billsportsmaps.com

September 24, 2018

American Football League: 1960 AFL season, map with helmets/jerseys & final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Houston Oilers. /+ Chart of Average Attendance, NFL vs. AFL (the 10 years they were in competition: 1960-69), including NFL/AFL/Super Bowl title-winners in the 1960s.

afl_1960_1st-season_map_w-final-standings_o-stats-leaders_champions-houston-oilers_post_m_.gif
American Football League: 1960 AFL season, map with helmets/jerseys and final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Houston Oilers




By Bill Turianski on 24 September 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-1960 AFL season
-1960 AFL Championship Game (en.wikipedia.org).
-1960 AFL season (pro-football-reference.com).

The map… The map shows the 8 teams in the inaugural season of the American Football League (IV) (1960). At the lower-right of the map-page are the final standings of the 1960 AFL, along with home jerseys and helmets of the 8 AFL teams of 1960. At the bottom-right corner are the attendance figures for the 1960 AFL. The map lists all 8 original venues of the 8 charter members of the AFL, and it shows every location that the 8 original AFL teams have played in (1960-69 in AFL, 1970-2018 in NFL). At the upper-right of the map-page are standout players for the champions, the 1960 Houston Oilers. Below that are 1960 AFL offensive leaders in the following categories: Passing Yardage, Frank Tripucka, Denver Broncos. QB Rating, Tom Flores, Oakland Raiders. TD Passes, Al Dorow, New York Titans. Rushing Yardage and Yards from Scrimmage, Abner Haynes, Dallas Texans. Receiving Yards, Bill Groman, Houston Oilers. Total TDs, Art Powell, New York Titans.

The AFL versus the NFL…
In the late 1950s, just as the NFL was becoming a vastly popular sporting entertainment to millions of Americans, here is what the 12-team NFL thought about expansion, as represented by a quote from the Washington owner George Preston Marshall: “There is no excuse for expansion in the National Football League. We furnish football now, for free, through television. Expansion can only weaken the personnel.” The AFL proved this to be a fallacy. Principal founder of the AFL Lamar Hunt, co-founder Bud Adams, the other AFL owners, and all the players who played in the AFL, would prove that there was plenty of room for more pro football teams in America.

In 1960, the AFL started with 8 teams, and the eight ownership groups were dubbed “the Foolish Club”.
To a man, the NFL front office, as well as the front offices of all the 12 established NFL teams, were quite sure the AFL would soon be a bust. But by the mid-1960s, the NFL had realized that the AFL was for real. By the close of the 1965 season, the American Football League, after 6 seasons, had basically become a significant rival to the NFL. The AFL had increased its attendance remarkably. The AFL went from averaging 16 K per game in their first season in 1960, to averaging 31 K per game five years later in 1965. The AFL’s television contract with NBC, and the several major stadiums being built for AFL teams, were indications that in the late 1965/early 1966 time period, the AFL was starting to look like it was a success, a success that could only threaten the NFL. And the AFL was planning on expansion [the Miami Dolphins joined the AFL in 1966 and the Cincinnati Bengals became the 10th AFL team in 1968].

The AFL had a ten-year battle with the NFL that saw the AFL gradually gain more popularity, as the decade of the 1960s wore on. The first indication that the new AFL might be able to challenge the NFL was when the Houston Oilers signed 1959 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon [of LSU], despite the fact that the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams had signed Cannon two months earlier (the Oilers owner Bud Adams had offered Cannon $3,000 more per season plus a Cadillac). In June 1960, the Oilers’ record-breaking $110,000 contract with Cannon was upheld in court, and the AFL had poached the biggest prospect from out of the hands of the NFL. (The speedy Cannon went on to be the MVP of the 1960 AFL Championship Game {see illustration at the end of this post}.)

A major way in which the AFL was able grab the attention of sports fans was its style of play.
While the NFL of this era centered on the stodgy running game, the AFL was based on the decidedly more exciting passing game, throwing downfield play after play. Visionary head coach Sid Gillman of the Chargers introduced the vertical offense, stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes. Gillman and his proteges were instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today. But it wasn’t just the Chargers that were emphasizing the passing game in the new AFL: most teams there were doing it. And the league’s first champions, the Houston Oilers, under head coach Lou Rymkus, won titles with an aggressive passing game.

Rejected NFL QB George Blanda came out of retirement to join the Houston Oilers as a 33-year-old.
Blanda had been QB/K for the Chicago Bears from 1950-58, but he retired when he learned that George Halas intended to demote him to only placekicking duties. So when the AFL got started up, Blanda realized he could get another shot as a starting QB. And so, in 1960 and ’61, Blanda led the Houston Oilers to the first two AFL titles, setting a TD passing record that stood for 23 years. Blanda threw 36 TD passes in 1961. (That record was matched by YA Tittle of the NFL’s New York Giants two years later in 1963, and was not beaten until the NFL added 2 games to the season, and was first surpassed by Dan Marino in 1984; and is now held by Tom Brady with 50 TD passes.) One of Blanda’s main targets as he led the Oilers to those two consecutive AFL titles was Charlie Hennigan. Hennigan was a WR who had played for a small college in Louisiana (Northwestern State), and he had never gotten a chance in the NFL. He was working as a high school football coach and Biology teacher before the AFL came along. In 1961, Hennigan had 12 TD Receptions and his 1,746 yards receiving that season was a pro football record that stood for 34 years.

So much for the idea that more pro football teams circa 1960 would result in a weaker on-field product. Here were two guys – Blanda and Hennigan – who were shut out of the NFL, but who went on to glory in the new AFL, setting records that stood for decades. And again, with the record Blanda set in 1961 (as a 34-year-old), we’re talking about a record set for TD passes, one of the most exciting plays in pro sports. Here was the AFL in a nutshell: more chances for the players, and more excitement for the fans.

Average Attendance, NFL vs. AFL (the 10 years they were in competition: 1960-69); plus NFL/AFL/Super Bowl title-winners in the 1960s…
afl_vs_nfl_attendance_1960-69_title-winners_super-bowl_i-iv_winners_chart_h_.gif
Source for attendance figures: pdf at ProFootballResearchers.org [Coffin Corner newsletter, Sept 1991, by Bob Carroll], profootballresearchers.org/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/13-04-430.pdf. Helmet illustrations from gridiron-uniforms.com.

And so in the summer of 1966, the NFL headed off the threat of a mutually destructive competition between the two leagues, and negotiated a merger with the AFL. This merger created the Super Bowl in the 1967 season, setting the stage for a full AFL/NFL merger in 1970.

In 1959 there were 12 NFL teams, and absolutely no plans for expansion, despite its ever-growing popularity. And, it must be added, despite the fact that there were a whole host of cities shut out of the NFL and clamoring for expansion teams. In 1970, thanks to the success of the AFL, there were 26 NFL teams…and more to come.

In a ten-year-span, the AFL cut the crowd-size difference between the two leagues by almost ten thousand per game (9.8 K). By 1969, 7 of the 10 AFL teams were drawing over 40-K-per-game (NY Jets at 63 K, Oakland Raiders at 53 K, Kansas City Chiefs at 49 K, Denver Broncos at 46 K, San Diego Chargers at 46 K, Houston Oilers at 44 K, Buffalo Bills at 40 K). The AFL went from drawing a quasi-bush league 16.5-K-per-game in their first season, to drawing a very respectable 40.6-K-per-game in their final season of 1969. That was an increase of over 24,000 per game.
(Source: THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE ATTENDANCE, 1960-69 [pdf].)

And crucially, by the 1968 and 1969 seasons, the AFL became legitimate where it mattered the most…on the field.
In the end, the AFL proved to be the equal of the NFL by the very fact that the last two match-ups between an AFL team and an NFL team ended with the AFL team being the victor. In the 1968 season, the AFL’s New York Jets shocked the sporting world by beating the favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. And in the 1969 season, the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs upended the favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

So in 1970, all 10 teams of the AFL joined the NFL.
This is the only time in the 140-plus-year history of major league sports in the United States and Canada that a competing pro league was fully absorbed into the established pro league, on an equal basis, with no strings attached. Every other such major-leagues-merger was done piecemeal, where the established league got to pick and choose from the rival-league’s roster of teams, and then dictate the terms. Such as with the 8 American Association teams that joined the National League between 1887 to 1892. And such as with the 3 AAFC teams that joined the NFL in 1950. And as with the 4 ABA teams that joined the NBA in 1976. And as with the 4 WHA teams that joined the NHL in 1979. The NFL, circa the late 1950s, had bolted the door on cities like Houston and Boston and Denver and Buffalo and Oakland (and San Diego and Kansas City and Miami). But a decade later, they had to let the whole lot of them in.

57 minute video: Rebels with a Cause: the Story of the American Football League (video uploaded by FWP Film Network at youtube.com).

1960: original AFL teams from the Northeast (Boston Patriots, New York Titans, Buffalo Bills). [Boston Patriots changed name to New England Patriots in 1971; New York Titans changed name to New York Jets in 1963]. Shown on the map-segment below are all the venue-locations of the Patriots franchise, the Bills franchise, and the Titans/Jets franchise (1960-2018).
Original helmets, and primary logos, shown. With all locations the teams have played in (1960-2018).
afl-1960_boston-patriots_ny-titans_buffalo-bills_map_northeastern-usa_c_.gif

1960: original AFL teams from the Southwest (Houston Oilers, Dallas Texans [II]) [Houston Oilers (1960-96) moved to Memphis, TN (1997), and then to Nashville, TN (1998) and became the Tennessee Titans (1999); Dallas Texans (1960-62) moved to Kansas City, MO in 1963, and became the Kansas City Chiefs.].
Original helmets, and primary logos, shown. Shown on the map-segment below are all the venue-locations of the Texans/Chiefs franchise, and the Oilers/Titans franchise (1960-2018).
afl-1960_houston-oilers_dallas-texans_map_southwest-usa_c_.gif

1960: original AFL team from the Mountain West (Denver Broncos).
Original helmet, and primary logo, shown.
afl-1960_denver-broncos_map_mountain-west-usa_c_.gif

1960: original AFL teams from the West Coast (Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders) [Los Angeles Chargers (1960) moved to San Diego in 1961 (San Diego Chargers 1961-2016), and then moved back to Los Angeles in 2016; Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles in 1982 (Los Angeles Raiders 1982-94), and then moved back to Oakland in 1995]. Original helmets, and primary logos, shown. Shown on the map-segment below are all the venue-locations of the Chargers franchise, and the Raiders franchise (1960-2018).
afl-1960_los-angeles-chargers_oakland-raiders_map_west-coast-usa_d_.gif

    Houston Oilers, the 1960 AFL champions…

houston-oilers_1960_afl-champions_jeppesen-stadium_oilers-24_chargers-16_george-blanda_billy-cannon_k_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Chargers and Oilers 1960 helmets/jerseys by gridiron-uniforms.com/[1960 AFL title game]. George Blanda (close-up shot) screenshot from Full Color Football #1 uploaded by TheAFLHistory at youtube.com. George Blanda takes a snap in 1960 AFL title game, photo unattributed at fs64sports.blogspot.com/2010/01/1961-oilers-defeat-chargers-for-first-[afl-title-game]. Billy Cannon, photo unattributed at fanbase.com. Blanda to Cannon for 88-yrad-TD, 3 screenshots from Full Color Football #1 uploaded by TheAFLHistory at youtube.com. Oilers 1960 uniform, illustration by Gridiron Uniforms Database: gridiron-uniforms.com/[Seasons/1960/AFL/Oilers]. Shot from Oiler 1961 training camp, photo by NFL/Getty Images via smithsonianmag.com/history/the-american-football-leagues-foolish-club.

___
Houston Oilers, on map page
Screenshot of AFL founders, Hunt and Adams, from video uploaded by Rusty Brewer at youtube.com.
Oilers players on bench [photo circa 1961], screenshot from Full Color Football #1 uploaded by TheAFLHistory at youtube.com. Reproduction of 1960-61 Houston Oilers helmet, photo from supersportscenter.com. George Blanda [image from 1962], screenshot from Full Color Football #1 uploaded by TheAFLHistory at youtube.com. George Blanda [photo circa 1961], photo unattributed at fs64sports.blogspot.com. Billy Cannon [circa 1960 photo, later colorized by John Turney], unattributed at pinterest.com but originally from nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com. Billy Cannon and Rich Michael [photo circa 1961], photo unattributed at profootballhof.com. Dave Smith [photo from 1961], photo by Hy Peskin/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Al Jamison [1961 Fleer trading card], unattributed at pinterest.com. Mark Johnston [photo from 1960], photo by Neil Leifer/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Bill Groman [1961 Fleer card], from amazon.com.


Offensive stats leaders on map page,
Frank Tripucka, [1961 Fleer trading card], from tradingcarddb.com. Tom Flores [1961 Fleer trading card], from footballcardgallery.com. Al Dorow [photo from 1st Titans game v Buffalo at Polo Grounds], photo by Ernie Sisto/New York Times at nytimes.com. Abner Haynes, [photo circa 1962], photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Bill Groman [photo from 1960 AFL title game (on Jan. 1 1961)], photo by Darryl Norenberg via espn.com. Art Powell [photo from 1960 versus Oilers at Polo Ground], photo by Neil Leifer/Getty Images via gettyimages.com.

Thanks to,
-Blank map by anonymous US federal government employee, at File:StatesU.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Thanks to Sportslogos.net for 1960-era AFL team logos. -Thanks to Buffalo Bills official site for original Bills logo (1960-61). -Thanks to Infinite Jets blog for hard-to-find full-color NY Titans logo.
-Thanks to the Pro Football Researchers.org, via their Coffin Corner newsletter, for this THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE ATTENDANCE, 1960-69 [pdf].
-pro-football-reference.com.
-Thanks to the contributors at AFL 1960 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}.

September 14, 2018

2018-19 Football League One (3rd division England): map w/ 17/18-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division./+ 4 promoted clubs for the 2018-19 3rd division (Accrington Stanley, Luton Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Coventry City).

Filed under: 2018-19 English football,Eng-3rd Level/League One — admin @ 8:38 am

2018-19_football-league-one_map_w-2018-crowds_titles_seasons-in-1st-division_post_b_.gif
2018-19 Football League One (3rd division England): map w/ 17/18-crowds-&-finish + titles-&-seasons-in-1st-division



By Bill Turianski on 14 September 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-2018-19 EFL League One (en.wikipedia.org).
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…LEAGUE ONE [Summary] (soccerway.com).
-Sky Bet League One 2018 – 2019 [kits] (historicalkits.co.uk).

A brief re-cap of 2017-18 League One [the 3rd division]…
Promoted to the 2nd division…Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Rotherham United {see this post: billsportsmaps.com/?p=45287}.
Relegated from the 2nd division down to the 3rd division are…Barnsley, Burton Albion, Sunderland.
Relegated from the 3rd division down to the 4th division are…Oldham Athletic, Northampton Town, Milton Keynes, Bury.
Promoted up from the 4th division and into the 3rd division are the four clubs profiled below…

    Below: the 4 promoted clubs for the 2017-18 3rd division (Accrington Stanley, Luton Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Coventry City).

•Accrington Stanley FC.
Est. 1968. Nicknames: Accie; Stanley. Colours: Red shirts, Red pants, Red socks. Location: Accrington is in Lancashire, located right between Blackburn and Burnley: Accrington is (by road) 6 mi/10 km E of Blackburn and Accrington is 6 mi/10 km W of Burnley. Accrington is situated (by road) 23 miles (37 km) N of Manchester city centre; and Accrington is situated (by road) 231 miles (378 km) NW of London. Population of Accrington: around 35,000 {2011 census}.
Manager of Accrington Stanley: John Coleman (age 55; born in Liverpool). John Coleman was 2018 League Two Manager of the Year.

-From Guardian/football, Accrington Stanley: how the ‘starving peasants’ rocked the natural order (by Niall McVeigh on 18 April 2018 at theguardian.com/football).

Accrington Stanley drew 1,699 per game two seasons ago [2016-17], which was lowest in the Football League (Morecambe drew 5-per-game higher). And Accrington were drawing only 1,663 per game midway through last season [2017-18] (after 11 home matches). But, as the 2017-18 season progressed, and Accrington’s promotion run started to look like the real thing, home crowds grew bigger. Stanley drew 2.3 K in a 3-1 win over FGR on the 17th of March; then Stanley drew 3.0 K in a 1-0 win over Notts County on the 2nd of April [a Monday night match]. Then Stanley drew 3.1 K for the next two home games: a 1-1 draw with Exeter City on Saturday the 14th of April, then a 2-0 win over Yeovil Town four days later [on Tuesday the 17th of April]. That win over Yeovil clinched automatic promotion for Accrington Stanley. For 2017-18 Accrington Stanley ended up averaging 1,979, which was 180 more per game than the previous season of 2016-17. Using last season’s figures Accrington Stanley will be the smallest-drawing club in the 3rd division in 2018-19, by a margin of about 1,100 (Fleetwood Town is the second-lowest drawing club that is in the 3rd tier in 2018-19). As for life in the 3rd tier now, after 8 matches, Accrington are drawing 2.2 K (which is about 5.5 K less than the league average). And Stanley are holding their own, as a solidly upper-mid-table side with, believe it or not, aspirations for a second-straight promotion-run.

2018: Football League minnows Accrington Stanley win their first-ever promotion to the 3rd division…
accrington-stanley_promoted2018_wham-stadium_john-coleman_billy-kee_kayden-jackson_sean-mcconville_h_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
Accrington 17/18 home jersey, from plasticboxshop.co.uk. Rooftop-view of Accrington in Lancashire, photo unattributed at visitlancashire.com/explore/accrington. Aerial shot of the Crown Ground (aka Wham Stadium), photo unattributed at stevenagefc.com. Sign at edge of pitch at the Crown Ground: “This Is Stanley – The Club That Wouldn’t Die”, photo by D&M Williams at mapio.net. Accrington supporters at match in mid-March 2018, photo by Accrington Observer at accringtonobserver.co.uk/news/something-special-stirring-down-accrington.Traveling Stanley supporters celebrate goal/John Coleman thanking supporters/Billy Kee congratulated by Jordan Clark after scoring winning goal, 3 photos from 7th of April match at Colchester, photos by KIPAX via thisislancashire.co.uk/[Gallery: Colchester 0-1 Accrington Stanley]. Kayden Jackson, photo unattributed at lancashiretelegraph.co.uk. Sean McConville, photo unattributed at efl.com. Accrington Stanley fans celebrate promotion to League One (benign pitch invasion), photo by Paul Greenwood/BPI/REX/Shutterstock via theguardian.com/football.

•Luton Town FC.
Est. 1885. Nickname: the Hatters. Colours: Orange shirts, Navy-Blue pants. Location: Luton, Bedfordshire. Luton Town FC. Est. 1885. Nickname: the Hatters. Population: town-population of Luton: around 216,000 {2011 figure}; Luton is situated (by road) 34 miles (55 km) N of Central London.
Manager of Luton Town: Nathan Jones (age 45; born in Ystrad Rhondda, South Wales).

2018: Luton Town returns to the 3rd division after an eleven-year absence (which included a 5-year spell in non-League)…
luton-town_promoted-2018_kenilworth-road_nathan-jones_dan-potts_alan-sheehan_jack-stacey_luke-berry_danny-hylton_james-collins_k_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
17/18 Luton Town jersey, photo from lutontown.co.uk/shop. Aerial shot of Kenilworth Road [view from the South], photo by David Goddard at gettyimages.co.uk. 3 17/18 kits of Luton Town [illustration], by historicalkits.co.uk/2017-2018/league-two. Aerial shot of Kenilworth Road [view from the East], photo by pictionair.co.uk. Interior shot of Kenilworth Road, photo by ProSportsImages.co.uk via the72.co.uk. Jack Stacey, photo from lutontown.co.uk. Alan Sheehan, photo unattributed at lutontoday.co.uk/football. Dan Potts, photo unattributed at lutontoday.co.uk/football. Luke Berry, photo unattributed at twitter.com/@LutonTown. Danny Hylton, photo by Michael Zemanek/BPI via dailymail.co.uk/football. James Collins, photo by PPA-UK/Rex/Shutterstock via dailymail.co.uk/football. Nathan Jones, photo from lutontown.co.uk.

•Wycombe Wanderers FC.
Est. 1887. Nickname: the Chairboys. Colours: Quartered shirts of Navy-Blue (Oxford Blue) and Pale-Blue (Cambridge Blue). Location: High Wycombe [aka Wycombe], in Buckinghamshire. Wycombe is situated (by road) 27 miles (44 km) SE of Oxford. Wycombe is situated (by road) 33 miles (53 km) NW of London. Population of High Wycombe: around 125,000 {2011 census}.
Manager: Gareth Ainsworth (age 45; born in Blackburn, Lancashire).

2018: Wycombe Wanderers win promotion back to the 3rd division (after a 6-year spell in the 4th division)…
wycombe-wanderers_promoted-2018_adams-park_gareth-ainsworth_adebayo-akinfenwa_adam-el-abd_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
17/18 WWFC jersey, from oneills.com/wycombe-wanderers. Stained-glass window at High Wycombe Guildhall, marking the end of the First World War [made circa 1919], photo by Thorskegga Thorn at flickr.com. 3 Wycombe Wanderers chained-goose crests (1930s, 1990s, 1999) from historicalkits.co.uk/Wycombe_Wanderers. Exterior shot of Adams Park, by DipsyDave at File:Adams Park from a northerly direction.JPG (commons.wikimedia.org). Interior shots of Adams Park, 2 photos (North [main] Stand and South Stand), by StHelena at stadiumdb.com/[Adams Park]; (StHelena at flickr.com). Adam El-Abd , photo unattributed at bucksfreepress.co.uk. Adebayo Akinfenwa, photo unattributed at liverpoolecho.co.uk/football. Wycombe players and manager Ainsworth & traveling fans celebrate promotion [28th April 2018 at Chesterfield], 2 photos by Barry Coombs/PA Images/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Wycombe orange/charcoal-gray badge, from oniells.com.

•Coventry City FC.
Est. 1883. Nickname: the Sky Blues. Colours: Pale-Blue jerseys, White pants. Location: Coventry, West Midlands. Coventry is situated (by road) 21 miles (34 km) E of Birmngham; Coventry is situated (by road) 25 miles (40 km) SW of Leicester. Coventry is situated (by road) 108 miles (174 km) NW of central London. Coventry has a city-&-borough population of around 360,000 {2017 estimate}. Coventry is the 20th-largest built-up area in the UK {source: List of urban areas in the United Kingdom}. Coventry is close to the geographic centre of England.
Manager: Mark Robins (48; born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire [which is now situated in Greater Manchester]).

Below: 2018: Coventry City bounces straight back up to the 3rd division (via a play-off win at Wembley over Exter City)…
coventry-city_promoted-2018_ricoh-arena_mark-robins_lee-burge_jordan-willis_jordan-shipley_jack-grimmer_e_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – CCFC 17/18 jersey from ccfc.co.uk. Coventry city centre, photo by E Gammie at geograph.org.uk. Aerial shot of Ricoh Arena unattributed at psam.uk.com. Lee Burge, photo unattributed at coventrytelegraph.net. Jordan Willis, photo unattributed at skysports.com. Jordan Willis curls in a goal; 1-0 Coventry (49′), photograph by Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via theguardian.com/football/live. Jordan Shipley after putting Coventry City up 2-0 (54′), photo by Birmingham Mail via coventrytelegraph.net/sport. DF Jack Grimmer’s goal makes it 3-0 (68′), screenshot from video uploaded by Coventry City FC at youtube.com. Grimmer & teammates celebrate, photo from ccfc.co.uk/news. Manager Mark Robins lifts trophy, photo from ccfc.co.uk/news.
___
Thanks to all at the following…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-Attendances from E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-England – First Level All-Time Tables 1888/89-2015/16 (rsssf.com).
-Thanks to the contributors at en.wikipedia, at EFL League One (en.wikipedia.org).

September 2, 2018

NFL 1960 season, map with helmets/jerseys & final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Philadelphia Eagles.

Filed under: NFL>1960 map/season,NFL/ Gridiron Football,Retro maps — admin @ 5:22 pm

nfl_1960_map-with-helmets_1960-standings_offensive-stats-leaders_home-jerseys_philadelphia-eagles-champs_post_k_.gif
NFL 1960 season, map with helmets/jerseys & final standings + offensive stats leaders; champions: Philadelphia Eagles




By Bill Turianski on 2 September 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-1960 NFL season
-1960 NFL Championship Game (en.wikipedia.org).
-1960 NFL season (pro-football-reference.com).
-1960 NFL teams’ uniforms (gridiron-uniforms.com).

1960: the NFL is in competition with a new rival league, the American Football League [AFL (IV/1960-69).] (The AFL later merged with the NFL in the 1966-to-1970 time period. The two leagues began playing a championship game starting in 1966 [later named the Super Bowl]; the two leagues’ conferences and schedules were combined in 1970.)

(Note: I will post a map of the American Football League 1960 season, in late September 2018.)

1960 was the NFL’s 41st season. The NFL had 10 teams through most of the 1940s. By the end of 1949, when the NFL’s 4-year battle with rival-league the AAFC ended, 3 of the AAFC franchises joined the NFL…Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts (I). So in 1950 the NFL went from 10 teams to 13 teams. But one of those 3 new teams from the AAFC immediately went defunct [Baltimore Colts I/1950 (1-11)/defunct]. So from 1951 to 1959 (9 seasons), the NFL had 12 teams.

In 1960, the NFL finally expanded past the 12-team size for good, when the Dallas Cowboys joined the league. Which made the NFL of 1960 an unwieldy 13-team league, but for only one season. Because plans were already in the works to add another new franchise, the Minnesota Vikings, for the next season, in 1961. And then two more teams would join the NFL later in the 1960s (to make it a 16-team league): Atlanta in 1966, and New Orleans in 1967.

The map… The map shows the primary helmets and jerseys worn by the 13 NFL teams of 1960 (including the expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys; and including the franchise shift of the NFL Cardinals from Chicago to St. Louis) {also see illustrations further below in the 1960 NFL uniforms section}. Final standings for the 1960 NFL season, along with team-colors worn that season, can be seen at the lower-right of the map. At the far lower-right are the home jerseys/helmets worn in 1960. At the top-right of the map page is a section devoted to the 1960 NFL champions, the Philadelphia Eagles (also see next 11 paragraphs below). At the far-right-hand-center of the map page, are 1960 Offensive leaders in the following categories: QB Rating: Milt Plum, Browns. Passing Yards and TD Passes: Johnny Unitas, Colts. Rushing Yards: Jim Brown, Browns. Yards from Scrimmage: John David Crow, Cardinals. Receiving Yards: Raymond Berry, Colts. Total TDs [tied]: Paul Hornung, Packers & Sonny Randle, Cardinals.

    The Philadelphia Eagles were champions in 1960, beating the Green Bay Packers 17-13.

The 1960 NFL Championship Game featured two teams that had won multiple championships in the past. The Packers had won 6 NFL titles at this point (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944). The Eagles had won 2 NFL titles at this point (1948 and ’49). But both teams had sunk into mediocrity through the 1950s, and both teams had sunk so low as to have been last-place-finishers two seasons earlier, in 1958.

The Packers were coached by second-year head coach Vince Lombardi, who at this point in time was a little-known former offensive coach of the New York Giants. When Lombardi arrived in Green Bay before the start of the 1959 season, the Packers had come off of their worst-ever record in ’58 (1-10-1); Lombardi turned the Packers in ’59 into a 7-5 team. And then the Packers won the West in 1960, with an 8-4 record, finishing one game ahead of the Lions and the 49ers.

The Eagles’ head coach was former San Francisco 49ers head coach Buck Shaw, who had totally re-built the Eagles in a 3-season-span, taking them from 2-9-1 in ’58, to 7-5 in ’59, to a league-best 10-2 in 1960. The Eagles clinched the East in 1960 in week 10 (with 2 games to spare). Buck Shaw was 61 years old, and would retire following the 1960 title game.

The Packers featured a group of players who would go on to further glory (and later induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame), but were relatively unknown at this time…QB Bart Starr, HB/K Paul Hornung, FB Jim Taylor, MLB Ray Nitschke. The Eagles featured 34-year-old QB/P Norm Van Brocklin, who had been part of the 1951 NFL-title-winning Los Angeles Rams, and who had the second-best passing numbers in 1960, behind only Johnny Unitas of the Colts. Van Brocklin had the option to call his own plays, and coach Shaw deferred to him with respect to strategy. Van Brocklin’s main target was the diminutive speedster Tommy McDonald (Flanker). The anchor of the Eagles was two-way player Chuck Bednarik, who was a starter at Center, and was also a much feared and hard-hitting Linebacker. Bednarik, who was 35 at the time, would, amazingly, end up playing 58 of the 60 minutes of the 1960 title game. (Van Brocklin, McDonald and Bednarik, as well as backup-QB sonny Jurgenen, would all later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.)

Back then, the NFL rotated the title game between Eastern and Western champions’ venues. So the 1960 NFL Championship Game was slated to be hosted by the Eastern Conference champions, which meant that the Philadelphia Eagles would host the game at their venue, Franklin Field. Because Christmas fell on a Sunday that year, and because the league did not want to play the game on that big holiday, the game was scheduled for the 26th of December. Franklin Field, which was (and still is) owned by the University of Pennsylvania, had no lighting back then, so the game-time was moved forward to 12 noon, in order to avoid a twilight-gloom if the game went into overtime (as the 1958 NFL title game did). Game-time conditions were less than ideal: although it was a relatively mild 48 °F (9 °C), the field was a thawed frozen surface with scattered puddles, and it became muddy as the game wore on. The Packers, despite being the visiting team, and despite having a worse record than the Eagles, were a 2-to-3-point favorite. On hand was a crowd that numbered considerably more than the venue’s full-capacity (of 60,000)…portable bleachers, seating around 7,000, were installed around the stadium track, and the attendance was 67,325. But still, a local television blackout was enforced (why?), forcing many Eagles fans to drive to New Jersey or to Baltimore to watch the game.

1st Quarter: the Eagles give the ball up twice, deep in their end of the field, but escape with only a 3-point deficit…On the first play after the opening kick-off, Norm Van Brocklin’s deflected lateral was recovered by Packers DE Bill Quinlan, giving the Packers the ball on the Eagle 14. But the Eagles defense held firm: Lombardi went for it on 4th-and-2 from the 6 yard-line, and Chuck Bednarik smothered Packers RB Jim Taylor. The Eagles had the ball now, deep in their own end, but 3 plays later they turned it over again: a fumble was recovered by Packers LB Bill Forester, on the 22-yard line of Philadelphia. However, the Eagles D only gave up one first down, and after 5 plays, Lombadi elected to go for 3 points on 4th down this time, and Paul Hornung converted a 20-yard FG. Then the Eagles and the Packers traded punts; then the Eagles punted again. Then the Packers were driving into Eagles’ territory as the 1st quarter ended…Green Bay 3, Philadelphia 0.

2nd Quarter: an early-2nd-quarter FG by the Packers is answered with 10 points by the Eagles…The Packers’ drive stalled on the 17-yard line, and Hornung made it 6-0, with a 24-yard FG. Then the Eagles and the Packers traded punts. Then the Eagles finally started moving the ball, and scored a lightning-quick TD, after a pair of passes from Van Brocklin to Tommy McDonald (of 22 yards and 35 yards respectively). On the 35-yard-TD-pass, McDonald was knocked out of bounds after crossing the goal-line, right into the first row of the temporary bleachers. It was now 7-6, Eagles. Then the Packers went 3-and-out. The Eagles got the punt on their 26, and then Van Brocklin, now gaining confidence, threw a 41-yard completion to Split-End Pete Retzlaff, who made a fine over-the-head grab, this despite double coverage. Philly got to the Green Bay 8, but after 3 incompletions, they opted to kick, and Eagles K Bobby Walston converted a 15-yard FG. Then, with 3 minutes left in the first half, the Packers drove down the field, but once again failed to score from within the 20-yard-line, this time due to an errant Paul Hornung 17-yard FG-attempt that went wide-left…at Halftime, 10-6, Eagles.

3rd Quarter: no scoring…There were two crucial plays in the 3rd quarter. The first happened with the Packers on the Eagle 26, and driving once again. Paul Hornung was on a sweep; Hornung cut back, and was flattened by Chuck Bednarik and finished off by CB Tom Brookshier. The play put Paul Hornung out of the game (except for his kicking duties), and the pinched-nerve injury that resulted would plague Hornung for the rest of his career. This Packers drive failed (once again), when Jim Taylor was stopped by Bednarik on a 4th-and-2, inches short of the first down marker at the Eagle 24. Then the Eagles put together a drive that came up short when Van Brocklin was intercepted in the end-zone by Packers DB John Symank. Then the Packers went three-and-out. Then the second crucial play of the 3rd quarter occurred: in punt-formation, Green Bay WR/P Max McGee (who had noticed that Philly was not rushing the punter that day) faked the punt and ran up-field, untouched, for a 35-yard gain. The 3rd quarter ended with the Packers driving, at the Eagle 24, after a 14-yard pass play from Bart Starr to WR Gary Knafelc…with the score after 3 quarters: 10-6, Eagles.

4th Quarter: Packers regain the lead, but the Eagles drive to a late TD, and then hold the Packers as time runs out…As the 4th quarter began, the Packers finally found the end zone. From the Eagle 24, Green Bay moved 17 yards via three Jim Taylor runs and an 8-yard run by HB Tom Moore. Then Bart Starr connected with Max McGee for a TD, on a 7-yard slant-play. The Packers, who had gained significantly more first downs and yards throughout the game, reclaimed the lead, 13-10, with 13 minutes left. But the Packers were immediately on their back foot again. Because on the ensuing kickoff, Eagles rookie RB/KR Ted Dean ran it back 58 yards to the Packer 49. Van Brocklin drove the Eagles toward the Packer goal line, but passed the ball only once: 7 plays and a defensive holding found the Eagles on the Packer 5. Then the Greater Philadelphia-born Ted Dean made another huge play, with a five-yard TD run, on a sweep that was led by a key block from Guard Gerry Huth {see a photo of this title-winning play, in the illustration below}. The Eagles had reclaimed the lead (at 17-13), with 5:21 left in the game. The two teams then traded punts (again). Then the Packers got the ball on their 35 with just 1:05 left. They drove deep into Philadelphia territory, to the Eagle 22. With seconds to play (and no time-outs), Starr threw a short pass to Jim Taylor, who got past two defenders to the 8 before Bednarik and DB Bobby Jackson stopped him. Taylor tried to get to his feet, but Bednarik sat on him until time expired; then Chuck Bednarik said, “You can get up now, Jim, this game is over.”

The 1960 NFL title win was the Philadelphia Eagles’ last NFL title until the 2017 season, when the Eagles upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII [52]. As of 2017, the Green Bay Packers would go on to win 7 more NFL titles, including 5 NFL titles in the 1960s alone (among them, the first two Super Bowl titles). The 1960 NFL title game was Vince Lombardi’s only playoff loss in his entire head-coaching-career, a loss he learned something from. He later rued the missed points from chip-shot Field Goals he forsook, saying: “When you get down there, come out with something. I lost the game, not my players.” {-Quote from When Pride Still Mattered, by David Maraniss, via this Jan. 2011 article by Jeré Longman, Eagles’ 1960 Victory Was an N.F.L. Turning Point (nytimes.com/sports).}

Below: 1960 NFL title game: Philadelphia Eagles 17, Green Bay Packers 13.
philadelphia-eagle_1960-nfl-champs_eagles-beat-packers_17-13_franklin-field_norm-van-brocklin_chuck-bednarik_ted-dean_buck-shaw_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above -
1960 Eagles and Packers helmets, illustrations by gridiron-uniforms.com/[1960]. Ticket from 1960 NFL title game, photo from pinterest.com. Franklin Field [view from top of the stands at 1960 title game], photo by AP via philadelphiaeagles.com. Pacers & Eagles captains shake hands after coin toss, photo by Philadelphia Eagles via courierpostonline.com. Norm Van Brocklin handing off to Bill Barnes (action from the 1st quarter), photo by Neil Leifer/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Chuck Bednarik making a tackle, photo by AP/colorization by John Turney at nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com. Rookie HB Ted Dean (#35) scoring the winning TD, a 5-yard run off a block from OG Gerry Huth (#65), photo by AP via nytimes.com/sports. Chuck Bednarik with Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor after 1960 NFL title game, photo by George Silk/Life magazine via flickriver.com. Bednarik, Van Brocklin and Ted Dean celebrate in the locker room with coach Shaw, photo unattributed at packershistory.net.

1960 Philadelphia Eagles: 3 All-Pro players; plus 4 from the ’60 Eagles that were later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Note: All-Pro, below, means: 1960 AP, 1st team.
-Norm Van Brocklin: 1960 All-Pro (QB/P), and 1960 MVL (AP); Van Brocklin was inducted to the HoF in 1971.
-Tom Brookshier: 1960 All-Pro (CB).
-Chuck Bednarik: 1960 All-Pro (LB/C); Bednarik was inducted to the HoF in 1967.
-Sonny Jurgensen: (QB) inducted to the HoF in 1983.
-Tommy McDonald (WR): inducted to the HoF in 1998.

Helmet and uniforms changes for 1960 NFL…
1960: new helmet-logos (Cowboys & Cardinals)…
nfl_1960_2-new-helmet-logos_cowboys_cardinals_d_.gif
1961 NFL teams’ uniforms at Gridiron Uniform Database

-Expansion team (1960 Dallas Cowboys): the Dallas Cowboys wore white helmets their first 3 seasons. (The Cowboys’ distinctive blueish-silver helmet color, and pants color, were not introduced until 1964). The white helmet featured a large, plain dark-royal-blue star, and two thin dark-royal-blue center-stripes. The jerseys had contrasting shoulder-pad sections, with a large star at the top of each shoulder. {1960-63 era Cowboys: Eddie LeBarron and Don Mererdith (tailgatingjerseys.com).} {1960 Dallas Cowboys (gridiron-uniforms.com).}
dallas-cowboys_1963_1964_helmet_b_.gif

-Re-located team: in 1960, the St. Louis Cardinals, having just moved from Chicago to St. Louis, MO, introduced a helmet logo on their white helmets. The logo was a large frowning head of a cardinal (in deep red, with black around the cardinal’s eye, and a yellow beak), with the cardinal’s crest elongated so that, from the back of the helmet, the cardinals’ crests almost touch (you can see that in the link below). In a slightly altered form [2005], this logo remains to this day. Here is a photo of the original frowning-cardinal Cardinals helmet {Ken Grey game-worn 1960 helmet {helmet-hut.com)}. This helmet design is, in my opinion, one of the best ever seen in gridiron football. Especially as the years went by, and more and more NFL teams jumped on the colored-facemask-bandwagon, yet the Cardinals organization decided to keep the grey facemask. The re-design in 2005 made the cardinal more angry-looking in a cartoon-ish way {Cardinals helmet logos (sportslogos.net)} {Cardinals in huddle from 2009 (espn.com/blog)}. But at least the Cardinals kept the grey facemask.
st-louis-cardinals_arizona-cardinals_helmet_1960_2005_d_.gif

Other uniform-changes in the 1960 NFL…
-In 1960, the Philadelphia Eagles switched from silver pants to white pants. {1960 Philadelphia Eagles (gridiron-uniforms.com).}
-In 1960, the San Francisco 49ers added a some center-striping to their silver helmets: three red stripes (a thick stripe flanked by two thin stripes). {Photos, circa 1960-62, of San Francisco 49ers players (twitter.com/helmetaddict).} (The Niners would introduce a helmet-logo in 1962, and would switch from silver helmets and pants, to gold helmets and pants, in 1964.)

The following season of 1961 saw three more NFL teams adopt helmet-logos: in 1961 the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants would introduce helmet-logos, and the expansion-team the Minnesota Vikings would also sport a helmet-logo. So by 1961, of the 14 NFL teams, only four would not be wearing helmet-logos: the Browns, the Steelers, the Bears, and the 49ers. And in the following season of 1962, three of those teams would introduce helmet-logos, leaving only the Browns without a helmet-logo.
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Eagles players on map page,
1960 Eagles uniforms, illustrations by Gridiron Uniforms database at gridiron-uniforms.com/[1960]. Circa 1958 Eagles helmet, photo by Heritage Auctions at ha.com. Circa 1960 Eagles pennant, photo from insidetheparkcollectibles.com. Tommy McDonald [photo circa 1961], photo by Neil Leifer via si.com. Pete Retzlaff [photo circa 1960], photo unattributed at prod.static.eagles.clubs.nfl.com. Ted Dean [1961 Fleer card], from amazon.com. Norm Van Brocklin [photo from Sports Illustrated, Dec. 19 1960], photo unattributed at sacrificefly.blogspot.com. Chuck Bednarik [1961 Fleer trading card], from kronozio.com/1961-Fleer-Chuck-Bednarik. Chuck Bednarik [photo from 1960], photo by Robert Riger/Getty Images via si.com. Tom Brookshier [photo circa 1959], photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Marion Campbell [1960 Topps card], unattributed at pinterest.com. Sonny Jurgensen [photo circa 1961], photo unattributed at pinterest.com.

Offensive stats leaders on map page,
Milt Plum, 1961 Fleer card, from tradingcarddb.com. Johnny Unitas [photo circa 1964], photo by Focus In Sports/Getty Imgaes via pinterest.com. Jim Brown [photo from 1960], photo unattributed at jimbrown.clevelandbrowns.com. John David Crow [photo from 1962], photo by Neil Leifer/Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Raymond Berry [photo circa 1962], photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Sonny Randle [photo circa 1962], photo unattributed at fs64sports.blogspot.com. Paul Hornung, photo by Neil Leifer/Getrty Images via gettyimages.com.
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Thanks to…
-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 1960 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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