A memorable Super Bowl

It is hard to believe that today will see the playing of the fiftieth Super Bowl. I wonder how many of these games you all can remember. I confess that I was unaware of the first Super Bowl, between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs, but I was more engaged for the second, as the Green Bay Packers, fresh from beating the hated Cowboys in the Ice Bowl, went on to thump the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

I watched Joe Namath and the Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in number III (I even felt sorry for Johnny Unitas, whom I normally did not like, as he valiantly tried to rally the Colts), but by far the most memorable Super Bowl was the one that followed, played on 11 January 1970 between the Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs.

What makes this game so memorable is that it was the first time (maybe the only time?) that uncles and aunts and cousins gathered to watch a Super Bowl together. It remains for me, and I hope now for many of you, a day to remember.

We met at Daniel and Marie’s place, which I can still see in my mind’s eye. To get there from York, we took Highway 34 west, then, at the last intersection before Bradshaw, turned north on a gravel road. After driving north for five miles, we turned west and went about a quarter mile: their house and farmyard were on the left (south).

Pulling into the farmyard (i.e., facing south), the house was the first building on the left, and to the south of it was a summer kitchen. Some other building was to the south of it (I think), and at the south end of the farmyard was a cow tank with a big tree beside it (?). The barn was at the southwest corner of the farmyard, and north of it on the west side of the farmyard were one or two (machine?) sheds.

Ed and Esther and the kids lived relatively close. I believe they were still at the place that was exactly one mile west and on the north side of the road, although it is possible that they had already moved to the place a mile (?) north and east across the road from Daniel and Marie’s. If anyone has pictures of any of these places, I would dearly love to see them, since all the farmyards are now gone. Seriously, let’s try to preserve the visual record of these memorable places as much as possible.

Entering Daniel and Marie’s house on the west side, one came into (I think) a dining area, with the kitchen to the right (south) and the living room to the northeast. It seems that bedrooms were to the left (northwest), but that is a bit fuzzy. (Again, photographs would be helpful here!) I do remember that we (mostly the males) gathered in the living room to watch the Vikings pummel the Chiefs (or so many there that day thought) and thus cap their magical season by being crowned world champions.

The Vikings were coached by a legend, Bud Grant, and led by a phenomenon, quarterback Joe Kapp. Their defense, which included a front four dubbed the Purple People Eaters (Gary Larsen, Alan Page, Carl Eller, and Jim Marshall) led the NFL in fewest points allowed. Everyone sitting in Daniel and Marie’s living room knew the Vikings well: back in 1970 TV football fans had few choices about which games to watch; because Nebraska was in the Vikings “area,” we were fed a steady diet of Vikings games on CBS.

The Chiefs were largely unknown to many before the game, but that did not matter. The room was (mostly) filled with Vikings fans confident that their team would prevail. Walking in, I felt a little awkward, because almost no one there knew that I despised the Vikings (after all, they were in the same division as my beloved Packers). During the pregame routine, while I was sitting on the couch, the inevitable question about my loyalties came. Swallowing hard, I admitted that I was a Chiefs fan that day. At that point something wonderful happened: Ed announced that he was cheering for the Chiefs, too! Suddenly everything was okay: Ed and I were in this together.

The day only got better after that. Working Coach Hank Stram’s 1970s “offense of the future” (or so it was dubbed by Sports Illustrated after the game) to perfection, Len Dawson, Mike Garrett, and Otis Taylor led Kansas City to twenty-three points in the first three quarters. The real story, however, was the KC defense, which under the leadership of standouts Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp, Bobby Bell, and Willie Lanier limited the Vikings to sixty-seven rushing yards and forced five turnovers, giving up only a single touchdown in the third quarter.

At the time, the victory was sweet mostly because Ed and I were able to enjoy together the Chiefs beating all odds and pulling off what many considered an upset for the ages. In the years since then, the sweetness has shifted from the game and its outcome to warm memories of a Super Bowl afternoon well and enjoyably spent with aunts and uncles and cousins.  The times our family spent together truly are some of the sweetest memories we have. … So how about some photographs of those days and places gone by to share with everyone else?!