This is the sixteenth in a series of examinations of football-related legends and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of all the previous football legends.

Let’s begin!

FOOTBALL LEGEND: NBC sent an employee running on to the field to delay the 1958 National Football League Championship because they had lost the TV signal.

STATUS: I’m Going With True

I’ve already written in the past about the great influence that the 1958 NFL Championship Game had on the future of professional football, but I’ll mention it again. The 1958 Championship pitted the Baltimore Colts against the New York Giants in Yankee Stadium for a game that has since been dubbed “the Greatest Game Ever Played.” It was the first, and remains the ONLY, NFL title game (including all Super Bowls) to ever end in overtime. In fact, it was the first NFL game period to ever end in overtime. It came about at a time when the American public were primed to become invested in professional football, and the game served as a sign that they were now “all in.” Gone were the years of poorly attended games – the league would never average less than 40,000 a game again and within three years public demand caused the league to expand from 12-game seasons to 14-game seasons.

Perhaps even more important was how pro football was adopted by the media. Sports Illustrated had barely given any coverage to the league, but soon began covering them regularly. Soon, incoming commissioner Pete Rozelle would began to control the media angle of the sport and help to build a multi-media sporting empire. He founded NFL Films and began to work out national television contracts to replace smaller, local TV deals. Eventually, these plans would lead to shows like Monday Night Football and today an entire network devoted to the NFL. It all started that night, when a record 45 million people watched the Colts defeat the Giants.

So as important as the game was to the future success of the NFL, it was also very important to the network, NBC (National Broadcasting Company), who was televising the game. As stated, the NFL was clearly poised to become a ratings bonanza and NBC wanted to capitalize on that themselves. They were so invested in the coverage of the game that, when they lost their TV signal late in the game, NBC took very drastic measures to make sure that their viewers would not miss the ending of the game. Drastic measures that included actually causing an on the field delay in the middle of what turned out to be the game-winning drive!

Tied at 17-17 that cold December 28th day, the Colts took over at their own 20 yard line following the Giants’ offense stalling after getting the ball to start the overtime period. Through a bold mix of passing and rushing (passing on a cold day when any interception could lead to a dramatic loss), Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas slowly creeped his team all the way to the Giants’ eight-yard line, where he called timeout.

The problem was, the crowd of over 68,000 was SO raucous that the cable providing NBC’s TV signal, which was located in the end zone, was DISCONNECTED! It actually happened RIGHT before Unitas called timeout. So now 45 million Americans saw just snow. The folks at NBC were likely seeing stars. They were on the Giants’ eight-yard line! The game could be over on the very next play!! They frantically tried to locate the problem. Earlier that year, in an article about televised sports, the New York Times had asked a CBS producer what they would do in just such an occasion. The producer joked that they would likely send someone out on to the field acting like a drunk to delay the game.

Well, sure enough, that’s exactly what NBC did. NBC employee Stan Rotkiewicz, standing on the sidelines doing some statistician work (a former college football player, Rotkiewicz worked as a business manager for NBC News, but did stat work on game days), was the sacrificial lamb. After Unitas returned from the sidelines and the timeout, Rotkiewicz ran on to the field, running up and down the length of the field chased by a few police officers. Some more officers joined in from the other side of the field and soon Rotkiewicz was taken down and hauled off of the field (even at the time, when everyone considered him a drunk, most fans and commentators noted how well dressed the young man was).

The delay worked well, but NBC still missed the first play out of timeout. Luckily for them, it was just a short rush that gained only a yard. The signal returned in plenty of time to capture Unitas’ final two glorious plays – a six-yard pass to Jim Mutscheller (who, had he not slipped on some ice, might have won the game right there). Finally, he handed off to Alan Ameche for the game-winning one-yard rush for the touchdown, finishing the scoring at 23-17.

And all of America’s TV viewers had a chance to see it.

It’s worth noting that Johnny Unitas refused to believe Rotkiewicz was not actually a drunk. He felt that no one could be THAT good of an actor, and Rotkiewicz was swearing up a storm when the cops took him down.

With the New York Times report coupled with Rotkiewicz, you know, working for the network that needed to delay the game and all the sources over the years that have said that that is exactly what Rotkiewicz was doing, I’m willing to differ with the late, great Johnny U and say that this one is true.

Thanks to Mark Bowden’s excellent The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL and Tom Callahan’s great Unitas biography, Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas for the information for the piece (Bowden about Rotkiewicz and Callahan about what Unitas felt about the moment).

FOOTBALL LEGEND: Ole Miss changed the speed limit around campus in honor of former Ole Miss great Archie Manning.

STATUS: True

College football stars often take on almost mythic proportions in the minds of the fans and students of their universities, with particularly beloved players still drawing crowds for speaking engagements decades after they last suited up for their alma mater. Archie Manning of the University of Mississippi is perhaps the prototypical example of an athlete who is practically worshiped at his old school.

Manning starred in all three seasons he played for Ole Miss, setting numerous records and winning countless awards (although never the Heisman Trophy).

He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

But perhaps his best (or at least his most unique) honor is that the speed limit at the campus at Ole Miss was forever changed to 18 miles per hour in honor of Manning’s #18.

That’s a pretty darn neat tribute, huh?

FOOTBALL LEGEND: The Chicago Cardinals and Chicago Tigers played a “death match” over the right to be the sole representative of Chicago in the NFL, with the loser folding.

STATUS: I’m Going With False

When the National Football League was formed in 1920 (for the first two years it was called the American Professional Football Association), it consisted almost entirely of teams from the Mid-West.

The original roster of teams were (some of these teams were not “official” members of the league as they did not chip in the league-founding fees, but they were treated as league members):

Akron Pros
Decatur Staleys
Buffalo All-Americans
Chicago Cardinals
Rock Island Independents
Dayton Triangles
Rochester Jeffersons
Canton Bulldogs
Detroit Heralds
Cleveland Tigers
Chicago Tigers
Hammond Pros
Columbus Panhandles
Muncie Flyers

That’s also the order that the teams finished in for the season.

Professional football had a rough time making a go at it in those early days. Attendance was low and college football was still seen as the “real” football in America.

As you might imagine, with things being as they were, having two professional football clubs in one city was tough, but that was what happened with the Chicago Cardinals and the Chicago Tigers sharing the Windy City.

The Cardinals were one of the better teams in the league (and, seeing as how they are still around today, albeit in Arizona, they were one of the more stable franchises).

The Tigers, on the other hand, were one of the worst. In fact, they were one of those “unofficial” teams I mentioned before.

So, as the story goes (here is one version, courtesy of the Cardinals’ own website and an article on Hall of Famer Paddy Driscoll)…

The Chicago Cardinals has just become one of the charter members of the American Professional Football Association in 1920, and owner Chris O’Brien wisely signed Driscoll—to a head-turning $300 per game—in an effort to improve box office appeal. At the time, the Cardinals faced competition for the fan dollar from the Chicago Tigers, and O’Brien challenged the Tigers to a “winner-take-all” game in which the loser would fold operations and relinquish all territorial rights to the victor. Behind the play of Driscoll, who scored the game’s only touchdown, the Cardinals won the game 6-3 and the Tigers soon closed up shop. The Cardinals were the primary franchise in the area, and Driscoll was the player responsible.

It’s a good story, and it is true that the Cardinals and the Tigers DID play a game against each other that season that the Cardinals won 6-3.

And the Tigers DID fold that season.

However, the very next season, the Decatur Staleys, one of the best teams in the league, moved to Chicago and became the Chicago Staleys and had the best record in the league in 1921! And O’Brien never challenged them.

So, it is pretty weird that the Cardinals would have a challenge game over the right of the Tigers to share their city and then just let another team move to the city the next year (and not just any team, but one of the best teams in the league). Heck, eventually it would be the CARDINALS who left Chicago decades later because the Staleys (who soon changed their name to the Bears) became such a dominant force in the city that the Cardinals felt like second-class citizens.

In addition, the Tigers DIDN”T fold after the game. They played two more league games, including one game against the Staleys and THEN left the league (playing one more game against a non-league opponent before folding entirely).

I don’t doubt that there was some sort of agreement that the Tigers would fold/leave Chicago after the 1920 season, but I don’t buy into the generally accepted story of a so-called “death match.” More likely the situation was a three-way match where the Staleys wanted in to Chicago, and since THREE teams certainly couldn’t share a city, one team had to go and that was the Tigers. After all, after the Tigers played the Staleys, they DID drop out of the league (and fold very soon after).

I wish records from the time were better so that we could know for sure what the deal was (note that there are no records of the game being a “death match”), but I’m pretty confident that the Tigers/Cardinals game was not the “death match” that it has often been described as being.

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

-Brian Cronin