And who can forget the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay on New Year’s Eve? The Bengals - Bills game was a walk in the park compared to the infamous “Ice Bowl,” so called because of the brutally cold temperatures at game-time . . . 15 below zero with an average wind chill at −48 °F. Still nearly 51,000 attended the game which Green Bay won 21-17. An elderly spectator in the stands died from exposure during the game. The officials were unable to use their whistles as they froze to their lips. The late CBS commentator Frank Gifford even remarked during the game that he was going to take a bite of his coffee. It had frozen solid in his mug. It was not the last frigid game to be played at Lambeau Field, but it is certainly the most infamous in the annals of NFL football.
I have only attended one snowy football game . . . a memorable match-up between Notre Dame and Navy on November 4, 1967. It was only my third college football game, the first being Bobby Dodd's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets’ 14-6 victory over the Tulane Green Wave in Tech’s 1960 Homecoming Game at Grants Field, in Atlanta. My dad had graduated from Tech ten years earlier. Then there was the 1964 meeting between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Michigan State Spartans played before 67,000 fans at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. That was back when the Badgers were the lapdog of the Big 10. The Spartans won that one 23-6.
It was my junior year in high school and my dad and I left our home in suburban Chicago that Saturday morning for the roughly 120-mile trip to South Bend, Indiana. We arrived at Notre Dame Stadium in time to walk around and enjoy some of the pre-game activities. I purchased a copy of the game program featuring Jim Crowley, one of the famous 1924 Notre Dame “Four Horsemen” on the cover. They were the Irish backfield that was key to Notre Dame going 10-0 and winning the national championship that season, the first of three under legendary coach Knute Rockne. I still have it packed away in a chest. It was a beautiful mid-autumn day, and it was shaping up to be a memorable game.
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame coached by “Era of Ara” Parseghian in his fourth season, and led by quarterback Terry Hanratty, Nick Eddy, star receiver Jim Seymour, and Larry Conjar, were the defending National NCAA champions having had the best scoring offense in the nation, with an average of 36 points per game. The defense was second in the country in points allowed. The Navy Midshipmen were also 4-2. The game was to be played before a sold-out crowd of just over 59,000.
The two teams might have shared similar records going into the game, but Notre Dame was dominant in ever respect. The last time Navy had defeated the Irish was five years earlier. The home team took the opening kickoff and marched it down field on the ground for 67 yards. Team captain Bob “Rocky” Bleier punched the ball over the goal line for the first score. Navy held its own and the first quarter ended in a 7-0 Notre Dame lead.
Things quickly changed. Notre Dame caught fire and Irish quarterback Hanratty let loose with an aerial bombardment to Jim Seymour for a total of 64 yard and a touchdown. Three more unanswered scores and Notre Dame led 35-0 at the half. The other change was the weather. The pleasant autumn day quickly turned cold as the temperature dropped into the high 20s and it began to snow . . . hard. The people sitting next to us had brought extra lap blankets and thankfully we had dressed in layers. The hot chocolate sure tasted good. And plenty hot! At times the snow was so thick it was almost impossible to see the stands on the other side of the field. The crowd began to chant “Ara, stop the snow!” He was in control of his team on the field, but he had little to say about the weather.
The weather certainly put a damper on the action in the third quarter. There were also several delays while the grounds crew cleared snow off the field to see the yardage markers and the goal lines. Navy quarterback John Cartwright ran for a short touchdown after the Middies recovered a Notre Dame fumble followed by a run for a two-point conversion and the score at the end of the third quarter was 35-8. This was the first touchdown Navy had scored against Notre Dame since their defeat of the Irish in 1962. The weather continued to deteriorate. The Irish scored one more touchdown and two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. Navy scored a second touchdown but failed on a two-point conversion run. The game ended in an 43-14 Irish victory. The Irish point total was the highest in the 41-year rivalry between these two teams dating back to 1927 and the seasons under coach Rockne. That first game was played in Baltimore’s new Municipal Stadium and signaled the start of what is now one of the longest-lived intercollegiate football rivalries in the country. Notre Dame won that first meeting 19-6.
It was a memorable game indeed. The Irish would go on to end the season 8-2 and ranked fifth in the nation in the AP poll. Navy, under third year coach Bill Elias, ended its season with a disappointing 5–4–1 record.
The snow had piled up during the game and instead of making the return trip to Chicago, we drove north 40 miles to my grandparents’ home in Decatur. Michigan waiting for the weather to improve. The roads were clear the next morning. That will be a game I will never forget.
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