Except we'll be watching at 8:30 on Channel 3 as Frank Gifford and Bud Wilkinson describe the action.
16 Jul 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com
Comments flow!
Except we'll be watching at 8:30 on Channel 3 as Frank Gifford and Bud Wilkinson describe the action.
16 Jul 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.comComments flow!
I have vivid memories of this game.
ReplyDeleteOK, it's time to get this bad boy kicked off.
ReplyDeleteBut, first, here's Mickey Mantle with a word about combatting athlete's foot ...
ReplyDeleteThat old Holiday Inn sign ... wow! So amazing. Makes me want to go!
ReplyDeleteThis is the 43rd Chicago Charities College All-Star Game, and it's another Arch Ward creation. We've had a big Arch Ward summer around here at the HP 1976 desk.
ReplyDeleteFrank Gifford is in from the Montreal Olympics for this broadcast, and he's joined by Bud Wilkinson, the former Oklahoma Sooners coach, in the booth and Lee Grosscup, an old New York Giants teammate, from the sidelines.
ReplyDeleteAfter forcing the Steelers to punt on their first possession, the All-Stars start deep in their own territory. Coach Ara Parseghian's starting quarterback will be one of Coach Chuck Noll's backup quarterbacks, Mike Kruczek, whom the Steelers drafted out of Boston College. He has an injured hand, so this doesn't bode well for the college boys. On the other hand, we're all excited to see what the All-Star running backs can do against Pittsburgh. These include Ohio State's two-time Heisman Trophy winner, Archie Griffin, but the starting halfback is Oklahoma's all-time rushing leader, Joe Washington.
ReplyDelete"We told you he is lightning in a bottle,” Gifford says after Washington converts a third-and-long with a delayed draw out past the All-Stars’ 10. “We have not seen much of him over the last fews because of probation by the NCAA on television."
ReplyDeleteWashington splashes through standing water on the sidelines, and Wilkinson assures us that, given that Soldier Field's surface is artificial turf, "after another 10 minutes or so, this field will have relatively good footing."
ReplyDeleteL.C. Greenwood slings future teammate to the turf for a 10-yard loss on the next third down, and Pittsburgh takes over at the All-Star 38 after a short punt.
ReplyDeleteAnd now here's John Travolta with a few somber words about life insurance ...
3-0, Steelers.
ReplyDeleteThe All-Stars fumble at their 15; Jack Lambert recovers, and Roy Gerela gets his second field. Steelers lead, 6-0, with 12:30 to play before halftime.
ReplyDeleteOh, cool. Now we have a Miller beer commercial featuring construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline. My dad lived in Alaska for about six or nine months along about this time, working on the pump stations along the pipeline.
ReplyDeleteThe All-Stars are already on their third quarterback, after an injury to backup Craig Penrose of San Diego State (and now the Broncos). Jeb Blount of Tulsa (and now the Raiders) opens his night with an option pitch to Griffin, and J.T. Thomas sends Griffin spraying across the turf, which hasn't yet quite dried despite no additional rain.
ReplyDeleteThen Blount throws an interception, and Gerela hits another field goal. It's 9-0, Pittsburgh.
Terry Bradshaw is living large these days. Since starring in the Super Bowl, Gifford reports, Bradshaw has scored a country-and-western charts hit with his sendup of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"--plus, he married JoJo Starbuck of the Ice Capades.
ReplyDeleteBud Wilkinson sometimes refers to the All-Stars as "we," which is sweet, and he just used the word "buttocks," which seems unusual for the time.
ReplyDeleteHalftime: Steelers 9, All-Stars 0.
ReplyDeleteVic Tayback and Pete Rose for Aqua Velva!
ReplyDeleteABC is going to have a Captain and Tennille variety show for us in the fall. The Captain and Tennille debuts Sept. 20.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we're going to spend halftime with Jim McKay and friends in Montreal, thanks in part to the sponsorship of Brim Coffee (official coffee of the 1976 Olympics), Kentucky Fried Chicken (Corbin represent!) and Ban deodorant.
ReplyDeleteWe all remember how ABC would do the Indianapolis 500 program or various Olympics events like the 1980 hockey game with the Soviet Union and not spill the beans on who actually won. Well, Jim McKay totally spills the beans twice on the fact that Kathy McMillan of Raeford, North Carolina, is going to win silver in the women's long jump from earlier on this Friday that ABC shows at halftime of the football game.
ReplyDeleteMcMillan has gotten love as perhaps North Carolina's greatest track-and-field athlete ever and Hoke County's greatest athlete of any sort of all time.
ReplyDeleteGiven that first place in this event was given to an East German athlete, McMillan probably deserved the gold medal.
ReplyDeleteAccording to what appears to be her Facebook page, Kathy McMillan today lives in Los Angeles. The banner photo on the page is of her in her 376 bib in Montreal. She appears to have once met Snoop Dogg (née Doggy Dogg). For her birthday in 2020, she hosted a fundraiser for an organization called "Kids In Need of Defense" or "KIND": "I've chosen this nonprofit because their mission means a lot to me, and I hope you'll consider contributing as a way to celebrate with me. Every little bit will help me reach my goal ... to protect the basic rights of unaccompanied children in the United States."
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Kathy McMillan or Raeford and Los Angeles!
ReplyDeleteAnd now back to Chicago ...
ReplyDeleteThe opening possession of the second half ends with the All-Stars yielding a safety as center Ray Pinney, formerly of Washington and soon of the Steelers, sails the snap over the head of punter Rick Engles, formerly of Tulsa and soon of the Seahawks (and in 1977 of the Steelers). Seems a little shady.
ReplyDeletePittsburgh 11, All-Stars 0.
And now Franco Harris runs in for a touchdown, and the rout is on.
ReplyDeleteAaron Kyle, a cornerback from Wyoming whom the Cowboys drafted in the first round, is helped off the field after some sort of leg injury, as though Tom Landry wasn't already having enough fun on this Friday night watching the Steelers who beat him in the Super Bowl a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteWilkinson: "I think we're going to get a little rain, Frank."
ReplyDeleteGrosscup gets the sideline skinny on Kyle--cramps in both legs. "Good news," Gifford says.
ReplyDeleteSteelers 24, All-Stars 0.
ReplyDeleteHere comes the lightning, and the All-Stars fumble (but recover) their first-down snap.
ReplyDeleteGrosscup reports that Chuck Muncie of Cal and the Saints, the first offensive player taken in the draft, has not played. Grosscup says Muncie says he thinks Parseghian forgot him. Wilkinson doesn't think so--he notes that Muncie missed a team meeting before tonight's game.
ReplyDeleteGrosscup recalls another running back who once made the All-Star roster but did not play in the game: Jim Brown.
It's pouring, and Terry Hanratty throws an interception.
ReplyDeleteWilkinson: "I don't believe I've ever seen it rain this hard at a football game, Frank."
ReplyDeleteGifford: "I don't believe I've ever seen it rain this hard."
This really is something to see.
ReplyDeleteI remember it really vividly. I was hugely disappointed -- I had never seen a football game stopped for weather-related reasons.
DeleteI'd been waiting for football since January.
DeleteIt's an awful, awful display. Assuming the radar/forecast capabilities were convincing, I guess I would've emptied the stands at halftime, kept the teams playing until the first lightning strike and then brought them back out once that part of the storm cleared. But maybe that information wasn't available, or maybe the information they got was wrong. Anyway, what actually did happen was a mess.
DeleteI've watched all of this before. I think I've even done something at the HP on this game.
ReplyDeleteGifford: "There are literally hundreds of people on the field now, sliding around. They're enjoying the happening."
ReplyDeleteBoth teams have now left the field and headed to their locker rooms.
ReplyDeleteThere is 1:32 to play in the third quarter.
ReplyDeleteHere's tonight 1976's episode of Ellery Queen, which is going to turn out to be a happy event for GoHeath.
ReplyDeleteThere's an episode of "Leverage" where they go to a mystery party, with people dressed as famous detectives, and Timothy Hutton goes as Ellery Queen, wearing an outfit exactly like what his dad wore in the TV show.
ReplyDeleteVery excellent.
DeleteDonny Hathaway ... wow ... today 1976 on Channel 3.
ReplyDelete