The '63 Steelers Page 8
The odds of Russell being around to collect on that contract looked about as good as the possibility of the Steelers winning the NFL championship, at least from what Buddy Parker indicated at an introductory meeting at the Roosevelt Hotel, where the Steelers used to keep their offices. “He hated rookies,” Russell said. “His first speech to us was incredible. The rookies are sitting there—maybe twenty guys—not just draft choices but walk-ons. He had each one of us get up and say who we were and where we played college ball. And then he gave this little ‘I hate rookies’ speech. ‘Rookies lose games. I’m gonna get rid of most of you guys. If it was up to me I wouldn’t keep any of you, but the Chief [Art Rooney] wants me to keep a couple of you.’ I walked out of that room thinking, ‘Geez, this is scary.’”8
Teams might exercise extra patience with a first-round pick, as the Steelers did with their unproductive No. 1 choice in the ’62 draft, Bob Ferguson, but a sixteenth-rounder? Russell was confident that he could make it in the NFL, but he knew that he had a lot to learn and adjustments to make to compete with more experienced pros. And he had limited time to make an impression. “My athletic skills are better,” he rationalized. “I’m faster, quicker, and so I thought I should be able to play better than them. But they’re smarter. They do things that I didn’t know you’d be allowed to do—like they’d run around a block and make the tackle for a loss. So, if I can get as smart and be as tough, I can play in this league.”9
Russell was identified as “linebacker Andy Nelsen” in one story early on at training camp, but he stood out in the intrasquad scrimmage preceding the exhibition season.10 It was noted later that the rookie from Missouri “has been a standout from the very start of training camp.”11 He suffered a broken left thumb in the second preseason game, against the Eagles, when he made a great play, but it wasn’t enough to damage his status. The Steelers’ group of linebackers had been decimated in ’62, and Parker had to fortify the position. Russell made the team.
It was a fortuitous decision by Parker. John Reger was lost indefinitely after his collision in the opener in Philly. When Bob Schmitz injured an ankle early in the Giants game in the second week, George Tarasovic shifted to right linebacker, and Russell, wearing No. 36, came in on the left side. The Giants failed to take advantage of a rookie on defense. And with Schmitz hurting, Parker was going to have to count on Russell against St. Louis.
The Cardinals were installed as six-point underdogs. They had won only four games in ’62, but they had a dangerous passing attack, led by twenty-four-year-old quarterback Charley Johnson, who had shown signs he just might tear up the league. In his first start the year before, on October 14, he hit nineteen of thirty-three passes for 285 yards and rallied St. Louis from a 14–3 deficit to a 17–17 tie with Washington. He hit twenty-six of forty-one passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns in a 31–28 loss to the Giants, and he threw five touchdown passes and gained 302 yards in the air in a 52–20 win over Dallas. In the ’62 season finale, a 45–35 win over Philadelphia, he threw for 386 yards and two more touchdowns.
Johnson had the luxury of throwing to Ulmo Shannon “Sonny” Randle— “the NFL’s closest thing to a human butterfly net”—and Bobby Joe Conrad, a pair that had finished second and third, respectively, among leading receivers in ’62. The two had combined for 2,112 yards receiving that season—more than the 2,069 yards the entire Steeler team had gained in receptions.12
There seemed to be no limits to what Johnson might accomplish. Y. A. Tittle, at thirty-seven, reflected after the season on the prospects of the Cardinals quarterback and said, “I wish I was Charley’s age. And had his future. Whooee.”13
Johnson had picked right up from his ’62 surge, guiding the Cards to a 34–7 win over Dallas in the ’63 opener. Johnson hit nineteen of thirty-one passes for 219 yards and three TDs—two to Randle, one to Conrad—in a 28–24 victory over Philly in week 2. Randle and Conrad combined for eleven catches for 175 yards.
The Cards’ offensive line was anchored by center Bob DeMarco, “a 240-pound animal from Dayton,” flanked by guard Ken Gray, of whom coach Wally Lemm said, “I wouldn’t trade him for any guard in the league.”14
But the most important player was Johnson, who appeared “destined to be the cream of the young quarterback crop in the National Football League.”15 Born in Big Spring in west Texas, Johnson was ignored by the recruiters, so he attended a junior college, the Schreiner Institute, in his home state. The school dropped its football program after Johnson’s first year, so he went to New Mexico State to play basketball. But he took a shot at football, and with the help of a backfield of future pros, Johnson and the team blossomed, earning two consecutive trips to the Sun Bowl, in which Johnson was named MVP both times.
Johnson attained more honors before the start of his third pro season: his master’s degree in chemical engineering. His thesis was titled “Expansion of Laminar Jets of Organic Liquids Issuing from Capillary Tubes.” Along with studying his playbook, he was also studying for his PhD.16
On defense, the Cards had an aggressive unit reminiscent of the Steelers’ crew. At cornerback they had Jimmy Hill, a tackler as vicious as Detroit’s Dick “Night Train” Lane and cited by Bobby Layne as one of “Pro Football’s 11 Meanest Men.” At safety was Larry Wilson, who would cinch a reputation as one of the game’s toughest players by playing a game against the Steelers with casts on both hands and still intercepting a pass.17
The year before, the Cardinals linebackers had blitzed Pittsburgh on seventy-five out of eighty-six plays. From game films, Parker didn’t see as much “red-dogging” in the first two games of the new season but added, “We’re preparing for them just as though they were blitzing every play.”18
St. Louis had been hampered by injuries the year before, and several players were already hurting early in the new season. Johnson had sustained what was reported to be a severe hematoma—the same malady that crippled Bobby Layne in his final season—in the small of his back, but Lemm downplayed the injury. The Cardinals were also burdened by a twelve-game losing streak in Pittsburgh; they hadn’t won there since 1948. Still, Parker kept building them up. “They’ve got to be a great team,” he said. “What other team could lose guys like John Crow, Billy Stacy and Prentice Gautt and still run over teams like they do?”19
The ’63 NFL schedule was only two weeks old, but the seasons in Pittsburgh were quickly changing. The northern lights were visible the night of the victory over New York, a nod to the closing of summer as the overnight low temperature dipped to 36. Television was unveiling its new season, too, as Tuesday night marked the season premiere of The Jack Benny Program, with an appearance by Shirley Temple, along with the debut of a “folksy series” called Petticoat Junction.
At midweek, the Pirates clinched eighth place in the ten-team National League. On Thursday, Roberto Clemente stumbled in the race for the batting title, going oh for six against the Houston Colts to dip to .315, behind Tommy Davis’s .323. On Sunday, the Bucs would lose their finale to the Giants, 4–2, and Post-Gazette baseball writer Jack Hernon would type in his dateline for the game story from Candlestick Park: “san francisco (at the end of a dreary season of baseball), Sept 29—.” It was left to the Steelers—and maybe the University of Pittsburgh—to salvage some pride among local sports fans.
On Wednesday, the Steelers conducted a combination of offensive and defensive drills at the South Park Fairgrounds. Buoyed by the shutout against New York, Parker vowed, “We plan to give the Cards the same treatment we gave the Giants last Sunday. If our defense gives their quarterback the same intensive rush it gave Guglielmi we could duplicate the result of the Giants’ game.”20
A cold front was barreling in on the Pittsburgh area on Sunday, and the balmy 65-degree temperatures the 28,225 fans at Forbes Field were enjoying at the 2:05 p.m. kickoff would dip down to 53 by 5 p.m., and gusts of wind would reach 30 mph. The clash between the two teams was, fittingly, like elements colliding in a storm front. “If you like fo
otball, you should have seen this one,” the photojournalist Robert Riger wrote. “There is rarely a game when two teams, offensively and defensively, sustain explosive impact on every play with an all-out effort by every man.”21
Both teams were threatening to elbow their way—literally, in the no-holds-barred way they played—to the top of the Eastern Conference. The Cardinals couldn’t match Pittsburgh’s run of futility; they finished first in 1948, back when the team was in Chicago and played in the Western Conference. But the franchise had floundered in or close to the cellar since losing 7–0 in the ’48 title game, and this was the year the Cards had hopes of making a breakthrough—which is just what the Steelers were hoping to do themselves.
The Cardinals downed the opening kickoff and started from their 20. Joe Childress ran for 5 and 12 yards. The Cards then called an end run to the left side by halfback Bill Triplett, who had been used the previous season, his rookie year, as a safety. Right away, Lemm explained later, “We wanted to make them outside conscious.”22 He figured they could get past right linebacker George Tarasovic. Lemm considered the eleven-year veteran slow, but what the coach didn’t realize was that Tarasovic had suffered a sprained arch on the first play yet would stay in for the whole game.
“The play wasn’t designed to go all the way,” Lemm said, but Gray— Lemm’s pride on the offensive line—pulled out and decked linebacker Myron Pottios, allowing Triplett to shoot through a gaping hole between Brady Keys and Clendon Thomas.23 With the two defensive backs giving chase, and Joe Krupa and Russell trailing, Triplett stiff-armed Dick Haley around the Pittsburgh 30 to go in virtually untouched for a 63-yard touchdown just ninety-one seconds into the game.
A 36-yard kickoff return by Thomas from the 12 put the Steelers in good field position at their 48. John Henry Johnson went around right end for 14 yards, and Hoak scooted around left end for 9. Johnson went over left guard for 8 yards and a first down at the St. Louis 16, and an offside penalty moved the ball to the 11. Hoak and Johnson each lost a yard, and a pass slipped off Preston Carpenter’s fingers, forcing Parker to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Michaels to make it 7–3.
The teams exchanged punts, and on second-and-9 from the Steeler 36, Thomas intercepted a pass intended for Childress at the 33, where the Steeler defensive back was downed. Ed Brown stuck to the ground, alternating his two backs. Johnson got 8 yards to the 41 and, two plays later, went off right tackle for 6, to the Cards’ 49. Hoak ran around left end for 7 yards, but John Henry Johnson lost 7 while trying to go around the left side on the final play of the first quarter. On third-and-12, Brown hit Dial for 11 yards to the 33, shy of the first down, so Michaels kicked a 40-yard field goal to bring the Steelers within 7–6.
The second quarter was a study in defenses that wouldn’t budge—as if two opposing pitchers in a baseball game were working on a shutout. “Pittsburgh’s defense turned the screws of the vise and gave nothing away,” Riger wrote.24 For the first six series, neither team could gain a single first down. For the first five series, neither team could complete a pass. The quarterbacks were pressured, and the running backs couldn’t find any holes. On one third-and-8 situation, Charley Johnson was sacked by John Baker and Krupa for a loss of 9 yards, back to the Cardinal 9. Pittsburgh’s good field position at the Cardinal 47 after the punt was quickly nullified when Brown was dumped by tackle Don Owens for a 12-yard loss, and again by Owens for a loss of 10 yards, leaving the Steelers with third-and-32 from their 31. A screen to John Henry Johnson gained only 9 yards, so Brown punted.
Charley Johnson, on third-and-13 from his 22, threw for Randle, but Thomas intercepted for the second time, at the Steeler 48, and returned the ball to the Cardinal 18. On third-and-5, Brown targeted Dial but Wilson stole the ball at the goal line and returned it to the 12 before the two-minute warning was given.
After six punts in the quarter, the Cards finally got a drive moving. Triplett went off left tackle for 8 yards, and Mal Hammack hit the same spot for 9 more. Johnson hit Conrad crossing over the middle for 15 yards to the 45 and then hit the flanker for 14 more, to the Steeler 41, with twenty seconds left before halftime. But Russell broke up a pass over the middle at the last instant, and then the rookie linebacker intercepted a pass intended for Childress and returned it 6 yards to the 41, leaving seven seconds on the clock, time for one incomplete bomb by Ed Brown before the half.
It wasn’t unreasonable to figure that neither team would score a touchdown in the second half, and that field goals would determine whether the Cards’ 7–6 lead would hold up. At halftime, Ed Brown was two of eight passing for 19 yards, and Charley Johnson was three of thirteen for 28 yards. Even though the pace of the game resembled a sumo match, “the tension was exhausting.”25
The Steelers took the second-half kickoff but were forced to punt. Starting on their 34, the Cards were stopped for no gain on two runs, but on third down, Childress took a pass in the flat and ran 13 yards to the 47. On second-and-9 at the 48, Randle took a pass 37 yards before Keys stopped him at the 15. Tackle Ernie McMillan was called for holding on the next play, and after rookie halfback Bob Paremore gained 10 yards, Tarasovic dropped Triplett on a reverse for a yard loss on third-and-15 from the 21. Jim Bakken kicked a 28-yard field goal to make it 10–6, halfway through the period, “and some Steeler fans were beginning to think that their heroes were through.”26
The outlook worsened on the next series when John Henry Johnson lost 2 yards on a pitchout and then gained 9 on a reception. He was forced to the sidelines with a twisted ankle, leaving second-year fullback Bob Ferguson with a big chance to resuscitate a career that had threatened to wind up as a flop.
The Steelers’ ignominious history of losing was rivaled only by their tradition of wasting their No. 1 draft picks—when they had a first-round pick, that is. In 1956 the Steelers held the “bonus” choice, the first pick of the draft, which the league awarded on a rotating basis. The Steelers picked Gary Glick of Colorado A&M, passing up a running back from Penn State named Lenny Moore, destined for the Hall of Fame. The next year the Steelers picked quarterback Len Dawson, only to trade him eventually. In ’58, ’59, and ’61, they didn’t have a No. 1 pick because Parker had traded each away to San Francisco.
In the 1962 draft, the Steelers selected Ferguson, the two-time unanimous All-America fullback and Heisman runner-up from Ohio State. He had a running style that was blunt and perfectly suited to Parker’s offensive strategy. “Fergy just runs right over people,” wrote a Chicago sportswriter.27
Ferguson was a highly coveted prize. In three seasons at Ohio State, in the years before freshmen were allowed to play, he gained 2,162 yards for a 5.1 average and scored twenty-six touchdowns. He lost only 6 yards as a ball carrier during his collegiate career. As a senior, he became the first black player to win the prestigious Maxwell Trophy.
But Ferguson’s rookie year turned out to be disastrous. “Ferguson blundered badly in early trials and soon found himself ostracized.”28 His performance was bad enough, but his lack of commitment turned him into the butt of jokes. During an off-season dinner, receiver Buddy Dial made a crack that the Steelers were saving Ferguson for “the Olympic sleeping team.”29
When Ferguson first reported to the Steelers, it seemed as if he’d forgotten everything he had learned about football. “Last year Ferguson couldn’t catch, he couldn’t block and he didn’t know his plays,” Parker recalled during training camp in ’63. “He’d stand around by himself looking like he was lost.”30
He was. Because of his participation in college all-star games, Ferguson said, he struggled to catch up with the Steeler system. He ran the ball only twenty times and gained only 37 yards as a rookie. But Parker didn’t give up on him. At his second training camp, Ferguson looked better in every area of his game. “And he’s got a better disposition, a better attitude,” the coach said. Ferguson owned up to his failure in his first year and insisted that he was determined to prove himself worthy of a No. 1 pick. “I know I can play p
rofessional football,” he said. “I have to show them.”31
John Henry Johnson had gained 46 yards against the Cardinals in the first half, but the total wasn’t as important as the runner’s willingness to take punishment and keep pounding away against a defense that seemed designed by a chess master. Whatever Ferguson was going to gain against the Cardinal defense, he would have to earn every inch.
After Johnson’s reception, St. Louis held Pittsburgh a yard short of a first down. Paremore, a back with 9.3 speed, signaled for a fair catch on Brown’s 31-yard punt but fumbled, and offensive end John Powers recovered for the Steelers at the St. Louis 43. Ferguson gained 4 yards, but Brown threw incomplete on third down, setting up a Michaels field goal attempt from the 47. It fell short.
The Steelers weren’t moving the ball, but the Cardinals were having just as frustrating a time. After his touchdown run, Triplett picked up only 10 more yards on eleven carries, and Childress would finish with a total of 45 yards on thirteen carries. Charley Johnson’s best weapon turned out to be Conrad. The sixth-year back from Texas A&M caught a pass for 13 yards on first down, then caught one for 14 yards on third-and-4 from the 39. A 24-yard catch by Conrad was nullified by a holding call, so on fourth-and-14 from the 49, Jerry Stovall punted into the end zone as the third quarter wound down. The Cards continued to torment Brown. Defensive end Joe Robb nailed the QB for a 13-yard loss on third-and-10 from the 44 on the first series of the fourth quarter, and Brown followed with a 52-yard punt.
The Steeler defensive line was looking a lot like it did against the Giants, and two players in particular were raising havoc. “Nowhere in the National Football League,” wrote Post-Gazette columnist Al Abrams, “is there a pair of football players who play with more zest and verve than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ‘Larrupin’ Lous’—Michaels and Cordileone.”32 They came through at a critical point with time slinking away on the Steelers.