Nov. 12, 1963 - Commissioner Joe Foss of the American Football League (pictured with President Kennedy and George McGovern last year) took issue today with a claim that the AFL would lose prestige in any championship game with the National Football League. Foss admitted the AFL would be the underdog in any playoff “within the next year or two” but said he could not agree that a possible defeat would set back the league several years. Pete Retzlaff, Eagles tight end and president of the NFL Players’ Association, had said the AFL would lose prestige in any championship game with the NFL “right now.” He added that the players, of course, would welcome a playoff because it would mean another payday. Refuting any notion of perpetual future dominance by the NFL, Foss said: “That would be like saying the Los Angeles Dodgers destroyed the New York Yankees for all time because they swept the baseball World Series in four straight games.” Foss said he was certain an AFL-NFL title game was inevitable.
