Alan’s TTIM Stories #50

The Bear and Eagles played in the Fog Bowl on December 31, 1988. Bengals and Chargers played in the extreme cold in the Freezer Bowl on January 10, 1982, with the temperature at -9 degrees and wind chill at -59 degrees. Not to be outdone, the Ice Bowl with the Cowboys and Packers suffering through -13 degrees on December 31, 1967.

The snowfall record belongs to the Colts and Bills game on December 10, 2017, with 16” of snow, 8” falling during the game. Lights go out in New Orleans as the highlight of a bazaar Super Bowl game when the Ravens played the 49ers. With the Ravens having a commanding lead, the delay allowed 49ers to regroup, coming a few yards short of a go-ahead touchdown.

The above examples cannot compare with the NFL Championship Game of 1932. The season ended with the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans having the best records.

The National Football League in 1932 was comprised of historic franchises of the Bears, Green Bay Packers, and New York Giants along with the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals who had moved to Phoenix. Other franchises have disappeared including the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Staten Island Stapletons. And then a team from southern Ohio fought for the championship – the Portsmouth Spartans. 

League officials decided to play the first playoff game in Chicago’s Wrigley Field. No one predicted an early December blizzard with freezing temperatures and waist-deep snow. The game must go on. League officials moved the game to an indoor facility – Chicago Stadium, the home of the city’s National Hockey League team. Unlike mega-indoor structures of current day stadiums, the building could only facilitate a 60 yard football field – 40 yards less than a regulation field. To compensate, every time a team crossed the mid-field stripe, the ball was moved back 20 yards. 

The low ceiling led to a no-field-goal agreement. This problem led to a punt hitting the organist in the head. In an era before artificial turf, the game was played on the covering left by a recent circus performance.

The game included legendary Chicago Bears coach, George Halas, and Hall of Fame players Bronco Nagurski and Red Grange. The Spartans were led by Dutch Clark and Glenn Presnell. Dutch enjoyed an MVP year leading the league in scoring – 3 rushing touchdowns, 3 receiving touchdowns, 10 extra points, and 3 field goals.

But where was Dutch during the championship game? Long before multi-million contracts, players supplemented their incomes with second jobs. Dutch kept an obligation to coach the Colorado College basketball team leaving the Spartans without their best player.  

Chicago won the game and championship, 9-0, with one touchdown, an extra point, and a fumble leading to a safety.

The small town of Portsmouth could not maintain a professional football team. The team moved to Detroit and changed the mascot to Lions. The team won the NFL Championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957 – still waiting to participate in a Super Bowl. This could be the year!

Sources:
Pro-football-reference.com
History.com
Pigskin Dispatch
Pro Football Reference
Reddit.com

Follow announcements of Alan’s TTIM Stories at Facebook.com/alan.vandervoort or Instagram & Treads vandervoort_author, with all available posts at www.alanvandervoort.com. Novels by the author include: Sandhills – A Novel and Key Largo Summer, found at Booklocker.com and other online booksellers.