The Super Bowl is not only a world's most popular annual sporting event, but it has now transcended sports and has become as much a pop culture event as a championship event.
In the 1960's, the game itself was born out of a major disagreement between two American football leagues. When the two leagues finally agreed to settle their football rivalry on the field, the Super Bowl was born. So who played in that inaugural game, and what was the outcome?
To fully understand it, we must go back beyond the 1960's to the opening night of the 1950 NFL season. That Saturday night game, played on Sep 16, featured two champions from two completely different leagues facing off in a non-exhibition match. The Philadelphia Eagles were the defending two-time NFL champions, while the Cleveland Browsn were the defending four-time AAFC champions.
The first game of champions
The American Football Conference (AAFC) was a popular sport in 1946, and it is the first league to move professional football outside of the Untied States' northeast region. This was partly due to the arrival of the Browns and the fact that the AAFC would have many teams from California (the Los Angeles Dons and the San Francisco 49ers).
The AAFC was a league that some believed was simply inadequate to compete with the NFL post-World War II. Three teams from the young league joined the NFL as the AAFC was unable to merge entirely with the NFL in 1950.
The NFL had its first Champion against the AAFC champion to open the season. The Cleveland Browns, the AAFC's league champion, won, defeated the Eagles again later in the season, and hosted and defeated the Rams, once of Cleveland, in the 1950 NFL Championship Game.
Another rival league was on the verge of starting up as the Browns dominated the NFL's Eastern Conference for the remainder of the 1950s.
The Origins of the Australian Football League
Lamar Hunt, the son of an oil magnate, desired to own and run an NFL club in Dallas, the city where he grew up. The NFL seemed to refuse him many times, and he was denied entry into the AFL (American Football League) in 1960. They were formed by Hunt, who watched another Texas club, the Houston Oilers, win the first two AFL championships.
The NFL was hesitant to enter the AFL in the 1960s because to the fact that their champion won multiple NFL titles. The NFL counteracted by forming the Dallas Cowboys, which began play in 1960.
The Dallas Texans won the third AFL Championship game in 1962, and it would be the last game his team played for the Dallas Cowboys. Hunt then relocated his beloved Dallas team to Kansas City, who later became known as the Chiefs, fueled by their rich team owners who were able to spend mini-fortunes on certain players.
Off the field, the leagues' battle reached a heady halt for players returning from college. Both leagues hoped to persuade future stars to join their respective leagues, with money often being the decisive factor. It was time to settle things on the field.
Why not celebrate together in the sport's glory? The NFL and the AFL agreed to merge completely on June 8, 1966, but until 1970, a championship game would be held between the two respective league champions.
The creation of a super game
The Super Bowl was created, although it was not officially named the Super Bowl until 1966. The champions met in the first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game, which is now retroactively called Super Bowl I.
The Green Bay Packers won a second consecutive championship, their fourth overall award of the decade, and they were the first NFL team to participate in the Super Bowl in 1960.
In 1966, the Buffalo Bills hoped to win their third consecutive AFL championship. However, they were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1966 AFL Championship Game, indicating that Lamar Hunt, who had created the AFL and was the single most influential player in the AFL-NFL championship game, was about to see the team he owned play in the historic game.
The first Super Bowl to be held in history.
The Green Bay Packers were expected to win easily. They appeared to be invincible and they embodied the established NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs were determined to change their minds. On January 15, 1967, worlds collided.
The Packers led by a score of 14-10 at halftime, putting the Chiefs in the driver's seat at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Max McGee, a backup Packers receiver, was the surprise performer. He spent the night before partying till dawn, yet came onto the field hours later, due to a Boyd Dowler shoulder injury, and caught a ball thrown behind him for the game's first touchdown, and the first in Super Bowl history. McGee added another in the second half.
Two men exploded off in jet packs, and a total of 4,000 pigeons were released who were kind enough not to litter the field with droppings.
The Chiefs' optimism that they would win the game faded early as Packers safety Willie Wood intercepted a Len Dawson pass and returned it 50 yards to the Kansas City five-yard line. On the next play, Elijah Pitts scored two more touchdowns to lead the Packers to a 35-10 victory.
Fred "The Hammer" Williamson was proclaimed to be the Chiefs' future quarterback and 11 future Hall-of-Famers will play for the Packers. While trying to tackle, Williamson was knocked out.
Bart Starr tossed two touchdowns in the game.
It's not one of the greatest Super Bowl's of all time, but it's certainly one of the most essential.
The aftermath
The Packers won the AFL-NFL Championship Game the following year by defeating the Oakland Raiders, but the Baltimore Colts lost shockingly in Super Bowl III (the first time it was called the Super Bowl) to the New York Jets, led by quarterback Joe Namath.
Super Bowl IV was the final Super Bowl before the two leagues merged under the umbrella of the NFL. As the AFL champion defeated the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL's championship team, it was named by Lamar Hunt.
In Super Bowl LVII, the Chiefs represent the AFC (American Football Conference).
Part of the reason for the nickname "Super Bowl" comes from collegiate events being referred to as bowl games, which prompted a man to name the NFL championship game the "Super Bowl" after seeing his daughter bounce a small ball in the driveway that she describes as "The Super Ball."
Lamar Hunt was the man who sat on the verge of suicide.