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The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos From a Football Classic

3 minute read

Sports fans are notoriously contrary, and it would be tough to find any two — even two supporters of the same team — who could agree on everything having to do with, say, American football. It would be equally tough to find one issue that could somehow, miraculously, unite all fans, everywhere. But even the most vociferous and combative aficionados would agree that “the Super Bowl” is a far better, far snappier name for the sport’s ultimate contest than “the AFL-NFL World Championship Game,” which is exactly what it was called for the first two years it was played, in 1967 and 1968.

Despite its utterly prosaic name, the First AFL-NFL World Championship Game, in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 1967, remains a thrilling benchmark for fans not only because it was, in fact, the first-ever Super Bowl, but because of the jaw-dropping number of future Hall of Famers — and gridiron legends who never made it to Canton — who played, coached or were simply associated in one way or another with the event. The American Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs, for example, featured Len Dawson, Emmitt Thomas, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan and long-time coach (of the Chiefs as well as the team’s previous incarnation, the Dallas Texans), Hank Stram.

The NFL champion Green Bay Packers, meanwhile, boasted the likes of Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Forrest Gregg, Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, Jim Taylor and Willie Wood. (Another Packer great, running back Paul Hornung, suited up for the game but did not play, having been injured earlier in the season.) Finally, Green Bay was coached by none other than Vince Lombardi, subsequently immortalized in the big game’s ultimate symbol: the big, silver Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The Packers won the first Super Bowl in 1967 — the only Super Bowl that did not sell out — handily beating the Chiefs 35-10. Bart Starr was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. (He was also Super Bowl II’s MVP, when the Packers beat the Raiders, 33-14, in Miami.) Here, five decades later, LIFE.com presents a series of photos — none of which ran in LIFE magazine — made by Bill Ray and Art Rickerby before, during and after that in augural game, casting light on the hard-fought, hard-nosed conflict.

Here are players whose names immediately summon the no-frills look and feel of pro football in the mid-1960s (Starr, Buchanan, Otis Taylor, Sherrill Headrick, the great Fuzzy Thurston and so many others) as well as players who have long been forgotten by all but the most die-hard fans.

Here is Chiefs’ defensive back (and, later, an actor in scores of movies and TV shows) Fred “The Hammer” Williamson — very publicly over-cocky in the lead-up to the contest — carried from the field on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious.

Here is running back Elijah Pitts (see slide 11 in this gallery) and the Green Bay offensive line perfectly executing the team’s famed “power sweep.”

Here is a tired Len Dawson in the Chiefs’ locker room, taking a drag on a cigarette before heading back to play the fateful second half.

Here is Jim Taylor, the Packers’ indomitable fullback, almost tackled, off-balance, still grinding it out, pushing for that extra yard.

Almost everything about the Super Bowl has changed drastically in the long years since Green Bay won the first. But as the pictures here attest, what happens between the lines has always been all that really matters, and all that anyone ultimately remembers.

 

The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. The Kansas City Chiefs wait to take the field against the Packers prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Kansas City's Fletcher Smith, with the Green Bay Packers massed behind him, prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Jerry Kramer - a tremendous offensive lineman who, incredibly (and shamefully), was never inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Ñ in Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Elijah Pitts eludes Kansas City defenders, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Chiefs linebacker E. J. Holub, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay wide receiver Max McGee, Super Bowl I, 1967. His line for the game: seven receptions, 138 yards, two TDs.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay QB and game MVP Bart Starr, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Elijah Pitts (#22) running the Packers' "power sweep," Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Tight end Reggie Carolan in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Kansas City defensive lineman Jerry Mays prior to Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Quarterback Len Dawson in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay receiver Carroll Dale hit by the Chiefs' Willie Mitchell, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Green Bay's Jim Taylor (#31), Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Kansas City's injured Fred Williamson carried off the field, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Kansas City head coach Hank Stram, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Paul Hornung (#5), a future Hall of Famer who did not play in the game due to injury, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor tackled by the Chiefs' Sherrill Headrick, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967. Packer lineman at left is the great Fuzzy Thurston.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967.Art Rickerby—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. On the Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson led from the field at the end of the first Super Bowl, 1967. Williamson broke his arm during the game.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. Sherrill Headrick, Jerry Mays and other Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl I, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The First Super Bowl: Rare Photos from a Football Classic
Not published in LIFE. The Packers' Herb Adderley and Kansas City's tight end Fred Arbanas head to the lockers after Green Bay's 35-10 victory in Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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