brings the final score to 35-10. Max McGee’s 7 catches are remarkable, considering he only caught four others all year, including one in the NFL Championship vs Dallas. (NOTE: two of McGee’s other three catches of the regular season are on our other two DVD’s of the ’66 Packers, weeks 14 and 15 of the ’66 NFL season). Packer fans will enjoy seeing all their heroes playing in the first Super Bowl - Game MVP Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Carroll Dale, Lee Roy Caffey, Marv Fleming, Fuzzy Thurston, Dave Robinson, Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Bob Skoronski, Bob Brown, Bob Skoronski, Tom Brown and Donny Anderson.

To order both films now together on this new 54-minute DVD, send $29.95 plus $4.00 S & H (Illinois residents must add $2.00 Sales Tax) to: