Sports74 Gold: NFL 1973

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

[EDIT 1/3/2024: Small adjustments to the first entry, plus a late addition]

Fifty years ago, the playoffs went into January at a time of 14-game seasons and only one wild card. These days, the champion team isn't decided until a month later.

The Miami Dolphins defend their title by beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 at Super Bowl VIII. Larry Csonka runs for 145 yards on 33 carries and scores both Miami touchdowns. As was the case last time, the Dolphins never lose the lead, and the other team's only score is in the fourth quarter.

With a record-setting 2,003 rushing yards (including 250 in the first game of the season Sept. 16), O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills is the consensus MVP of the NFL. Simpson's mark is 140 yards better than Jim Brown's 1963 record, and each man was playing in a 14-game season. The record will last until 1984, by which time there will be 16 games in a season.

LATE ADDITION 1-3-24, 6:19-20 p.m.: Alan Page, the Vikings' All-Pro tackle, is named best defensive player in a Newspaper Enterprise Association poll. He won that award and the AP's version in 1971, but for '73, the AP instead chooses Dolphins safety Dick Anderson.

The AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and the league's Rookie of the Year as selected by Pro Football Weekly is the Vikings' Chuck Foreman, who goes 801 yards on 182 carries and gets 362 yards on 37 receptions.

The UPI Coach of the Year for the NFC is Chuck Knox, who brings the Los Angeles Rams from 6-7-1 to 12-2 in his first year with the team. For the AFC, it's John Ralston of the Denver Broncos, a second-year coach who brings his team from 5-9 to 7-5-2.

Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys is the leader in quarterback rating for the year of its introduction with 94.6. The Vikings' Fran Tarkenton is second with 93.2. Roman Gabriel of the Philadelphia Eagles -- who leads the NFL with 3,219 passing yards and ties with Staubach for the passing touchdowns lead -- is fifth with 86.3.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler has an .862 completion percentage in a game against the Baltimore Colts, breaking the single-game record .857 Sammy Baugh set in '45.

Staubach's .626 completion percentage for the season is, and will be, his personal best.

The receptions leader is Harold Carmichael of the Eagles with 67 for 1,116 yards.

Offensive guards launching Hall of Fame careers this year: John Hannah of the New England Patriots and Joe DeLamielleure of the Bills. Wide receivers doing the same: Cliff Branch of the Raiders and Drew Pearson of the Cowboys.

Johnny Unitas, quarterback for the San Diego Chargers this season only, wraps up his great career. His 471 passing yards give him a total of 40,239. Unitas' final completion is a seven-yard pass, his only one of a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Meanwhile on the Chargers, new quarterback and future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts makes his debut.

New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath misses eight games, seven in a row due to a separated shoulder. In the 1974 offseason, a commercial for Beautymist Panty Hose with him modeling said wares is broadcast on television.

Ray Guy of the Raiders punts 3,127 yards in 69 attempts to begin his career as the century's best punter.

Don Maynard, a former Jets receiver now with the St. Louis Cardinals and playing his final season, makes an 18-yard reception Sept. 16 at Veterans Stadium. This is the 663rd catch for him, and his total is brought to 11,834 yards. Both are records at this point. He makes no receptions in his only other game.

Paul Warfield of the Dolphins scores four touchdowns in the final game of the regular season Dec. 15. He gets six passes for 103 yards at home against the Detroit Lions. His 11 TDs this season are among 29 receptions.

John Brodie finishes his career with 31,548 passing yards and 214 passing touchdowns. For now, he can be considered the second-best quarterback the San Francisco 49ers have ever had, with Y.A. Tittle being the first.

Fred Dryer forces two safeties for the Rams in a game against the Green Bay Packers Oct. 21.

Besides Unitas and Maynard, other retiring players who will make it to the Hall of Fame one day are Bob Brown, Dick Butkus, Gene Hickerson, and Leroy Kelly. This is also Weeb Ewbank's last year coaching.

Extensive renovations of Yankee Stadium begin, and progress on the new stadium in New Jersey hasn't gotten far past the groundbreaking, so the New York Giants play part of this season and all of the next at the Yale Bowl. Their final game in the Bronx is a 23-23 tie with the Eagles Sept. 23, and their first New Haven home game of the regular season is a 16-14 loss to the Packers Oct. 7.

Rich Stadium, home of the Bills, opens Aug. 17 to a crowd of 80,020. The Bills lose the preseason game to the Washington Redskins 37-21 at this new stadium just outside of Buffalo.

George Burman, Redskin center, claims a third of his team is on amphetamines.

At the Pro Bowl in Kansas City, Mo., Garo Yepremian of the Dolphins kicks five field goals for all of the AFC's 15 points. The NFC scores the game's only touchdown, but the blue conference comes up two points short.

This is the first season in which first-down markers have rubber caps at the bottom instead of metal points. Some call this the Bubba Smith Rule after the Colts defensive end who was injured by getting caught in the chains at a 1972 preseason game in Tampa and missed the subsequent season because of it.

Pete Gent's North Dallas Forty is published. The novel is a fictionalized, autobiographical account of being an NFL player.

Starting this 1973 season, there are no blackouts for games that sell out 72 hours before kickoff. Although there are 63 percent more no-shows in '73 than in '72, it reportedly isn't as bad for the NFL as Commissioner Pete Rozelle will continue to say it is.

Two days after a post-season owners' meeting in Florida Feb. 25 in which Rozelle announces a four-year deal worth $60 million a year with the networks, the commissioner gets a ten-year extension on his contract and is given power to arbitrate.

For Super Bowl VIII, the least expensive ticket at Rice Stadium is $15. It will set someone back at least $20 to be at Tulane Stadium for Super Bowl IX.

Stevens Wright, whose wife works for NFL Properties, designs a new logo for the Bills, one whose stripe is what some see as a potent suggestion of the bison's movement. The team will begin to use it in 1974.

Hockey entry, including some minor-league material, coming Dec. 8

Dedicated to the memory of Steven H. Miles, 1960-2023; "I'm gonna be like you, Dad"

Bobby Hull, 1939-2023

Bobby Hull died Monday.

A player in the World Hockey Association from the circuit's start to its finish, he was the league's first MVP in its first season, scoring 51 goals and making 52 assists. In goals, he did two better in the '73-74 season.

Having been shut out from playing at the first Summit Series two years prior, and famously so, Hull was the first selection for the WHA's delegation, and he scored six goals while in Canada for the first four games. Despite his injured left knee, he was reportedly the one to beat.

"Never been so tight a game before in my life," Hull told Brodie Snyder of the Montreal Gazette after the first game in Quebec City, "not even a 7th game of a Stanley Cup final."

The Golden Jet scored two in that opening contest, and he concluded the Canadian portion with a hat trick against legendary goaltender Vladislav Tretyak in Vancouver.

"I just shot them as they came," he said. "I blasted away."

The first and fourth games were both ties, and the Canadians and Soviets traded wins in between (Canada being victorious in Toronto and the USSR taking the game in Winnipeg).

Moscow, however, was a different story.

Along with three losses in the capital, Canada managed a tie against the USSR, one that would have been a win if not for a Hull goal that was disallowed.

"It went right through Tretiak," Hull said. "I looked up and I thought I saw the light flash."

In the next game, the eighth and final tilt against the Soviets, Hull lit the red lamp a second time in Moscow, and this time it counted.

"We showed those people who said we couldn't play with the Russians that we could," he said of at least the Canadian half of the series. "We outplayed them in three of the four games in Canada, but we were not all together here, for sure."

The Golden Jet didn't spend the entirety of '74-75 as player-coach, unlike the last two seasons, but then again, the Winnipeg Jets failed to make the playoffs that time. Getting the puck in the net 77 times in 78 games is one reason he again won the Gary L. Davidson Award, which by the end of the WHA's time would be renamed the Gordie Howe Trophy after the '73-74 MVP. Only Marc Tardif of the Quebec Nordiques would join Bobby Hull in winning that prize twice.

In the NHL, Hull was also a two-time MVP, being awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy twice back-to-back starting in '64-65. He starred for the Jets in two Avco Cup championship seasons and helped the Chicago Black Hawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961, the last time in 52 years.

Stats and other data from Hockey Reference

Junior Johnson, 1931-2019

Junior Johnson, NASCAR giant, died Friday.

By the middle of the 1974 season, the accomplished former driver had two racing teams to his name. One was the No. 52 that had belonged to Allan Brooke, with Earl Ross driving. In late September, Ross won the Old Dominion 500 in Martinsville. More famously, there was the No. 11 team. Cale Yarborough already had six victories that year, and after the halfway point, the South Carolinian won four more, repeating as the second-highest finisher in the season standings.

What brought these two teams together was Carling beer. The Toronto company, according to Johnson, "had been sponsoring Ross on a smaller team," but wanted to boost the Canadian driver's chances of winning Rookie of the Year. The beer makers came to Johnson, who was Richard Howard's partner in the Yarborough venture, and proposed buying the team with the points leader. "As far as I knew," Johnson recounted years later, "to have a business like Carling actually own a team was a first in NASCAR."

This arrangement began with the Firecracker 400 in July, but ended that fall, when the brewery owners suddenly abandoned their NASCAR aspirations. Johnson bought back his enterprise. The Rookie of the Year from north of the border would return for a few more races thereafter, but not under the banner of Junior Johnson & Associates.

Yarborough stuck around, and later in the '70s, the man driving the white and orange No. 11 car would be the Winston Cup champion three times in a row. Darrell Waltrip would bring another three titles to that team in the '80s.

"Carling's sponsorship efforts had served the team very well," Johnson wrote, but from there, the owner and his driver would have to overcome a rough 1975 to build on the legend of No. 11 and the legacy of a man who came from moonshine-running roots.

Mr. Johnson's own account of 1974, written in 2011 for Motorsports Unplugged
Yarborough's 1974 season and Ross's, from Racing-Reference.info
Some more about Earl Ross, from NASCAR Yesteryear

Cliff Branch, 1948-2019

Cliff Branch died Saturday.

He was a Houston native who went to Wharton County (Texas) Junior College and the University of Colorado. The Oakland Raiders made him a fourth-round draft pick in 1972 and brought him on as a punt returner. By 1974, he bolstered the team's passing game and gave Ken Stabler another favorite receiver. With 60 receptions to the veteran Fred Biletnikoff's 42, Branch finished fourth in total receptions in the NFL, but he led the league in yards with 1,092 and in touchdowns with 13. That performance made him a unanimous All-Pro selection.

Branch's best game of the year may have been the Dec. 1 game against the New England Patriots, one of three in which he took the ball over the goal line twice. Those catches and four others gave him a total of 138 yards. His total of 1,092 for the season was just five ahead of the Dallas Cowboys' Drew Pearson, but he caught three more passes for touchdowns than did Isaac Curtis of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Branch scored a 72-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Raiders' playoff game Dec. 21 against the defending NFL champion Miami Dolphins, a close game from which the black and silver emerged victorious.

Two years later, the team put together its first of three seasons as a Super Bowl winner, and Branch was there for all of them.

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

Arnold Palmer, 1929-2016

Arnold Palmer died two weeks before yesterday.

In 1974, he was named to the first class of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The 44-year-old was a year removed from what would be his 62nd and final PGA Tour win at the 1973 Bob Hope Classic, and his prime was in the rear-view mirror. A four-time Masters champion, Palmer went 5 under in the final round of the 1974 edition to finish 2 over par for a share of eleventh place.

He finished fifth at the US Open during a tough tournament. His total score was 292 -- five strokes behind Hale Irwin, who won while going 7 over -- including a high 76 in the final round. Palmer had finished third and fourth in the previous two years and would finish in the top ten for the last time in 1975, placing ninth.

At the PGA Championship, a second-round 75 on a par-70 helped bring Palmer to 9 over par and a tie for 28th place, which was an improvement over his missing the cut the previous year. Outside the majors, he was consistent at the Western Open and wound up tied with three other players for fifth. That was his only top-ten finish of the year other than the US Open.

Another note: in 1974, Palmer bought a Cadillac dealership in Charlotte, and one former employee reports the golfer treated everyone well there.

After that year, he played in PGA Tour events for 30 years more. Such was his legacy.

Pat Summitt, 1952-2016

Pat Summitt died Tuesday. Her accomplishments in the sphere of women's basketball are unparalleled.

One of the most appreciated individuals in University of Tennessee history, Pat Head received her physical education bachelor's in 1974 after four years on the Martin campus, and that fall she started coaching in Knoxville. She was teaching in Martin when she received the letter requesting that she dedicate her winters to the "excellent potential team" that was the Lady Vols. They finished 16-8 in her first year, and the 16-11 team of the next year would remain the only Tennessee squad on her watch not to win at least two-thirds of its games.

Head was so young in the mid-'70s that after her first season on the sidelines in Knoxville (and the one grad school year it took for her to get her master's), she was on the court for the US team at the 1975 women's world championship and the subsequent Pan American Games. She won a silver medal at the '76 Olympics, and she coached the national team in 1980, the year she married the man with whom she'd stay for over a quarter-century.

Her first staff included Judy Rose, UNC-Charlotte's future athletics director. Though Rose began her time at Charlotte in 1976, she remained a close friend over the years. Rose recalls, among many other things, Summitt's willingness to "mentor younger people coming up," something she saw on frequent encounters in high school gyms with the woman who'd hired her in '74.

There was much more to Summitt than her signature stare. She was all business when she needed to be and less serious other times. Like any good coach, she'd have players work hard (and preferably smart), but even while she was on the job, they could call her Pat.

[EDIT 11/30/2023, 2:15 p.m.: Added "basketball" label]

Gordie Howe, 1928-2016

Gordie Howe died Friday.

In the 1973-74 season, after two years off the ice, the 45-year-old first laced up skates for the Houston Aeros of the WHA, leaving an uneventful job in the Detroit Red Wings' front office to join sons Mark and Marty. His signing in June of '73 no doubt captivated audiences and drew all sorts of reactions.

His wrists might not have been what they used to be, and fears of the comeback being a flop preceded the season, but he was still a very capable player, and it didn't just seem that way because of the league in which he played. His 69 assists in '73-74 were the second-most in the WHA, and his total of 100 points was the third-highest. Led by the Howes, the Aeros won the Avco Cup. Also among Gordie's hardware was the MVP award, which by the end of the league's time bore his name.

Before the next season, Gordie joined the WHA's delegation for a series structured almost like the Summit Series two years before. His wearing of the Canadian red and white, he said, would assure his countrymen that despite over a quarter-century in Detroit and his move to Texas of all places that he was still one of their own. A repeat of '72 wasn't to be, but it gave the Soviet players a chance to play against Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, two legends who couldn't be present the last time.

With another championship in '74-75, as well as 34 goals and 65 assists, Gordie was once again the right winger for the mythical all-WHA team (as opposed to the one that visited Moscow). His role in the WHA's influence on hockey was no small one, to say nothing of his illustrious career in the NHL.

Muhammad Ali, 1942-2016

Muhammad Ali died seven days ago.

The rebuilding of his career following the time when he was barred from the ring for draft evasion was completed in 1974.

The Louisville Lip's 1971 loss to Joe Frazier when both were undefeated stuck with him. The rematch at Madison Square Garden January 28 could be seen only on closed-circuit television, but anyone with an antenna could see the buildup on ABC, culminating in a bit of a scuffle on Wide World of Sports. Smokin' Joe tried to prevent Ali from getting into his head, and it seemed to be working before their encounter in the studio.

The full tale of the tape can be found in newspapers of January 27, and the full results in papers of the 29th. BoxRec shows that the twelve-round fight was closer in referee Tony Perez's mind than in those of the judges. He saw Ali as the winner of six rounds and Frazier as the winner of five, the other one being a draw. Tony Castellano had Ali down as the 7-4-1 winner, and Jack Gordon's score was 8-4.

Later that year, Ali had his match with unbeaten champion George Foreman, victor over both men who'd beaten Ali. The bout was a big break for Don King, who coined the famous name for it. The combatants trained in what was then known as Zaire, and Ali charmed the locals into supporting him for the bout that began October 30, 4 a.m. local time.

It was thought to be a cinch for the younger and stronger of the two men, so the guys in Big George's corner figured what he had was going to be enough for a quick win. After eight rounds of fast punches, Ali won the fight of his life and the world championship.

Those fights were important to an outstanding career that for years had a place in the ESPN Sports Almanac. What's more, they cemented Ali's place in popular culture and sports history.

EDIT 2/4/2023 9:22 a.m. EST: Link to BoxRec changed

Ken Stabler, 1945-2015 (Belated Tribute)

The following was prepared July 10, soon after Stabler's death. I thought I had posted it, but I didn't. I am very sorry.

Ken Stabler, whom the AP named the NFL's MVP in 1974, died Thursday.

Forty-one years ago, he quarterbacked the Oakland Raiders to a nine-game winning streak, going 11-2 overall (missing the next-to-last game) with a win and a loss in the playoffs. All those losses were close except the one December 29 against Pittsburgh.

That year, his fifth season in the NFL, he passed for a league-leading 26 touchdowns, and two years later he beat that mark by one. He had three fourth-quarter comebacks and three game-winning drives, the two sets containing the exact same games (Oct. 13 at San Diego, Oct. 20 vs. Cincinnati, and Dec. 21 vs. Miami). And this was the only season in which he was a consensus First-Team All-Pro.

His Approximate Value on Pro Football Reference is the team's second-highest. The Raiders had the second-highest Offensive SRS figure in the NFL (highest being that of the 7-7 Patriots), as well as the sixth-best Defensive SRS figure (down quite a bit from the year before). They rushed a lot more than they passed (#3 in rushing attempts, #23 in passing attempts), but got the most net yards per pass attempt and the most passing TDs. Stabler had two really good receivers in Cliff Branch and Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff, which is a luxury for some QBs and even better for someone having such a good season. Branch led the league in receiving TDs with 13.

It was because of good performances from him and others that two years later the Raiders won the Super Bowl for the first time. He might be on a level of quarterbacks not with Bradshaw and Namath but with Ron Jaworski and Roman Gabriel, but the Raiders were fortunate to get even that kind of quarterback. And to think, like a few other QBs, he could've been a baseball player.

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

Yogi Berra, 1925-2015

Yogi Berra, baseball great, died two weeks ago Tuesday.

He managed the NL All-Stars in 1974, being the manager of the senior circuit's reigning champs, the New York Mets. He got to be in the same dugout as Johnny Bench, a man with whom he's associated because there might be some debate over which one was the best catcher of all time. Also in that dugout was Hank Aaron, whose Braves were the Mets' opponents in Berra's final game as a player and the Yankees' opponents in two World Series. Another one of his former opponents calling him skipper for the day was Pete Rose, not far away from the action when Yogi pinch-hit against the Reds in '65. Aaron and Rose were the first position players on the NL side to be subbed.

Berra's five pitchers in that game were new to being All-Stars. In fact, seven of the eight pitchers were first-timers. The one who wasn't, Steve Carlton, didn't even take the mound that night. Berra gave the Pirates' Ken Brett his only Midsummer Classic moment in the sun in the fourth inning, and even though Brett didn't strike anyone out, he was good in those two frames, allowing just one hit. Brett ended up being the winning pitcher as he and four others held Reggie Jackson hitless and kept Bert Campaneris and Brooks Robinson from getting on base. Reportedly, Berra said of the 7-2 win, "We had the better team."

Moses Malone, 1955-2015

In 1974, Petersburg High School beat West Springfield 50-48 to remain basketball champions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. That season, Moses Eugene Malone, a Petersburg senior, scored 896 points to set a 12th-grade record that stood for almost forty years.¹ Then, twenty-one years before Kevin Garnett started the wave, the ABA's Utah Stars selected Malone in the third round, at a time when no other team was willing to have anyone make that jump.^2 3

He had 1,209 rebounds, including a league-leading 455 offensive, his mark of 128 blocks was among the league's top ten, and his .571 field goal percentage was third-best in the league. His play was good for an All-Star Game appearance and a place on the All-Rookie Team.

The next season, after the team folded, he played with the Spirits of St. Louis, but due to his injury and his contract holdout, he took the court nearly halfway through.

He made his NBA debut with the Buffalo Braves, Portland having claimed him in the dispersal draft. After two games, he was traded to Houston. Each team got draft picks for Malone; Portland drafted Rick Robey, while Buffalo drafted Wesley Cox and Micheal Ray Richardson. The latter ended up being dealt to the Knicks and started a solid career.

As for Moses, you don't need me to tell you what happened next. I could just throw a bunch of numbers, many pertaining to his rebound totals, but here's the nitty-gritty. Over the course of 19 seasons, he was a three-time MVP, a 12-time All-Star, and Most Valuable Player of the '82-83 NBA Finals. His jersey number, 24, is retired in Houston. In Philadelphia, his #2 should be. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in 1996 and gained a place in the Hall of Fame five years later.

Here's to the career that began in the year of '74.

<sup>1. [Andrew Rowsey of the 2013 Rockbridge County Wildcats now holds that record.]↩
2. [The next year, by the way, NBA teams drafted two guys out of high school. And also, he's not the first player to make it to the pros without going to college, as I've heard at least once today; I remember from an old sports almanac that a few guys did so in the '40s (namely Kappen, Simmons, and Graboski).]↩
3. [His Topps NBA cards are unusual in that a simple "NO" follows the colon after "DRAFTED." He was drafted, just not by an NBA team at first.]↩</sup>