Aug. 1, 1964 - Professional football moves out of the training camps and onto the playing fields this week with Friday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and the College All-Stars at Chicago leading the way.
Before another Sunday arrives, all 22 teams in the two major leagues except the Pittsburgh Steelers will have played a game.
The Steelers drew a first-week bye because the Bears play the collegians in the annual game at Soldier Field. That means one of the 14 teams in the NFL must sit out the first week. As a result, Buddy Parker’s Steelers will play only four exhibitions instead of the five scheduled for the others.
The return of Paul Hornung to action with Green Bay against the St. Louis Cardinals, a top Eastern Conference title hope, will focus attention on their Saturday night game in New Orleans.
The New York Giants, defending champions of the East, will test their revamped ballclub for the first time Saturday night in the home park of Norm Van Brocklin’s Minnesota Vikings.
Joe Kuharich, who has been trading and shuffling the Philadelphia Eagles since he took over as head coach, will try to put the pieces together against Baltimore Saturday night in Hersey, Pa.
Sonny Jurgensen, Washington’s new quarterback, and Sam Huff of Giant fame will play their first game with the Redskins Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C., against the Detroit Lions.
Dallas, minus injured Buddy Dial but with Tommy McDonald in the lineup, will play its first of three West Coast games Saturday night in Los Angeles against Harland Svare’s Rams.
The American Football League has two Saturday night exhibition openers. The New York Jets will take on the Buffalo Bills in Tampa, Fla., and Denver will play the defending champion San Diego Chargers at San Diego.
Next Sunday, Houston will be at Boston and Kansas City at Oakland in the AFL and Cleveland at San Francisco in the NFL.
Dick Modzelewski of Cleveland, formerly of the Giants, has the longest consecutive game streak of active players in the NFL with 138. Leo Nomellini of the 49ers, who retired after the 1963 season, holds the record of 174 games.
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