1967: Broncos Stun Lions in First Preseason Game Between AFL-NFL Teams

The merger between the NFL and AFL that was agreed to in 1966 was implemented in phases. In the first, following the ’66 season, a game was played between the champions of the two leagues (now known as Super Bowl I). For 1967, there was a common draft of college talent between the two leagues, and while they would still play separate schedules until 1970, interleague preseason games could be scheduled. While at one level the contests were mere exhibition games that counted for nothing in the standings, to the participants they meant a great deal. In particular, the AFL players were determined to prove their mettle against the clubs from the older NFL.

Such was the case as the AFL’s Denver Broncos hosted the NFL’s Detroit Lions at University of Denver Stadium on August 5, 1967. The Broncos, a club that had never produced a record above .500 in any season and had gone 4-10 in ’66, hardly seemed likely to fare well against any NFL team. Under new Head Coach Lou Saban, who had led Buffalo to back-to-back championships in 1964 and ’65 before coaching for a year at the University of Maryland, the team was in the process of being revamped. Gone were key veterans that Saban deemed unfit for taking part in a rebuilding effort like split end Lionel Taylor, safety Goose Gonsoulin, and guard Jerry Sturm. Most notable among the newcomers was the rookie first draft choice out of Syracuse, halfback Floyd Little. Denver had lost its first preseason game, against the second-year Miami Dolphins by a score of 19-2.

The Lions also had a new head coach in Joe Schmidt, at age 35 only two years removed from his Hall of Famer career as a linebacker. Detroit had gone 4-9-1 in 1966 and was also in transition. Defense had long been the team’s strong suit, and they still had a strong veteran core of defensive tackles Roger Brown and Alex Karras, linebackers Mike Lucci and Wayne Walker, and safety Dick LeBeau. Veteran QB Milt Plum was recovered after missing half of the season due to injury and was being challenged by Karl Sweetan, who had performed creditably as a rookie in his absence. The top three picks in the draft had added HB Mel Farr from UCLA, CB Lem Barney of Jackson State, and Tennessee LB Paul Naumoff.

There were 21,288 fans in attendance for the Saturday evening contest. Neither team was able to mount much offense in the first half. Playing inspired football, the Broncos defense kept the Lions offense out of the end zone; the closest Detroit penetrated was to the Denver 36 yard line. Safety Lonnie Wright made two big plays, intercepting a Sweetan pass at his own 20 and then batting down a long Detroit pass in the end zone to stop another drive.

Following a 56-yard pass play from QB Scotty Glacken to flanker Al Denson, Errol Mann kicked a 35-yard field goal that staked the Broncos to a 3-0 lead (while Mann failed to make it to the regular season with Denver, ironically, he eventually ended up kicking for the Lions for 7 ½ years).

The key play of the game occurred on a 4th and 11 situation at the Detroit 44 in the third quarter. Denver punter Bob Scarpitto (pictured at top) ran instead of kicking and picked up 28 yards and a first down at the Lions 16 yard line. Six plays later, FB Cookie Gilchrist bulled into the end zone from a yard out and the Broncos led by 10-0.

Detroit finally scored in the fourth quarter as Plum threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to WR Bill Malinchak. That was it for the Lions, and Mann’s second field goal of the game from 32 yards out capped the scoring at 13-7 in favor of Denver.

On the bus after the game, Roger Brown of the Lions moaned “The Denver Broncos…it didn’t happen!” But Coach Schmidt summed up by saying, “I want to pay tribute to the Denver team. And, if the other AFL teams show as much desire, there will be many other surprises in the preseason inter-league competition.”

While the Broncos went on to defeat the Vikings, 14-9, and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs thrashed the Chicago Bears by an astounding score of 66-24, the NFL teams won the remaining contests and had an overall record of 13-3 in the 1967 interleague preseason games.

For all of the excitement and heightened expectations, the Broncos still ended up at the bottom of the AFL’s Western Division with a 3-11 record. Detroit finished the ’67 regular season with a 5-7-2 tally that ranked third in the Central Division of the NFL’s Western Conference.

1966: Merger of NFL and AFL Announced

By 1966, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the American Football League was not going to fold like its three predecessors of the same name and that, most significantly to the owners of National Football League teams, it would continue to drive up the cost of new talent. In 1965, Alabama QB Joe Namath had been signed to a stunning (for the time) three-year, $426,000 contract by the New York Jets (he had also been drafted by the NFL’s Cardinals). 1966 saw LB Tommy Nobis, first draft choice of the expansion Atlanta Falcons, sign a $600,000 deal, and it cost the Green Bay Packers approximately a million dollars to sign HB Donny Anderson and FB Jim Grabowski, the presumed heirs to the aging Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor, respectively.

In April, the first discussions regarding a possible merger of the leagues commenced between Tex Schramm, the president/general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, and Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. These background talks occurred while tumult broke out. First came the resignation of AFL Commissioner Joe Foss and his replacement by Al Davis, Oakland’s head coach/general manager who was far more inclined to engage in a no-holds-barred conflict with the older league. Then the NFL’s New York Giants signed veteran free agent placekicker Pete Gogolak away from the AFL’s Buffalo Bills, an act that now put competition for veterans on the table along with the ongoing and costly battle for talent coming out of the colleges.

The escalating strife nearly derailed the merger efforts. But on June 8, 1966 at the Warwick Hotel in New York City the NFL’s Commissioner Pete Rozelle (pictured at top), flanked by Schramm and Hunt, announced that a merger between the two leagues had been reached. Due to contractual issues, the merger was to be phased and reach completion in 1970.

- First, a game would be held between the champions of the two leagues following the 1966 season. This, more than any other provision, immediately excited pro football fans. It was decided later that the game, which of course would eventually come to be called the Super Bowl, would be played at a pre-determined neutral setting.

- Second, beginning in 1967 a common draft would be held among the teams of the two leagues (this may have dismayed college players looking forward to competing bids for their services, but came as a relief to owners looking to get player costs back under control). Also in ’67, there would be interleague preseason games.

- Finally in 1970, the AFL would be completely absorbed into the NFL, with teams playing a common schedule. Pete Rozelle would be commissioner of the entire edifice – much to the chagrin of Al Davis, who had been kept out of the merger negotiations (and, as a result, felt betrayed by his fellow owners).

In addition to the phased merging of the leagues, other points were agreed to:

- All existing franchises were to be kept, and in their current locations. While initially there had been discussion regarding the relocation of the Jets and Raiders, it was decided that there would be less danger of legal repercussions if they remained where they were, in proximity to NFL teams.

- As a result of not moving franchises, the AFL agreed to pay the NFL $26 million dollars (split between the Giants and 49ers) for the right to impinge on their territory.

- Each league agreed to add an expansion franchise no later than 1968 (the New Orleans Saints joined the NFL in 1967 and the Cincinnati Bengals rounded out the AFL in ’68).

- Television coverage would continue to be split between CBS (for the NFL) and NBC (the AFL), an arrangement which continued beyond the merger.

There had been dissenting voices among owners from both leagues – not surprisingly, teams that shared the same territory (the Giants and Jets in New York City, and the 49ers and Raiders in the Bay Area). The NFL clubs wanted the AFL teams to relocate, and the AFL teams objected to paying for the right to remain where they were.

Whatever the feelings of the dissenters at the time, the agreement reached in 1966 set the framework that continues to exist. From 13 teams in 1960, the NFL grew to 26 clubs with the merger in 1970 (the enlarged entity was broken up into the National Conference – the existing NFL – and the American Conference – the absorbed AFL).

In order to maintain equilibrium, since there were 16 NFL teams and 10 in the AFL by 1969, three existing NFL teams – the Browns, Colts, and Steelers - transferred to the American Conference. While the AFL lost its identity, there was satisfaction in that, unlike when the All-America Football Conference merged with the NFL in 1950, all of the franchises were accepted into the older league. And after losing badly in the first two Super Bowls, the AFL won the last two prior to the merger so as to make a statement that the younger teams were fully ready to compete with the older clubs.

1966: Pete Gogolak Jumps From AFL to NFL

Pete Gogolak had a place in American football history just by being the first to use the soccer-style approach to kicking the ball that is now standard practice. His success at Cornell led to him being drafted by the AFL’s Buffalo Bills in 1964 and in two seasons he made good on 47 of 75 field goal attempts (62.7 %) including an AFL-leading 28-of-46 record in ’65.

However, on May 17, 1966 Gogolak took a pivotal step in the battle between the AFL and NFL when, having played out his option in Buffalo, he signed a contract with the NFL’s New York Giants.

No player had jumped leagues since offensive end Willard Dewveall went from the Bears to the Oilers in 1961, and there had been an unofficial understanding in place that, while rookies were fair game, no veteran would be signed by a team from the other league until it was clear that no other club in his own circuit was interested. That was hardly the case with Gogolak, who had shown that soccer-style kicking was effective and thus helped Buffalo to back-to-back AFL titles.

It was no surprise that the Giants would be interested in Gogolak as they certainly had a need to upgrade the kicking game - their placekickers in 1965 were successful on a woeful 4 of 25 field goal attempts. But it was stunning that they would abrogate the understanding between the leagues and that Commissioner Pete Rozelle would approve the deal.

For Al Davis, the head coach/GM of the Oakland Raiders who had succeeded Joe Foss as AFL commissioner just five weeks before, the Gogolak signing was an unquestioned declaration of war by the NFL. As he told a sportswriter, “It was a declaration of war all right. And we had to do what the generals do in a way. Go after the supply lines. Hit the enemy where it hurts most.”

It didn’t take long for the repercussions to be felt. The day after Gogolak switched leagues, the Associated Press reported that two AFL teams had been in contact with at least four members of the Giants. Rumors spread very quickly thereafter that several NFL veterans had expressed interest in entertaining offers from the rival league, and that AFL teams were actively pursuing veteran NFL players.

Commissioner Davis promoted a strategy of signing select NFL quarterbacks to future contracts, and in the next few weeks it was reported that Roman Gabriel of the Rams had come to an agreement with Oakland and San Francisco’s John Brodie had accepted a significant offer from the Houston Oilers.

The war was escalating quickly, but in fact negotiations between the two leagues that had already been occurring behind the scenes reached fruition a short time later. While there was plenty of bad feeling and suspicion between officials of the NFL and AFL, they came to a merger agreement less than a month after Pete Gogolak became a member of the New York Giants. Of course, the player raiding came to an abrupt end.

The pairing of Gogolak and the Giants proved lasting. The Hungarian refugee, who had originally signed a one-year contract with Buffalo, received a four-year deal at significantly more money from the Giants. He ended up staying nine seasons (he missed a few games in 1967 due to military duty) and connected on 57.5 % of his field goal attempts (126 of 219).

Gogolak never matched his best season in Buffalo, and didn’t have great range. Reliable inside of 30 yards but spotty from beyond, he connected on just one kick longer than 50 yards – it was a then-team record 54-yard boot during the 1970 season in which he reached his high for field goals in a Giants uniform (25). Still, he stabilized the placekicking game and was generally consistent. And by his last season, 1974, nearly half of the teams in the league were using soccer-style kickers.