The '63 Steelers

by Rudy Dicks

  17. Johnny Sample with Fred J. Hamilton and Sonny Schwartz, Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer (New York: Dial Press, 1970), 104–5; Rooney, Ruanaidh, 183.

  18. Bobby Layne on “The Detroit Lions vs. the Cleveland Browns,” The Way It Was, April 1, 1976; Dick Haley, conversation, May 14, 2008.

  19. Sample with Hamilton and Schwartz, Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer, 104–5.

  20. Art Rooney Jr., conversation, April 29, 2010.

  21. Preston Carpenter, conversation, Sept. 8, 2007.

  22. Rooney, Ruanaidh, 167.

  23. “Negro Gridders Won’t Boycott Charity Event,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 10, 1961.

  24. “Steeler-Colt Game Skirts Racial Block,” Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 10, 1961.

  25. “Card Passing Whiz Misses Steeler Fray,” Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 26, 1961.

  26. Francis Stann, “What’s Wrong with the Washington Redskins?,” Sport, Aug. 1961, 47.

  27. UPI, “Redskins, Udall End Discrimination Feud,” Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 15, 1961.

  28. Sample with Hamilton and Schwartz, Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer, 102.

  29. Roy Blount Jr., About Three Bricks Shy of a Load: A Highly Irregular Lowdown on the Year the Pittsburgh Steelers Were Super but Missed the Bowl (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), 172.

  30. George Tarasovic, conversation, Nov. 28, 2007.

  31. Pat Livingston, “Bob Ferguson May Start at Fullback,” Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 4, 1963.

  32. Jimmy Miller, “Tarasovich Tracy Cut by Steelers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 7, 1963.

  33. Lou Cordileone, conversation, Aug. 13, 2008.

  34. Lou Cordileone, conversation, April 20, 2010.

  35. Preston Carpenter, conversation, Sept. 8, 2007.

  36. Dan Rooney, Dan Rooney: My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL, as told to Andrew E. Masich and David F. Halaas (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2007), 83.

  37. Ibid.; Art Rooney Jr., conversation, April 29, 2010.

  38. Rooney, Dan Rooney, 119.

  39. Frank, “He Dies for Detroit,” 109.

  40. Pat Livingston, “The Longer Season,” Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 23, 1963; Clendon Thomas, conversation, Aug. 30, 2008.

  41. Art Rooney Jr., conversation, April 29, 2010.

  42. Devine and Latshaw, “The Man Who Stirred up the Lions,” 81; Rooney, Ruanaidh, 128.

  43. Andy Russell, conversation, Oct. 4, 2007.

  44. Preston Carpenter, conversation, Sept. 8, 2007; Murray Tucker, Screamer: The Forgotten Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers (Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, 2007), 132.

  45. Red Mack, conversation, Aug. 8, 2007.

  46. Andy Russell, conversation, Oct. 4, 2007.

  47. Jim Bradshaw, conversation, Dec. 10, 2007.

  48. Robert Riger, Best Plays of the Year 1962: A Documentary of Pro Football in the National Football League (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963), 37.

  49. Ibid.

  50. Bill Wise, 1963 Official Pro Football Almanac (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1963), 99.

  51. Clendon Thomas, conversation, Aug. 30, 2008.

  52. AP, “Sherman Says Giants Played Their Top Tilt,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 30, 1963.

  53. Al Abrams, “Steelers—‘Alley Cats,’” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 1, 1963.

  54. “City’s Future Painted in Glowing Colors,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 29, 1963.

  55. Andrew Bernhard, “Growth of Cities Is World Problem,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 28, 1963.

  56. “Meet Challenge of Growth, Papers Told,” Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 23, 1963.

  57. “Voters Can Force Reform; Why Wait for Grand Jury?,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 30, 1963.

  58. Sherley Uhl, “Firemen, Teamsters Tangle,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 2, 1963.

  59. Brute Kramer, “Football Has Strong Hold on Fans,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 30, 1963.

  60. Jack Sell, “Long Bomb by Steelers Could Upset Green Bay,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 31, 1963.

  61. Wise, 1963 Pro Football Almanac, 19; Vince Lombardi with W.C. Heinz, Run to Daylight! (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963), [PG]; “After Tough Rookie Year, Ferguson Eyes Grid Comeback,” Pittsburgh Courier, Aug. 3, 1963.

  62. Lee Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat’ in Victory, Vince,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, Nov. 4, 1963.

  63. Pat Livingston, “Parker Tries to Relax Steelers,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 5, 1963.

  64. Ibid.

  65. Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat.’”

  66. Lee Remmel, “‘I’m Getting My Legs under Me,’ Happy Taylor Concedes,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, Nov. 4, 1963.

  67. Al Abrams, “Close for One Half,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 4, 1963.

  68. Don Schiffer, Pro Football 1963 (New York: Pocket Books, 1963), 46.

  69. Remmel, “‘I’m Getting My Legs under Me.’”

  70. Jack Sell, “Fifteen Irish Backs,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 5, 1963.

  71. Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat.’”

  72. Al Abrams, “Run to Oblivion,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 4, 1963.

  73. Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat.’”

  74. Remmel, “‘I’m Getting My Legs under Me.’”

  75. Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat.’”

  76. Pat Livingston, “Steelers Find Taylor Crawls—All over You,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 4, 1963.

  77. Remmel, “Pack ‘a Little Flat.’”

  GAME 9

  1. UPI, “How Do Bears Do It?,” Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 7, 1963.

  2. Steve Snider, “Pro-Football Has Become a Craze,” Chicago-Sun Times, Nov. 3, 1963.

  3. “Can Steelers’ Line Finally Chain Brown?,” Pittsburgh Courier, Nov. 9, 1963.

  4. Pat Livingston, “Steelers May Reactivate Womack,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 7, 1963.

  5. Snider, “Pro-Football Has Become a Craze.”

  6. Pat Livingston, Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 10, 1963.

  7. “Steelers Discover Why Huff Piled On,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 4, 1963.

  8. Sam Huff, conversation, July 9, 2008.

  9. Dick Haley, conversation, May 14, 2008.

  10. Myron Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1963, 77; Jack Sell, “JHJ Makes a Suggestion,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 26, 1963.

  11. Jimmy Brown with Myron Cope, Off My Chest (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964), 186; Sam Huff and Leonard Shapiro, Tough Stuff: The Man in the Middle (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988), 143.

  12. Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 1, 1970, from microfiche (headline illegible).

  13. Ron Borges, “John Henry Was a Hard-Driving Man,” Game Day, pro football program, 1983 (full date illegible).

  14. Myron Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 77.

  15. AP, “Wolfner, Cards, Hits 49er Eleven,” New York Times, Oct. 14, 1955.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ray Didinger, Pittsburgh Steelers (New York: Macmillan, 1974), 18.

  18. Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 75.

  19. Didinger, Pittsburgh Steelers, 21.

  20. Louis Effrat, “Bears Win Western Title by Besting Lions in Rough Football Game,” New York Times, Dec. 17, 1956.

  21. AP, “Parker Threatens to Quit as Pro Football Coach,” Dec. 18, 1956.

  22. Red Mack, interview, Oct. 11, 2008.

  23. AP, “Lions Extended as They Defeat Packers in Rough Game, 21 to 17,” New York Times, Nov. 22, 1954.

  24. AP, “Texas Defeats Oklahoma, 34–14, as Fans Fight and Pop Bottles Fly,” New York Times, Oct. 12, 1947.

  25. Otto Graham, “Football Is Getting Too Vicious,” Sports Illustrated, Oct. 11, 1954, 26, 50–52.

  26. Tex Maule, “Giants Killer,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 24, 1958, 44.

  27. Sam Huff, conversation, July 9, 2008.

  28. Chris Tomasson, “John Henry Got Better with Age,” Canton Repository, Oct. 6, 1986.

  29. Borges, “John Henry Was a
Hard-Driving Man.”

  30. Red Mack, interview, Oct. 11, 2008.

  31. AP, “Taylor Claims Huff Was Piling On, Had ‘Words’ with Pro Rival,” Youngstown Vindicator, Jan. 29, 1963.

  32. Norman Miller, “Violent World Crashes on Gridder,” Youngstown Vindicator, Jan. 29, 1963.

  33. Hal Lebovitz, “Jimmy Brown Picks His Five Greatest Games,” Sport, Dec. 1964, 78.

  34. Jack Sell, “Rudy or Bobby for the Steelers?,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 7, 1961.

  35. Gordon Cobbledick, “Suspensions without Pay Would Curb Brutality of Football’s Hatchet Men,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 24, 1963.

  36. Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 77.

  37. Tomasson, “John Henry Got Better with Age.” Bryan W. Winfrey, Arizona State University Athletic Department, from a Tempe (AZ) Daily News article, 1980 (Winfrey constructed a bio for the department from assorted clips).

  38. Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 77.

  39. AP, “Johnson, Back after Ban, Leads Lions’ 23–17 Victory over Rams,” New York Times, Nov. 16, 1959.

  40. UPI, “Lions Fullback Suspended,” New York Times, Nov. 3, 1959.

  41. AP, “Johnson, Back after Ban.”

  42. Brown with Cope, Off My Chest, 162–63, 165.

  43. Steve Snider, “Pro Football Has Become a Craze,” Chicago-Sun Times, Nov. 3, 1963.

  44. Brown with Cope, Off My Chest, 163.

  45. “Citizens Committee Planned for Solving Problem,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 7, 1963.

  46. Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 77.

  47. Jack Olsen, “In the Back of the Bus,” Sports Illustrated, July 22, 1968, 30.

  48. Pat Livingston, “Brown Unloaded Long ‘Bomb’ and Hoped Mack Would Nab It,” Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 28, 1963.

  49. Jack Sell, “Hoak to Be Honored by Jeanette Fans, among 54,490 Expected,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 5, 1963.

  50. Jack Sell, “Stautner, Thomas Uncertain for Browns Tilt,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 8, 1963.

  51. Lou Cordileone, conversation, Aug. 13, 2008.

  52. Brown with Cope, Off My Chest, 194.

  53. Cope, “Kiss the Guy or Tackle Him?,” 76.

  54. Lou Cordileone, conversation, Aug. 13, 2008.

  55. Brown with Cope, Off My Chest, 43; Clair Young, “The Raging Moods of John Henry Johnson,” Pro Sports, Jan. 1966, 9.

  56. “Ballman Took Risk on 92-Yard Run,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 18, 1963.

  57. Brown with Cope, Off My Chest, 191.

  58. “Benny Plays Seriously—for Laughs,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 4, 1963.

  59. Pat Livingston, “Parker Tries to Relax Steelers,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 5, 1963.

  60. Ibid.

  61. Pat Livingston, “Steelers May Reactivate Womack,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 7, 1963.

  62. Pat Livingston, “Steelers Must Adjust Defense for Brown(s),” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 6, 1963.

  63. Ibid.

  64. Brady Keys, conversation, Sept. 4, 2007.

  65. Pat Livingston, “Warfield to Get Treatment,” Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 6, 1966.

  66. Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 1, 1962.

  67. Brady Keys, conversation, Sept. 4, 2007.

  68. Livingston, “Steelers May Reactivate Womack.”

  69. “Grid Fans Have Selves to Blame,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 9, 1963.

  70. Alvin Rosensweet, “No Joy in Mudville (Cleveland) Tonight,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11, 1963.

  71. Al Abrams, “Back in the Running,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11, 1963.

  72. Rosensweet, “No Joy in Mudville.”

  73. Jimmy Jordan, “57,331 Sellout for Pitt-Penn State Tilt,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 22, 1963.

  74. Sam Sciullo Jr., Pitt Stadium Memories (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2000), 68.

  75. “Ex-Steeler Tackled as Traffic Scofflaw,” Pittsburgh Press, April 16, 1975.

  76. Tommy Holmes, “Browns Lose, Giants Tie for Lead,” New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 11, 1963.

  77. Chuck Heaton, “Parker Says Added Pressure Hit Ryan,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 11, 1963.

  78. Ed Bouchette, “Bob Schmitz / Former Steeler Who Tackled Jim Brown for a Safety,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 10, 2004.

  79. Mike Rathet, “Finds Brown All Alone,” Youngstown Vindicator, Nov. 11, 1963 (AP).

  80. Pat Livingston, “Rooney U. Unties Itself to Shackle Cleveland, 9–7,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 11, 1963.

  81. Sciullo, Pitt Stadium Memories, 69.

  82. Livingston, “Rooney U. Unties Itself.”

  84. Pat Livingston, “Ed Brown ‘Loses’ Receiver, then Finds Him for TD Toss,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 11, 1963.

  84. Jack Sell, “54,497 See Steelers Win, 9–7,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11, 1963.

  85. Myron Cope, “Pittsburgh’s Patient Whipping Boy,” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 19, 1966, M3.

  86. Ibid.

  87. Official game play-by-play account.

  88. Rathet, “Finds Brown All Alone.”

  89. Livingston, “Ed Brown ‘Loses’ Receiver.”

  90. Rathet, “Finds Brown All Alone.”

  91. Livingston, “Rooney U. Unties Itself”; Sell, “54,497 See Steelers Win, 9–7.”

  92. Al Abrams, “About a Man in a Slump,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 13, 1963.

  93. Tommy Holmes, “Browns Lose; Giants Tie for Lead,” New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 11, 1963.

  94. Pat Livingston, “Steelers Find ‘Buoyancy’ in Title Bid,” Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 2, 1963.

  95. Pat Livingston, “Extra Holiday for Steelers,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 12, 1963.

  96. Livingston, “Ed Brown ‘Loses’ Receiver.”

  97. Bouchette, “Bob Schmitz.”

  98. Jack Sell, “Hobbling the Horse,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 12, 1963.

  99. Jack Sell, “Rest Cure for Browns Game Pays Off; Buddy Tries Again,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 12, 1963.

  100. Rosensweet, “No Joy in Mudville.”

  GAME 10

  1. Arthur Daley, “Another Abrupt Departure,” New York Times, Sept. 8, 1965.

  2. Art Rooney Jr., Ruanaidh: The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan (n.p.: Author, 2008), 212.

  3. Tom Danyluk, The Super ’70s: Memories from Pro Football’s Greatest Era (n.p.: Mad Uke, 2005), 3.

  4. Rooney, Ruanaidh, 179.

  5. Alfred Wright, “If There’s Time, There’s Hope,” Sports Illustrated, May 23, 1960.

  6. Pat Livingston, “Steelers Sign MSU’s Ballman,” Pittsburgh Press, Dec. 13, 1961.

  7. Judi Ballman, conversation, Oct. 8, 2008.

  8. Al Abrams, “The ‘Goose,’ Talks Up,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 1962.

  9. “Steelers to Start Second Week of Drills,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 6, 1962.

  10. “Tracy OK, to See Action against Browns,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 17, 1962.

  11. Ray Kelly, Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post, April 25, 1973.

  12. Johnny Sample with Fred J. Hamilton and Sonny Schwartz, Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer (New York: Dial Press, 1970), 275.

  13. Pat Livingston, “Training Paid off for Gary Ballman,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 19, 1963.

  14. Pat Livingston, “Steelers Are Really Having a Ball, Man!” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 18, 1963.

  15. Judi Ballman, conversation, Oct. 8, 2008.

  16. Livingston, “Training Paid off for Gary Ballman.”

  17. Ibid.

  18. Lou Cordileone, conversation, April 30, 2010.

  19. Judi Ballman, conversation, Oct. 8, 2008.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Jim Bradshaw, conversation, Dec. 10, 2007.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Bill Wise, 1963 Official Pro Football Almanac (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1963), 50.

  24. Ruth Daniel, e-mail interview, Jan. 12, 2008.

  25. Arthur Daley, “A Profitable Punch,” New York Times, Nov. 19, 1961.


  26. Ibid.

  27. Ray Didinger, Pittsburgh Steelers (New York: Macmillan, 1974), 21.

  28. Ruth Daniel, e-mail interview, Jan. 12, 2008.

  29. Daley, “A Profitable Punch.”

  30. Ibid.

  31. Ruth Daniel, e-mail interview, Jan. 12, 2008.

  32. Al Abrams, “Mad, Mad Football Whirl,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 12, 1963.

  33. Joseph P. Browne, “Pittsburgh No Longer Haven for Murderers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11, 1963.

  34. Al Abrams, “Mr. Stichweh Volunteers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 14, 1963; “Irma the Body Casino-Bound,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 14, 1963.

  35. Vince Johnson, “Jayne Mansfield Show Banned by Officials Here,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 14, 1963.

  36. AP, “Cleveland Suburb Bans Mansfield Movie,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 11, 1963.

  37. AP, “Bear-Packer Skirmish Has Chicago Agog,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 14, 1963.

  38. “Spies Beware!,” Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 13, 1963.

  39. Pat Livingston, “Extra Holiday for Steelers,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 12, 1963.

  40. Wise, 1963 Official Pro Football Almanac, 71.

  41. UPI, “McPeak Denies Dissension,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 12, 1963.

  42. Pat Livingston, “Budd (9.2) May Join Mitchell in Backfield,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 14, 1963.

  43. Pat Livingston, “Relaxed Steelers Ready for ’Skins,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 15, 1963.

  44. Pat Livingston, “McPeak Stays Calm for Steeler Battle,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 17, 1963.

  45. Fran Zimniuch, Eagles: Where Have You Gone? Catching up with Chuck Bednarik, Tim Rossavich, Jeff Kemp and Other Eagles of Old (Champaign, Ill.: Sports Publishing, 2004), 44.

  46. Livingston, “Relaxed Steelers Ready for ’Skins.”

  47. Lester J. Biederman, “Saints & Sinners to Honor Rooney,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 16, 1963.

  48. UPI, “AFL ‘Too Inferior’ for Title Playoff with NFL—Retzlaff,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 12, 1963.

  49. UPI, “NFL-AFL Title Tilt Far Off—Rozelle,” Pittsburgh Press, Nov. 16, 1963.

  50. “The Outlook for Kennedy,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 15, 1963.

  51. Ibid.

  52. Al Abrams, “Justice in Photo Finish,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 18, 1963.

  53. Jack Walsh, “Steelers Collar Redskins, 34–28,” Washington Post, Nov. 18, 1963.

  54. Ibid.

  55. Robert Riger, Best Plays of the Year 1962: A Documentary of Pro Football in the National Football League (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963), 50.