American Football League All-Star game

Contents

All-League Teams

The Sporting News published American Football League All-League Teams for each season played by the American Football League, 1960 through 1969. From 1960 through 1966, the All-League team was selected by the AFL players, and from 1967 through 1969 it was selected by a consensus of The Sporting News (TSN), the Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), and the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). The All-League AFL selections usually included one player at each team position on offense and on defense (i.e., one quarterback, two guards, four defensive backs, etc.).

All-Star Teams

The AFL did not have an All-star game after its first season in 1960 but from 1961 through 1969, other AFL players were added to the All-League players to form two squads, and the league held All-Star games for those seasons. After every season except 1965, the format consisted of games between All-Star teams from the Eastern and Western divisions. In 1965, the league champion Buffalo Bills played all-stars from the other teams.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Football League include AFL All-Star Games in their statistics for the Pro Bowl. After the AFL-NFL Merger of 1970, the name of the NFL's all-star game was changed to the "AFC-NFC Pro Bowl."

The 1965 boycott

After the 1964 season, the AFL All-Star Game had been scheduled for early 1965 in New Orleans' Tulane Stadium. After numerous black players were refused service by a number of New Orleans hotels and businesses, black and white players alike lobbied for a boycott. Under the leadership of Buffalo Bills players including Cookie Gilchrist, the players put up a unified front, and the game was successfully moved to Houston's Jeppesen Stadium.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had just recently been passed, likely encouraging the AFL players in their cause, which was the first boycott in history of an entire city by a professional sports event.

Game history

Season Date Score Series Most Valuable Player(s) Venue Attendance Head Coaches Television
1961 January 7, 1962
West, 47-27
West 1-0 Cotton Davidson, QB, Texans Balboa Stadium, San Diego 20,973 E:Wally Lemm (Houston)
W:Sid Gillman (San Diego)
ABC
1962 January 13, 1963
West, 21-14
West 2-0 Offense: Curtis McClinton, RB, Dallas Texans
Defense: Earl Faison, DE, Chargers
Balboa Stadium, San Diego 27,641 E:Frank Ivy (Houston)
W:Hank Stram (Dallas)
ABC
1963 January 19, 1964
West, 27-24
West 3-0 Offense: Keith Lincoln, RB, Chargers
Defense: Archie Matsos, LB, Raiders
Balboa Stadium, San Diego 20,016 E:Mike Holovak (Boston)
W:Sid Gillman (San Diego)
ABC
1964 January 16, 1965 [1]
West, 38-14
West 4-0 Offense: Keith Lincoln, RB, Chargers
Defense: Willie Brown, DB, Broncos
Jeppesen Stadium, Houston, Texas 15,446 E:Lou Saban (Buffalo)
W:Sid Gillman (San Diego)
ABC
1965 January 15, 1966 [1]
AFL All-Stars 30,
Buffalo Bills 19
- Offense: Joe Namath, QB, Jets
Defense: Frank Buncom, LB, Chargers
Rice Stadium, Houston 35,572 Buffalo:Lou Saban
AS:Sid Gillman (San Diego)
NBC
1966 January 21, 1967 [1]
East, 30-23
West 4-1 Offense: Babe Parilli, QB, Boston Patriots
Defense: Verlon Biggs, DE, Jets
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California 18,876 E:Mike Holovak (Boston)
W:John Rauch (Oakland)
NBC
1967 January 21, 1968
East, 25-24
West 4-2 Offense: Joe Namath, QB, Jets; and Don Maynard, F, Jets
Defense: Speedy Duncan, DB/KR, Chargers
Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida 40,103 E: Joe Collier (Buffalo)
W:Lou Saban (Denver)
NBC
1968 January 19, 1969
West, 38-25
West 5-2 Offense: Len Dawson, QB, Chiefs
Defense: George Webster, LB, Houston Oilers
Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida 41,058 E:George Wilson (Miami)
W:Lou Saban (Denver)
NBC
1969 January 17, 1970 [1]
West, 26-3
West 6-2 John Hadl, QB, Chargers Astrodome, Houston 30,170 E:George Wilson (Miami)
W:Lou Saban (Denver)
NBC
  1. ^ a b c d game played on Saturday.

See also

External links - AFL All-Star Game summaries

Other external links