1960s Timeline

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 #