[Editor’s note: Welcome back to the return of “Collector’s Corner” to Uni Watch. Although no longer run by Brinke Guthrie, it has been ably resurrected by Chris Weir. Chris approached me about restarting CC, vowing to uphold the old look and style, but with one new twist: he will make each edition timely with what is going on currently in the sports world (i.e. rivalry games, big events, anniversary of events). Enjoy and please give Chris some feedback about the new (old) feature. — PH]
by Chris Weir
We’ll take a break from eBay this week and look at some of the highlights from Hunt Auctions’ annual Super Bowl Auction. You can examine the auction rules here.
• Would a 30 Inch Long Football increase your home’s value?
• I’m all for bringing back Usher hats and Uniforms.
• This Promotional Poster for Super Bowl I is fantastic but what I love the most is that it also advertises the “NFL Runner-Up Bowl” which was also known as the “Playoff Bowl.” Yes the NFL had a third place game up until 1970.
• Art Modell will forever be hated in Cleveland for moving the team but I hate him for getting rid of Brownie the Elf. Stick it to Modell by wearing this pre-Modell era Brownie the Elf Jacket.
• This Washington Locker Room Sign would be hanging in my den next week if it only had a Washington logo or something attributing it to the team.
• A few weeks back I featured a photo of Davey O’Brien wearing a College All Star Game uniform. Here is a Uniform from the 1945 College All Star game.
• Looks like this Game is a precursor to “Electric Football.”
• Here’s a Dolphins Pennant featuring a Dolphinfish, a.k.a Mahi-mahi, and here’s a Bears Pennant featuring a wolf.
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The football is 30 inches, not feet
link
I should have caught that. I assumed when they said “enormous” they meant feet and not inches. That’s only about twice the size of a normal football.
But now I want to see a 30-foot football.
Ok, so I’m looking at the First Super Bowl poster. Very cool and great artwork. Than I noticed something weird, NFL third place game. What the hell is that, got to be joke or obvious mistake. Lo and behold I do a little google, to my amazement there it was something I never heard of before The Playoff Bowl. 1960 to 1969, 10 games total. Played as third place game for NFL teams only, not including AFL teams prior to merger. This game even counted with win/ loss status in playoff standings. Wow you learn something new each day.
The NCAA Tournament had a third place game up until 1982 as well.
As you might imagine, players were not pleased to have to play in the Playoff Bowl, after the disappointment of just missing out on the championship game; the only real positive was the extra paycheck, which was pretty important back in an era where most NFL players had off season jobs to make ends meet. It’s hard to imagine players putting up with such a thing, but in those days – most of the players were conditioned to do what they were told, although I think I remember stories of Dallas QB Don Meredith blowing off the game, much to the displeasure of coach Tom Landry.
By contrast, the Pro Bowl in that era – always played at the LA Coliseum – was a big deal for the league and the players. In 1960 the Eagles won the NFL Championship behind QB Norm Van Brocklin, who was set to retire; he came to the Pro Bowl that year planning to simply hang with the guys, but ended up throwing three touchdown passes in a losing cause in what was his final professional football game.
Correction:
The “enormous” football is 30 INCHES not 30 feet.
I”m with you on Modell! I love the elf for many reasons but the main reason I want it around is because Modell hated it.
How many times have I heard the first Super Bowl was not called Super Bowl yet? That poster seems to contradict that.
The Brownie Jacket is one of the coolest items ever in Collector’s Corner!
I was wondering that myself. The ticket and program from the game refer to it as the “World Championship Game.” I watched the NFL Films recap of the game and from the onset they call it the “Super Bowl” so it seems like the term was around.