1966 Pro Bowl

1966 East–West Pro Bowl

Eastern Conference Western Conference 36 7 Head coach: Blanton Collier (Cleveland Browns) Head coach: Vince Lombardi (Green Bay Packers)
1 2 3 4 Total Eastern Conference 10 13 3 10 36 Western Conference 0 0 0 7 7
Date	January 16, 1966
Stadium	Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Co-MVPs	Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns), Dale Meinert (St. Louis Cardinals)
Attendance	60,124
TV in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Jack Drees, Frank Gifford

The 1966 Pro Bowl was the NFL's sixteenth annual all-star game which featured the outstanding performers from the 1965 season. The game was played on January 16, 1966, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California in front of a crowd of 60,124.^[1]

The coach of the Eastern Conference, Blanton Collier of the Cleveland Browns, used the domination of the West that year as a rallying cry for the Eastern team as they prepared to take the field against the Western Conference stars coached by Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. During the 1965 season, the Western Conference had dominated the Eastern Conference — Western teams had won the league championship as well as 13 of the 14 regular season inter-conference games. This apparent domination extended to the college ranks as well with the West team winning the East-West college all-star game and the Rose Bowl.^[2]

At the same time, Lombardi felt his West squad was at an unfair disadvantage in the game due to a denial by the league of a last minute appeal to use his own team's quarterback, Bart Starr, in the game. Starr had previously been scratched due to injury, but had recovered sufficiently to play.^[2]

Dale Meinert of the St. Louis Cardinals was named the "lineman of the game" while the Cleveland Browns' fullback Jim Brown was awarded "back of the game" honors for the third time in his career. Brown carried 21 times for 65 yards. One story line of the game, the anticipated showdown between Brown and rookie Gayle Sayers of the Bears, never materialized when Lombardi surprisingly called only a single play for Sayers, a handoff which Sayers took for 15 yards.^[2]

References

1. "Brown, East bop West in Pro Bowl, 36–7". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. AP. January 17, 1966. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
2. "The 1966 Pro Bowl". Bolding Sports Research. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.

External links

• "1966 Pro Bowl players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2012.