CLUTCH FIGGIES CLINCH THREE SUPER BOWLS AND A CRUCIAL PLAYOFF GAME

By Richard Noyes and Pamela Robertson

Patriot Games

New England’s veteran quarterback Drew Bledsoe was injured early in the 2001 season, recovered, but never got his job back. Tom Brady took over and guided the Pats through the regular schedule, the playoffs, and into the big one.

The St. Louis Rams, a two-touchdown favorite, were a high-powered scoring machine that was expected to dominate the Patriots in the 2002 Super Bowl. The unflappable 24-year-old Brady in his second NFL season gave his usual solid performance, kept the Patriots in the game with the help of a hard-bitten defense, and engineered the final drive. 

With the score tied 17-17 and seconds to play, the Pats’ field-goal specialist Adam Vinatieri read the angle on a 48-yard game-winning kick, waited for the snap and placement, and under everything-riding-on-it pressure nailed it. It marked the first Super Bowl ever won on the final play of the game and made Tom Brady the youngest winning quarterback in Super Bowl history. (This record was soon broken. In 2006, 23-year-old Ben Roethlisberger quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.)

The record crowd that turned out for the victory parade on Boston streets a few days later didn’t know that it was the first of several Super Bowl celebrations.

Snowboots

Two weeks earlier, the Oakland Raiders were in New England for a playoff game. Vinatieri, in a prelude to his Super Bowl heroics, kicked two crucial field goals in a snowstorm. The first, a 45-yarder with less then two minutes remaining (the storybook Kick in the Snow, a line drive that could have knocked a bird off the crossbar), tied the game. 

The second a less-demanding, but still difficult kick given the conditions from 23 yards gave the Pats an overtime victory. Placekicking on a snowy surface is about as easy as riding a bicycle around a hockey rink. The kick can be made (as shown by the best clutch placekicker in NFL history), but the results are usually ugly.

NOTE. The Raiders will be forever bitter. Before the tying kick they thought they had recovered a fumble, but on review the referee ruled that Tom Brady’s arm was moving forward as he was tackled. Hmm.

. . .

Has He Ever Missed a Big One?

After a one-year break, the 2004 Patriots put together a 15-game win streak to again reach the Super Bowl, this time against the Carolina Panthers. The teams were well matched, and like the Super Bowl against the Rams two years earlier, the game seesawed. With a minute left, Carolina’s touchdown tied the game 29-29. Tom Brady, calm and precise as always, quickly guided his team into field-goal range, and, like the climax in 2002, Adam Vinatieri came onto the field with the game and season riding on his ability to make the 41-yard kick. Vinatieri (has he ever missed a must field goal?) lined it up, the ball looked good off his foot, and it was.

The 2004 Patriots’ 15-game win streak was the longest since the 1972 Miami Dolphins put together a perfect 17-0 season. New England coach Bill Belichick is a master improviser and probably the best defensive mind in the game. He recruits good athletes who can handle multiple positions: Guards play linebacker and linebackers become receivers, along with other combinations that work. Also, like his intrepid quarterback Tom Brady, Bill Belichick is a forward-looking model of consistency and discipline who knows how to win.

“If you live in the past, you die in the present.” -Bill Belichick

Three Out Of Four

New England played most of the fall of 2004 with a defensive secondary that was decimated by injuries, with two all-star cornerbacks out for the season and the strong safety out for several games. Not to worry, Belichick played Troy Brown his all-Pro wide receiver at cornerback, and the reserve defensive backs stepped up. The Pats cruised through the regular season, went through early 2005 playoff games with the Colts and Steelers with relative ease, and faced the explosive Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

The Patriots had used a 3-4 defense, with three down linemen and four linebackers, most of the season. They switched to a 4-3 setup for the Super Bowl, confused the formidable Philadelphia offensive line enough to keep the dangerous quarterback Donovan McNabb from breaking out, and sacked him four times. The icily efficient Brady connected with receiver Deion Branch for a record-tying ten Super-Bowl receptions. And although Adam Vinatieri’s field goal was not last second, it was the margin of the 24-21 New England victory, and a mini-dynasty was born.

Because of his strong and accurate throwing arm, ability to see the entire field, and serene leadership under extreme pressure, New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady is often compared to his idol the eminent Joe Montana. Like Brady, Montana was a master of late-game comebacks.

Eli and the G-Men

It was typical younger brother measured against a preferred older brother: Peyton Manning, record-setting all-Pro, Super Bowl-winning darling of the media. Eli, the sibling struggling with fumbles, interceptions, and the unrelenting boos of a satisfied-with-nothing-but-victory New York crowd seeing too many defeats and two consecutive years of first-round playoff losses.

Suddenly, as it does for most successful NFL quarterbacks: Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, it all came together for Eli Manning. With the 2007 New York Giants’ record at 3-5 and the season slipping away, a refreshed and composed Manning led the Giants through a string of wins leading to a wild card playoff berth. The regular season ended with a road game against the 15-0 New England Patriots. The Pats kept their perfect season intact with a 38-35 victory, but the Giants, who fearlessly played their regulars in an otherwise meaningless game, learned that they could compete with New England, and the team found certitude.

Enough certitude to win three straight playoff games on the road, with the NFC championship game played in sub-zero Green Bay. Eli Manning outplayed Packer-immortal Brett Favre in a contest won by a last-second field goal, booted after the kicker had already missed three shorter ones. Meanwhile, the Patriots won two playoff games, and at 18-0 were odds-on Super Bowl favorites. (Contrary to folklore, everything that happens in Las Vegas doesn’t always stay in Las Vegas. A lot of smart money bet on the Giants and against the 12-point Patriots’ spread left Sin City.)

The 2007 Patriots set several single-season scoring records: 589 total points, 50 passing touchdowns from Tom Brady (surpassing Peyton Manning’s 49), and 75 total touchdowns. Randy Moss caught 23 touchdown passes breaking the record set by Jerry Rice, the master of them all.

A juicy back-story made the Patriots the villains of the piece. They had been fined by the league and also forced to forfeit a first-round draft choice for videotaping the New York Jets defensive setups earlier in the year. In addition, they were accused of videotaping the St. Louis Rams before they beat them in the 2002 Super Bowl.

The mutual loathing in the New York-Boston rivalry was palpable. Payback for Boston’s 2007 World Series win would be delicious for New York fans who were also depressed by the Celtics’ resurgence and the Knicks’ woeful play. Adding to the Super Sunday theatricals, the Patriots were attempting to complete the first undefeated season since the Miami Dolphins went 17-0 in 1972. Also, a New England win would match the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49’ers four Super Bowl titles.

Tom Brady is virtually unbeatable when given time to throw. The Giants had the best pass rush in the NFL, and the name of their game was get to Brady. They got to Brady early and upset his game. Despite their sluggish play, the Patriots led at halftime by an abnormally low 7-3 score.

Like most football games, it was won in the trenches. The Patriots’ offensive line which, up until this game, had protected the wonder-working Brady, couldn’t control the Giants defensive line, and the Patriots defensive lineup didn’t pressure Manning much and only sacked him once. However, despite repeated sacks, knockdowns, and rushed passes, Brady didn’t throw an interception and played a respectable game with the Giants’ defense in his face all night. (Pats’ receiver Wes Welker had a Super Bowl record-tying 11 catches and was runner-up MVP.)

An early fourth-quarter Giants’ drive gave them a 10-7 edge. With two and a half minutes left in the game, a Giants’ cornerback appeared to trip on the goal line, and Brady hit Moss in the end zone. 14-10. The kickoff put the Giants deep in their own territory. Eli Manning coolly led the Giants’ final drive, although he nearly threw a game-clinching interception.

The defining moment came near midfield when Manning slipped out of the grasping hands of Patriots’ defenders, eluding what looked like a probable, third-down sack, and launched an interception-bound floater to David Tyree in triple coverage at the twenty-five yard line. Tyree and the laudable Patriots’ safety Rodney Harrison were wrapped like a soft pretzel as they elevated pogo-like. Tyree got to the ball first at the apogee of their leap. With Harrison poking at the ball in Tyree’s big hands, what looked like an apparent incomplete pass ended with David Tyree crashing to the turf with the football pinned to his helmet and Harrison underneath.

Plaxico Burress (who had earlier predicted a 20—17 Giants’ win) faked the Patriots’ cornerback out of his you-know-what, and Manning found him in the corner of the end zone with a half-minute to play. The Patriots couldn’t move the ball, and the Giants had pulled off a storybook Super Bowl triumph.

It was Broadway’s first ticker-tape parade in many years. The G-Men were bathed in unconditional love, but Super Bowl MVP Eli, no longer the castigated other Manning, was the main object of the New York fans’ affection. (In the quote below, Hippocrates spoke of the need for physicians to take care of their own business and persuade others to follow and cooperate. The spirit applies to quarterbacks as well.)

“Life is short, but the art is long, the opportunity fleeting, the experiment perilous, the judgment difficult.”

This story was adapted and excerpted from Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. (Amazon print and e-Book. Nook and Google e-Books.)

FIFTH MAN AND FIRST WOMAN: AGASSI AND GRAF

By Richard J. Noyes



Andre Agassi won over 60 singles titles during a long and productive career and is a former number one player in the world. His major championships include four Australian and two U.S. Opens, the French and Wimbledon; and with these victories he joined Don Budge, Rod Laver, Fred Perry, and Roy Emerson as the fifth man to win the tennis Grand Slam.

Agassi was a gritty player who came back from near defeats and triumphed. He was down 0-2 in sets at Roland Garros and 1-2 at the U.S. Open and came back to win both matches. To reach the Wimbledon final in 1992, where he defeated Goran Ivanisevic, Agassi had to go through three-time champs Boris Becker and John McEnroe. In 1996, in another career highlight, he became the first American to win the singles gold medal at the Olympic Games.

Agassi, at age 35, lost the first two sets of the 2005 quarterfinals of the U. S. Open. Using his experiences with handicaps, and in an age-versus-youth turnabout reminiscent of the historic Connors/Krickstein Open match 14 years earlier, Agassi rebounded to defeat James Blake who was ten years younger. Blake, who had recently recovered from a broken neck, was a crowd favorite as was Agassi, and the emotions overflowed in an endurance test that went on into the late-night hours. The third and fourth sets were hard fought with many deuce games. And the fifth set was won in a tiebreaker. Agassi went on to take a tough, five-set semifinal contest over Robby Ginepri.

After playing competitively in the first three sets of the final, and winning the second, he was crushed 6-1 in the fourth set by the athleticism and shot-making virtuosity of Roger Federer who, Agassi said, was the best player he had ever faced. Despite the loss, Andre Agassi is now grouped with tennis luminaries Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors as an all-time venerable. A bad back forced Agassi’s retirement in 2006. He founded the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation to aid at-risk children.

THE GREATEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYERS

German-born Steffi Graf married American tennis star Andre Agassi in 2001. She toured with Agassi, became his practice partner, and helped his game. Steffi and Andre have two beautiful children, Jaden and Jaz.

During her career, Steffi Graf won 107 career WTA singles and 11 career doubles titles. She also captured an astounding 22 Grand Slam singles titles. At the conclusion of the 1995 U.S. Open, she became the only player, male or female, to win each of the four major singles titles at least four times. In 1988, Graf achieved the 'Grand Slam' winning the Big Four in the same calendar year; and an Olympic singles gold medal to boot. She is in the conversation as the greatest female tennis player.

On August 13, 1999, Graf was number three in the world and the highest-ranked player ever to announce retirement from the sport. Off the court, Graf founded the Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center in Leipzig, Germany. She is also the founder and active Chairperson of Children of Tomorrow, a non-profit foundation with the goal of implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises.

The glories of Steffi Graf and other champions like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova (many people argue that Martina was the best player ever, if not she was clearly the second best), and the Williams’ sisters, Serena and Venus, might never have happened without the leadership of Billie Jean King. Women’s tennis was a poorly paid stepchild of men’s tennis when King, a tenacious serve-and-volley player who won 20 Wimbledon singles and doubles championships, plus a career Grand Slam brought many women out of USTA tennis in the late 1960’s, took them on tour and gave them financial opportunities.

Billie Jean also helped originate the highly successful Virginia Slims Championship. But what really put women’s tennis on the map happened in 1973 when she crushed Bobby Riggs (a two-time U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion and flamboyant anti-feminist) in the “Battle of the Sexes” at the Houston Astrodome in front of a record 30,000 fans.

Conventional wisdom held that even the best women players (Riggs had beaten the formidable Margaret Court in straight sets a few weeks earlier) could not beat a good male player, even a middle-aged one like Riggs. King not only beat him, she destroyed him in straight sets, running Riggs all over the court until he was a sweaty wreck and then finishing him off with sharp volleys.

Billie Jean King was a superb athlete, tennis player, competitor, and coach (she coached the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic team to three Gold Medals) who brought a single-minded focus to her game and to the promotion of women tennis players. In 1974, King was a player/coach for the Philadelphia Freedoms, a professional team that included men. Her friend Elton John wrote the hit song “Philadelphia Freedom” celebrating her success.

“You have to love to guts it out to win.” –Billie Jean King


SOURCES
Courtesy of ATP Tennis, http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles/default2.asp?playersearch=Agassi, available as of 10/7/05
Courtesy of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, http://www.tennisfame.com/enshrinees/graf.html, available as of 10/6/05

POOLSIDE GUARANTEE: Broadway Joe Defies the Odds in Super Bowl Three

By Richard J. Noyes


One story has it that Joe Namath found a blonde in his hotel room the night before the big game. And was high-living Joe lounging by the pool when he famously guaranteed that the New York Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts? What we do know is that Namath had to go out on the Sunday of Super Bowl 111 in 1968 and quarterback the upstart AFL Jets against the powerful and heavily favored NFL Colts.

The Jets intercepted four passes and otherwise neutralized the Colts offense. Joe Namath used his accurate, howitzer arm to complete a volley of passes with many to the agile and sticky-fingered George Sauer, while mixing in a solid running game led by the crunching Matt Snell. Result: Jets won 16-7 in the most surprising upset in Super Bowl history, and the image of the American Football Conference as a second-class division of the NFL was erased.

The impression of Broadway Joe jogging off the field at game’s end with his forefinger high and wagging number one is indelible. As Dizzy Dean said, “If you can do it, it ain’t braggin’.”

PUTTING YOUR MONEY. A year earlier, in 1967, Joe Namath became the first quarterback to pass for more than 4,000 yards in one season. He capped off 1968 as AFL Player of the Year and a unanimous all-Pro selection, along with MVP honors in Super Bowl III. Namath's pre-game "guarantee" of victory backed up by his 206-yard passing production was a major factor in assuring the competitive viability of the AFC-NFC Super Bowl series.³²

In addition to his estimable skills, Joe Namath was a stand up football player who took destructive hits and played much of his career on damaged knees. Namath once said, “The name of the game is kill the quarterback.”

SOURCE:
32 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=161,
available as of 4/9/05

This story was excerpted from GUS IN THE CLUTCH: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. (Amazon print and e-Book. Nook and Google e-Books.)

JACK TATUM'S BREATH

By

Richard J. Noyes


Franco Harris was an all-Pro running back and a mainstay of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. His career rushing total and combined net yardage figure of 14,622 ranked as the third highest marks in pro football history at the time of his retirement.⁴⁶ Harris is also forever linked to a mythic play in his rookie year.

After years of struggling, the Steelers reached the 1972 AFC Divisional Playoffs against the potent Oakland Raiders. The visiting Steelers led 6-0 late in the game when Oakland backup quarterback and future star Kenny “The Snake” Stabler ran 30 yards for a touchdown. The Raiders kicked the point and led 7-6.

The Steelers got the ball back, but with 20 seconds remaining they had fourth down on their own 40-yard line. Quarterback Terry Bradshaw launched a pass downfield to Frenchy Fuqua who later said, “I could see (Jack) Tatum heading toward the middle of the field, and that the location of the pass would bring me on a collision course with him. I'm thinking that I just want to get my body between him and the ball. Now Bradshaw has released the ball, and here's Tatum. I hear his footsteps, then I hear his breath, then his heartbeat."

Tatum, the football, and Fuqua met simultaneously, and the force of the hit sent the ball ricocheting on the fly across the field. Franco Harris, who had followed the play out of the backfield, rescued the ball with his fingertips off his shoe tops, and never breaking stride dashed 60 yards for the most creative touchdown seen this side of Adelphia Coliseum.⁴⁷

The Raiders contested the touchdown claiming that two consecutive offensive players had touched the football making the play illegal. After a consultation with fellow officials, the referee called the touchdown good. The Steelers went on to lose the AFC Conference final to the Miami Dolphins who were on their way to a 17-0 season, the only perfect season in NFL history.

FRANCO HARRIS’S IMMACULATE RECEPTION was a catalyst for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his exemplary career as a ball carrier continued. The further development of Terry Bradshaw’s capabilities and leadership, strong draft picks like Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, and a steel-curtain defense led by Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene, gave the Steelers forceful playoff momentum, and they went on to win four Super Bowls in the 1970’s.

Jack Tatum, who wrote a book titled They Call Me Assassin, was one of the hardest-hitting defensive backs football has ever seen. In 1978, at the Oakland Coliseum, Tatum made a solid, head-on, colliding (legal) hit to the upper body of Patriots’ wide receiver Darryl Stingley. The collision broke Stingley’s neck as he extended to catch a pass in a dangerous crossing pattern. Later, Stingley said he knew he was paralyzed before hitting the ground. Tatum said soon after that he was just doing his job. Darryl Stingley lived 29 years as a quadraplegic and died at 55 from multiple causes many of which related to the collision and its dire consequences. Tatum and Stingley never reconciled.

SOURCES
46 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=89,
available as of 5/26/05
47 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.jsp?release_id=436, available as of 5/26/05


(Story excerpted from Guts in the Clutch. See below,)

Richard J. Noyes, former Associate Director, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a consultant to public and private sector organizations.

Noyes is the co-author with Pamela J. Robertson of Larceny of Love, a provocative print and eBook contemporary novel that traces the interwoven careers of three men in jeopardy (one of the men is a professional pitcher who suffers sudden, extreme, unexplained wildness) and the unforgettable women in their lives. Amazon print and e-Book. Nook and Google e-Books.

“Whenever dramatic storytelling about people you like is created around business, sports and film, I'm a happy reader. I'm sure you will be as well.” –Kevin Marcus, Real Estate Vice President

Another recent print and eBook by Richard Noyes and Pamela Robertson: Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. Amazon print and e-Book. Nook and Google e-Books.

“The best compilation of fascinating sports stories I have read.” -David Houle, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer of documentaries on Hank Aaron and the Harlem Globetrotters.

WIDE RIGHT

Jim Kelly, along with teammates Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed, gave the Buffalo Bills a highly potent offense in the late 1980s and well into the 1990s. Kelly's quick decisiveness and accuracy terrorized opposing defenses. In 11 seasons Kelly led the Bills to the playoffs eight times. In 17 playoff game appearances, including four consecutive Super Bowls, he passed for 3,863 yards and 21 touchdowns.⁵₃

ANOTHER KEY TO BUFFALO’S SUCCESS was future Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy. In 1987, Levy’s first full season with the Bills, the team had a competitive 7-8 record and remained in the playoff hunt throughout most of the season. The following year the team posted a 12-4 record and won the first of six AFC Eastern Division titles. With his high-powered, no-huddle offense, Levy went on to set a new standard for NFL coaches as he led his AFC championship Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

The first was in 1991 in Tampa Bay. They faced another New York team, the downstate Giants and their fiery coach, Bill Parcells. The Giants used running backs Otis Anderson and Dave Meggett to keep the ball out of the Bills’ hands for huge chunks of the game. Despite this keep-away style, Buffalo led twice thanks in large part to the slashing ball carrying and timely pass catching of Thurman Thomas.
(Thomas is one of the elite all-purpose backs in football history and a member of the NFL’s 1990’s all-decade team. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007,⁵⁴ and Marv Levy presented his trophy.)

A field goal in the fourth quarter put the Giants ahead 20-19. But the Bills got one more chance to win. With a few seconds on the clock, Scott Norwood, Buffalo’s reliable kicker, stepped up to a 47-yard field goal attempt. The kick looked strong off Norwood’s foot, and with everyone in the stadium holding their collective breaths, the football sailed high, tantalizingly long, but to the dismay of Buffalo fans it faded wide right.

The heartbreaking Super Bowl loss to the Giants was the only close game, and the Bills best chance, in four straight years. Despite seven receptions by future Hall-of-Famer James Lofton in Super Bowl XXV1, the Bills lost to the Washington Redskins 37-24.⁵⁵ Then they had the misfortune to collide with the Dallas Cowboys at their strongest and were clobbered in 1993 and beaten decisively again in 1994. The Bills set two records in one stretch: four Super Bowl appearances in a row and four consecutive losses.

IT WAS A MIRACLE that the Bills ever got to the 1992 Super Bowl. In the AFC Wild Card game they trailed the Houston Oilers 35-3 early in the second half. Led by backup quarterback Frank Reich subbing for the injured Jim Kelly, the Bills began one of the supreme comebacks in NFL history. Favored by a quick touchdown followed by a successful onside kick, Reich coolly engineered drive after drive, including three touchdown passes to wide receiver Andre Reed. Incredibly, Buffalo scratched back to lead 38-35 with three minutes to play. An Oilers’ three-pointer tied the game in regulation. Capping what seemed impossible when they were down by 32 points, the Bills’ Steve Christie won the game in overtime with a 32-yard field goal.

FRANK REICH, who played at the University of Maryland behind future NFL quarterback star Boomer Esiason, did it all before. As a senior in 1984, he led the Terrapins to one of the most improbable comebacks in college football history.⁵⁶ Down 0-31 to the Miami Hurricanes, Reich orchestrated a 42-40 triumph. Nothing beats a little experience. (October 28, 1989: Ohio State, down 31-0 with 4:29 remaining in the second quarter, beats Minnesota, 41-37, tying (Maryland) the record for largest deficit overcome to win a game.)⁵⁷

AFTER A LONG ABSENCE, Marv Levy, in his eighties and fit, returned to the Bills in 2006 in a front-office position. It just didn’t seem right to see him out of football and living in Chicago. But in late 2007, he retired again. The Bills without Levy is like Buffalo without chicken wings or Niagara without the Falls.

SOURCES
53 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=128, available as of 6/1/05
54 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=253, available as of 8/5, 2007
55 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=131, available as of 6/1/05
56 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1990s/greatest_comeback.jsp, available as of 10/8/05/
57 Courtesy of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, http://www.collegefootball.org/news.php?id=718, available as of 10/3/05

(“Wide Right” was excerpted from Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. Amazon print and e-Book, Nook and Google e-Books.)

“The best compilation of sports stories I have read.” –David Houle, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer of documentaries on Hank Aaron and the Harlem Globetrotters

BAND LEADS INTERFERENCE

After they kicked a field goal on a classic drive with a few seconds to play it looked liked Stanford had beaten traditional rival University of California at Berkeley 20-19. But the 1982 season wasn’t quite over. Unfortunately for them, Stanford chose not to kick deep, and a Cal player picked up the stubbed pooch kick near midfield. He started upfield, stopped, and threw a cross-field lateral pass that was caught and immediately tossed back to a teammate who was tackled. But before going down he was able to flip the football to another teammate who grabbed it and quickly lateraled again. This player ran it to the Stanford 25-yard line, and just before being tackled managed a toss over his shoulder to the original receiver who wriggled through the Stanford band and bowled over a brass player in the end zone.

Kevin Moen of California picked up the short kickoff, made the first lateral that started the cockamamy school-yard sequence, grabbed the final lateral, and scored the winning touchdown.³³ The Stanford marching band mistakenly thought that one of the Cal players had been downed ending the game, and they dashed onto the field, adding to the whirligig. Not so fast there, Buckos. As Yogi said, “It’s not over till it’s over.”

The five-lateral, most-bizarre kickoff return in college football history through his own band must have broken the heart of Stanford quarterback John Elway who was playing his final college game and led what appeared to have been the winning drive.

Elway was also a baseball player of high promise. To the delight of Denver fans, he brought his bazooka arm to the Broncos and became the only player in National Football League history to pass for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 200 yards in the same season seven consecutive times. John Elway also engineered a record 47 fourth-quarter comebacks, won two Super Bowls, became a Hall-of-Famer, and one of pro football’s all-time greats.³⁴

Elway will be best remembered by Broncos fans for two stomach-churning drives: The first, known in football lore as “The Drive,” was a 98-yard, dwindling-minutes adventure that tied the score, followed by a 60-yard overtime drive that won the 1987 AFC Championship game 23-20 over the Cleveland Browns. It’s uncertain whether John Elway is the premier quarterback in NFL history (we’d be secure withalphabeticallyBrady, Elway, Montana, or Unitas in a must-win game), but it’s certain Elway is the best comeback quarterback. He truly had guts in the clutch.

And he proved it again the following year in another AFC Championship thriller against the Browns and their capable quarterback, Bernie Kosar (see “His Fateful Heave” in this chapter). Elway led a long, late drive that put the Broncos ahead. But Cleveland responded smartly with their own beat-the-clock push to the Denver three-yard line. On the next play, star back Earnest Byner was headed toward the end zone for the tie when he was stripped of the ball just short of the goal line by Jeremiah Castille. In 1987 it was “The Drive,” and in 1988 it was the “The Fumble,” and both are bones forever stuck in the throats of Cleveland Browns’ fans.

“Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.” –John Heisman, coach and football innovator for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.

SOURCES
33 Courtesy of the National Football Foundation’s College Football
Hall of Fame, http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=506, available as of 4/10/05
34 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=64, available as of 4/9/05

(Marcus and Sweetness was excerpted from Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. Amazon print and e-Book, Nook and Google e-Books.)

MARCUS AND SWEETNESS

Given his short-yardage nose for the goal line, coupled with long jaunts (he seemed to float above the turf), and iron-man durability, Marcus Allen was a gifted all-around back. In 1981 (at USC) he rushed for 2,342. He led the nation in scoring, 12.5 points per game; rushing, 219.9 yards per game; and all-purpose running, 232.6 yards per game. Allen received the Maxwell Trophy and the Walter Camp Foundation and Pop Warner League designation as the Player of the Yearand the Heisman trophy.⁸

Marcus Allen played for two professional teams: Oakland Raiders (1982-1992) and the Kansas City Chiefs (1993-1997) during his 15-year NFL campaign. In 1982, Marcus began his pro career as the NFL Rookie of the Year and ended as the game’s all-time rushing touchdown leader and the first player in NFL history to rush for 10,000-plus yards and catch passes for 5,000 more. He was named to six pro bowls, was the 1985 NFL MVP, and the MVP of Super Bowl XV111 in which he had 20 carries for 191 yards and two touchdowns.⁹

Marcus Allen’s 74-yard touchdown run in the Raiders’ 38-9 romp over the Washington Redskins was an open-field classic that stamped him as a legend. He broke left, was trapped, reversed direction, turned the corner, eluded two tacklers, found a seam, and was gone in patented effortless strides.

Although Jim Brown was the best pure ball carrier in pro football history (with some marvelous runner-ups like Gale Sayers, Barry Sanders, Emmett Smith, and Eric Dickerson), Marcus Allen and the even-more-talented Walter Payton were the top all-purpose backs of all time. Payton was a complete offensive football player and, like Marcus Allen, a leader. Both were excellent pass-catchers and blockers who could also tackle if opponents intercepted or ran with a fumble. Payton (nicknamed “sweetness”) spent his entire 13-year career with the Chicago Bears and was a key member of the Bears’ 1986 Super Bowl championship.

Walter Payton won the NFC rushing title five straight years from 1976 to 1980. An amazing runner, Walter rushed for more than 1,000 yards 10 of his 13 seasons, (often for low-ranking Bears’ teams). His best season came in 1977, when he ran for 1,852 yards, third best in history at that time. The records he held at the time of his retirement included 16,726 total yards (21,803 including pass catching), 275 yards rushing in one game against Minnesota (1977), 77 games with more than 100 yards rushing, and 110 rushing touchdowns. Extremely durable, Payton missed one game in his rookie campaign and then played in 186 consecutive games.¹⁰

Walter Payton was beloved in Chicago, and when he died of a rare liver cancer at age 45 the city went into mourning. At the memorial service, former Super Bowl-winning coach and football broadcaster John Madden called Payton the best football player he ever saw. Walter Payton College Prep, a high school for the academically gifted, is one of Chicago’s most distinguished public education institutions.

SOURCES:
8 Courtesy of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=80030, available as of 11/7/07
9 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=15, available as of 11/7/07
10 Courtesy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=174, available as of 11/7/07

(Marcus and Sweetness was excerpted from Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. Amazon print and e-Book, Nook and Google e-Books.)

SOMETIMES IT PAYS TO LOSE

The Boston College Eagles football team had an 8-0 record and was number one in national polls going into the final game against traditional rival Holy Cross. Led by the ramrodding fullback Mike Holovak and brilliant quarterback Charlie O’Rourke, both future NFL players, B.C. looked unstoppable.
Holy Cross had won only three games in 1942,⁴⁴ and the annual contest played at Fenway Park was predicted to be a laugher. B.C. came out overconfident, even cocky and flat. The Cross (led by future college and pro Hall-of Fame lineman George Connor and later transfer to Notre Dame), with nothing to lose and nothing expected, came out charging, pushed B.C. all over the field, and swamped them 55-12 in one of the epic upsets in college football history. The 43-point margin represents the largest by which an unranked team has ever defeated a #1-ranked team.⁴⁵
B.C.’s improbable loss wasn’t the only disaster to occur in Boston on November 28, 1942. Something gruesome beyond imagination was about to happen.


AFTER DARK ON THAT FATEFUL DAY over a thousand people jammed into a downtown Boston nightclub called the Coconut Grove. At the height of the festivities, highly flammable decorations caught fire, and the blaze raced through the overcrowded room. Panicked customers bolted for the exits only to find some locked. Revolving doors at the front-door exits jammed and people desperately trying to get out were trapped, with many smothered. Nearly five hundred people perished, and scores more were burned, mutilated, and overcome by smoke in one of the worst fire tragedies in American history.
The Boston College football team had scheduled their season-ending victory party at the Coconut Grove that evening, but it was canceled when they lost to Holy Cross a few hours earlier.

SOURCES: SOMETIMES IT PAYS TO LOSE
44 Courtesy of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=257, available as of 5/20/05
45 Courtesy of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, http://www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=767, available as of 11/28/05

(Excerpted from Guts in the Clutch; see below.)

Richard J. Noyes, former Associate Director, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a consultant to public and private sector organizations.

Noyes is the co-author with Pamela J. Robertson of Larceny of Love, a provocative print and eBook novel that traces the interwoven careers of three men in jeopardy (one of whom is a professional pitcher who experiences sudden, extreme, unexplained, career-threatening wildness) and the unforgettable women in their lives. http://amzn.to/u0LtvX
http://bit.ly/upp8hX (Nook) http://bit.ly/v1qaGe (Google e-Books)

“Whenever dramatic storytelling about people you like is created around business, sports and film, I'm a happy reader. I'm sure you will be as well.” –Kevin Marcus, Vice President, Sotheby

Another recent print and eBook by Richard Noyes and Pamela Robertson: Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN. http://gutsintheclutch.com/
“The best compilation of fascinating sports stories I have read.” -David Houle, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer of documentaries on Hank Aaron and the Harlem Globetrotters.