1960s Timeline

Nov. 23, 1961 - The Green Bay Packers mounted two touchdown drives in the rain and mud today and took firm command of the NFL’s Western Division with a 17-9 victory over the Detroit Lions. The Packers pushed over their winning touchdown on Jim Taylor’s one-yard run on the first play of the final quarter. Pvt. Paul Hornung, on weekend pass from the Army, contributed 5 points, including a field goal in the final 38 seconds. A steady downpour pelted the 55,662 fans who watched t

Nov. 20, 1961 - The Green Bay Packers scored 28 points in the second period last night on the passing of Bart Starr for a 35-17 NFL victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Starr, the league’s leading passer, tossed for three touchdowns and set up two others as the Packers raised their record to 8-2, the best in the Western Conference. In their first game since Paul Hornung went on active duty with the Army, the Packers started slowly, but Starr took charge and the game was won. #N

Nov. 19, 1961 - Jimmy Brown, the 228-pound fullback of the Cleveland Browns, had his greatest effort as a professional as the Browns routed the Eagles, 45-24. He rushed for a record total of 242 yards, scored 4 touchdowns, and blocked savagely. The victory for Paul Brown’s bruisers lifted them into a tie with the Eagles for second place behind the Giants. The Giants, who meet the Browns in Cleveland next Sunday, have had success stopping Brown in his four years as a pro. The

Nov. 19, 1961 - Recovering quickly from a stumbling start, the Giants routed the Pittsburgh Steelers, 42-21, today. By winning, the New Yorkers took sole possession of Eastern Conference leadership in the NFL. By improving their won-lost record to 8-2 with their third straight victory, the Giants took a one-game lead over the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, who are tied for second place in the East. Y.A. Tittle, the 35-year-old quarterback obtained from the Forty-Ni

Nov. 17, 1961 - The Boston Patriots rallied today when an Oakland fourth-quarter punt bounced off the goal posts and defeated the Raiders, 20-17, in an American Football League game. The Oakland punter, Wayne Crow, was kicking from deep in his own end zone when the ball struck an upright after a bad snap from center at 2:20 of the final period. A Boston defensive end, Leroy Moore, pounced on the loose ball in the Raider end zone for the winning touchdown. A last-second 61-yar

Nov. 17, 1961 - The Green Bay Packers signed Ben Agajanian (pictured), a 41-year-old kicker, today to take over part of Paul Hornung’s duties. Agajanian will play in Green Bay in Sunday’s NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams. Agajanian formerly played with the Rams and Giants. He was waived out of the American Football League by the Dallas Texans earlier in the day. While playing in college, Agajanian had four toes of his kicking foot crushed in a work accident and then ampu

Nov. 12, 1961 - The Giants stormed to a 38-21 victory over the Eagles today before a roaring crowd of 62,800 at Yankee Stadium. As a result of the triumph, Coach Allie Sherman’s New Yorkers moved into a tie with Philadelphia’s 1960 NFL champions for first place in the Eastern Conference. Scoring the first two times they had possession of the ball, the Giants built their margin to 24-7 by halftime, scoring twice more in the third period for a 38-7 advantage before they allowed

Nov. 6, 1961 - The 7 National Football League games yesterday drew 353,084 spectators for a 1-day league record. The top crowd was 62,723 at Cleveland, where the Browns were upset by the Steelers. The average crowd was 50,440. Three games in the rival American Football League yesterday drew 61,982 fans. The two first-place teams in the NFL currently are the Eagles in the Eastern Conference and the Packers in the West. In the AFL, the top two teams are the Patriots in the East

Nov. 5, 1961 - John Unitas and his Baltimore Colt offense came alive with a vengeance today and ripped the Green Bay Packers, 45-21, in an NFL upset. The Packers had yielded only 68 points in 7 previous games and had won the last 6. The Colts, gaining revenge for a 45-7 shellacking by the Packers last month, appeared to catch fire on a spectacular run by Lenny Moore just before the first half ended. It put the Colts ahead, 21-14, and they smashed the Packers on both offense a

Oct. 29, 1961 - The Green Bay Packers, paced by the running of Paul Hornung and the passing of Bart Starr, struck for 3 touchdowns in the first half today and held on for a 28-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Starr passed for two touchdowns and Hornung for one. The game was the last before the scheduled Army call-up of Ray Nitschke and Boyd Dowler of the Packers. Hornung was injured early in the second half and didn’t return to action. He has a ten-day medical deferment

Oct. 29, 1961 - Sonny Jurgensen’s 41-yard touchdown pass to Tommy McDonald in the last 16 seconds enabled the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Washington Redskins, 27-24, today. The play sent Washington to its seventh straight defeat of the season and its fifteenth straight in two seasons. The Eagles, who won the NFL title last year, appeared beaten when the Redskins took a 24-20 lead with 51 seconds to play. But the Eagles prevailed and have now taken over first place form th

Oct. 27, 1961 - Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers, originally scheduled for active Army duty next Monday, was directed today to take another physical examination requiring a ten-day hospital stay. Hornung, 26 years old and unmarried, previously was scheduled to report Monday for active Army duty at Fort Riley, Kan. He has suffered from a pinched neck nerve, which has sidelined him several times. The Army’s summoning of Hornung, Ray Nitschke, and Boyd Dowler of the Green B

Oct. 22, 1961 - With Billy Wade (right) throwing 4 touchdown passes, the Chicago Bears defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-0, in an NFL game today. The 49ers, who had scored 122 points in their last 3 games, were halted by a 5-2-4 defense that recovered three fumbles and intercepted three passes. The teams battled on even terms well into the second quarter before Wade passed to Mike Ditka (left), a rookie, for 22 yards. Wade’s next pass hit John Farrington for the game’s fir

Oct. 22, 1961 - Charlie Conerly, one of the NFL’s great clutch players, led the New York Giants to a comeback 24-14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams today. Reactivated by Coach Allie Sherman, the 40-year-old quarterback from Mississippi fired touchdown passes of 10 and 37 yards to Kyle Rote and Del Shofner. These scoring strikes, accomplished within a 2-minute-3-second span in the closing stages of the fourth quarter, wiped out the 14-10 lead the Rams had gained. A Yankee St

Oct. 17, 1961 - Paul Hornung (pictured), the leading scorer in the NFL, was called to active duty by the Army today, together with Ray Nitschke, his teammate on the Green Bay Packers. Though both Hornung and Nitschke are members of the Army Reserve, their call to active duty shocked the Packers, who are tied for first place in the league’s Western Conference. The 14th Army Corps headquarters in Minneapolis said that Hornung had been ordered to report to the 896th Engineer Co.

Oct. 15, 1961 - Jim Taylor (pictured), Green Bay’s league-leading rusher, put on a one-man show today as the Packers routed the Browns, 49-17, before 75,042 fans in Cleveland. Taylor scored 4 touchdowns on runs ranging from 1 to 45 yards. He gained 158 yards in 21 carries and took a strong lead over Jim Brown of Cleveland — the NFL’s leading rusher the past 4 years — for the season’s rushing laurels. In 5 games this season, Taylor has 518 yards in 81 tries to Brown’s 387 in 9

Oct. 15, 1961 - The New York Giants, led by quarterback Y.A. Tittle (pictured) and showing their best display of offense this season, continued today to be a mighty tough team to beat on the road. Adding touches of spectacular defense, including Erich Barnes’s 102-yard touchdown run with an intercepted pass, Coach Allie Sherman’s team made a sweep of its four-game trip today by whipping the Dallas Cowboys, 31-10. The Cotton Bowl crowd, estimated at 42,500, was the largest in

Oct. 13, 1961 - George Blanda kicked a 25-yard field goal five seconds before the final gun today to give the Houston Oilers a 31-31 tie with the Boston Patriots in an AFL game. The game was marked by the record passing performance of Jackie Lee (pictured). Lee, who tossed for more than 400 yards in shattering the league mark of 375, raced the clock after Boston grabbed a 31-28 edge on a Butch Songin-to-Gino Cappelletti pass 50 seconds from the end. Boston tried to give Houst

Oct. 8, 1961 - Paul Hornung (#5, far right) of the Green Bay Packers put on a scoring show today in a 45-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts. Hornung broke the Packer single-game scoring record by rolling up 33 points on 4 touchdowns, a field goal, and 6 extra points. He gained 111 yards in 11 carries. The Packers intercepted five passes by Johnny Unitas and one by Lamar McHan. Green Bay is now 3-1. #NFL #football #footballplayer #footballgame #footballseason #footballislife #