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October 14, 2018

NFL 1961 season, map with helmets/jerseys & final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Green Bay Packers.

Filed under: NFL>1961 map/season,NFL/ Gridiron Football,Retro maps — admin @ 8:26 am

nfl_1961_map-with-helmets_1961-standings_offensive-stats-leaders_home-jerseys_green-bay-packers-champs_post_d_.gif
NFL 1961 season, map with helmets/jerseys and final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Green Bay Packers.




By Bill Turianski on 14 October 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-1961 NFL season
-1961 NFL Championship Game (en.wikipedia.org).
-1961 NFL season (pro-football-reference.com).
-Article on Green Bay Packers’ “Heisman/Wisconsin” logo used in late -1950s/early-1960s, The Return of an Old Friend (by Chance Michaels at packersuniforms.blogspot.com from Sept 2010).

    1961 NFL Championship Game: the Green Bay Packers demolish the New York Giants 37-0.
    (The win started the Packers’ unequaled run of 5 NFL titles in 7 years.)

-Birth of a dynasty 1961 Packers would not be denied (by Martin Hendricks on Oct 5 2011 at Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

green-bay-packers_1961-nfl-champs_packers-beat-giants_37-0_new-city-field_vince-lombardi_paul-hornung_jim-taylor_ron-kramer_ray-nitschke_willie-davis_bart-starr_k_.gif

Photo and Image credits above -
1961 NFL title game ticket, from sports.ha.com. New City Field was covered with one foot of hay, to protect the turf from the cold, for a whole month prior to the 1961 NFL Championship Game, photos from Green Bay Press-Gazette Archive via packerville.blogspot.com. Packers TE Ron Kramer scores a TD mid-way through the 2nd Q (21-0), photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Packers FB Jim Taylor on a run, screenshot from pinterest.com via packersnews.com [link broken]. Packers HB/K Paul Hornung on a run, photo by Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated at si.com. Packers MLB Ray Nitschke sacks Giants QB Y.A. Tittle, photo by Robert Riger at gettyimages.com. Packers DE Willie Davis sacks Y.A. Tittle, photo by Green Bay Press-Gazette at greenbaypressgazette.com. After the final whistle, Packers players carry their head coach, Vince Lombardi, off the field, photo by Green Bay Press-Gazette via lohud.com. Packers fans tear down the goal posts, photo by AP via archive.jsonline.com. Vince Lombardi with his 3 main offensive threats in 1961 (L-R): FB Jim Taylor, HB/K Paul Hornung, QB Bart Starr [photo from Dec 3 1961 after clinching the '61 NFL West], photo unattributed at reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool. “Heisman/Wisconsin” logo used by Packers in late-1950s/early-1960s, packersuniforms.blogspot.com.

1961 Green Bay Packers: 6 All-Pro players; plus 9 from the ’61 Packers were later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Note: All-Pro, below, means: 1961 AP, 1st team.
-Paul Hornung (HB/K): 1961 All-Pro (RB), and 1961 MVP [AP]; Hornung was inducted to the HoF in 1986.
-Jim Ringo: 1961 All-Pro (C); Ringo was inducted to the HoF in 1981.
-Bill Forester: 1961 All-Pro (LB).
-Henry Jordan: 1961 All-Pro (DT).
-Fuzzy Thurston: 1961 All-Pro (G).
-Jesse Whittenton: 1961 All-Pro (CB).
-Jim Taylor (FB); Taylor was inducted into the HoF in 1976.
-Bart Starr (QB); Starr was inducted into the HoF in 1977.
-Forrest Gregg (T); Gregg was inducted into the HoF in 1977.
-Herb Adderley (CB/KR); Adderley was inducted into the HoF in 1980.
-Ray Nitschke (LB); Nitschke was inducted into the HoF in 1981.
-Willie Davis (DE); Davis was inducted into the HoF in 1981.
-Vince Lombardi (Head coach of the Packers from 1959-67). Lombardi was inducted into the HoF in 1971.

Helmet and uniforms changes for 1961 NFL…
Below: In 1961, four NFL teams introduced helmet-logos (Vikings, Packers, Lions, Giants).
nfl_1961_4-new-helmet-logos_vikings_packers_lions_giants_e_.gif
1961 NFL teams’ uniforms at Gridiron Uniform Database.
-Expansion team (1961 Minnesota Vikings): the Vikings were so named to reflect the large Scandinavian population in the state of Minnesota. Since their inception in 1961, the Vikings have always worn a purple helmet with viking-horns on each side, with a bit of yellow trim at the base of the viking-horn. Unfortunately, this is a miss-representation of history, because viking invaders (Norsemen) never wore horned helmets. Just think for a moment how impractical and downright dangerous a horned helmet would be to wear into battle: you would always be snagging the horns on things, to say nothing about how it would throw your balance off. The fact is, the only time Norsemen wore horned helmets in battle was in the theatrical productions of Wagner operas first staged in the late Nineteenth century. ‘When Wagner staged his “Der Ring des Nibelungen” opera cycle in the 1870s, costume designer Carl Emil Doepler created horned helmets for the Viking characters, and an enduring stereotype was born.’ {-quote from history.com/news/did-vikings-really-wear-horned-helmets.} So the Minnesota Vikings helmet-logo is based on an historical myth, because vikings never wore horned helmets, at all, when they were busy invading, sacking and pillaging back in the 8th through 11th centuries.

-In 1961, the Green Bay Packers introduced their helmet-logo…‘The oval “G” logo was added in 1961 when [Vince] Lombardi asked Packers equipment manager Gerald ‘Dad’ Braisher to design a logo. Braisher tasked his assistant, St. Norbert College art student John Gordon. Satisfied with a football-shaped letter “G”, the pair presented it to Lombardi, who then approved the addition.’ {-from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers#Logo.} The football-shaped-letter-G helmet-logo remains, though in 1970, the football-shaped-G became more oval-shaped (less pointed at the ends; see below).
Below: the Packers’ helmet-logo was introduced in 1961. In 1970, the Packers’ logo became more oval-shaped…
green-bay-packers_1969_1970_helmet-logo-made-oval-shaped_c_.gif

-In 1961, the Detroit Lions introduced their helmet-logo, of a blue rampant lion in silhouette. The blue-rampant-lion helmet-logo remains, and since 2003, the rampant-lion has had detailing: a thin black outline was added in 2002, and interior details in white were added in 2009.

Below: the Lions’ helmet-logo was introduced in 1961. It remains essentially the same, w/ outline added in 1970, and detailing added in the 2000s…
detroit-lions_1961_helmet-logo_rampant-lion_1970_2003_2009_c_.gif

-In 1961, the New York Giants introduced their helmet-logo, of their city’s initials, NY, in a bold lower-case sans-serif font, with the tail of the y stretched to fit under the n-y, thus forming a square-block shape. The block-shaped-lowercase-N-Y helmet-logo was dropped following the 1974 season, but was re-introduced in 2000.

Below: the NY Giants’ lowercase-NY helmet-logo was introduced in 1962; it remained for 14 years & was re-introduced in 2000…
new-york-giants_1961_helmet-logo_lower-case-ny-logo_1975_1976_2000_b_.gif"

___
Photo and Image credits on map page…
Packers players on map page,
Reproduction of early-1960s Packers helmet, from ebay.com. Early-1960s Packers pennant, from sports.mearsonlineauctions.com. Bart Starr [photo circa 1964], photo unattributed at citelighter.com. Bart Starr and Paul Hornung [photo from 1962], photo by Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated at si.com/nfl/photos.Jim Ringo [photo circa 1962], photo unattributed at ebay via thepostgame.com. Forrest Gregg [photo circa 1964], photo unattributed at packers.com. Fuzzy Thurston and Paul Hornung [photo circa 1964], photo unattributed at valpoathletics.com.
Henry Jordan and Willie Davis [photo circa 1962], photo Vernon Biever at nfl.com via pinterest.com. Bill Forester [1963 Topps trading card], from footballcardgallery.com. Ray Nitschke [photo circa 1962], photo unattributed at dailydsports.com/ray-nitschke. Herb Adderley [photo from 1961 or '62], photo unattributed at ebay.com via pinterest.com. Jesse Whittenton [photo from 1960], photo unattributed at packers.com. Jim Taylor [photo from 1961], photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Max McGee [photo from 1961], photo by Marvin E. Newman at gettyimages.com.
Willie Wood

Offensive stats leaders on map page,
Bill Wade (Bears) [photo from 1961], photo by Ray Gora/Chicago Tribune at chicagotribune.com. Sonny Jurgensen (Eagles) [photo from 1963], photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Jim Brown (Browns) [photo from 1961], photo by Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated at si.com/nfl/photos/jim-brown-rare-photos. Jim Taylor (Packers) [photo from 1962], photo by Green Bay Press-Gazette via packershistory.net. Tommy McDonald (Eagles) [photo from 1960], photo unattributed at thenumerati.net.

-Blank map by anonymous US federal government employee, at File:StatesU.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Thanks to the contributors at pro-football-reference.com
-Thanks to the contributors at NFL 1961 season (en.wikipedia.org).
Special thanks to Tim Brulia, Bill Schaefer and Rob Holecko of The Gridiron Uniform Database, for giving billsportsmaps.com the permission to use football uniforms illustrations from Gridiron Uniform Database {GUD}.

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