“COLONEL SAND-BAGGED” and “OTTO-MAN EMPIRE”
#894/#893
894. NEW YORK NETS VS KENTUCKY COLONELS
AMERICAN BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION QUARTERFINALS
GAME SIX
APRIL 10, 1972
NASSAU COLISEUM
QUALITY OF PLAY—7.68
DRAMA—8.12
STAR POWER—8.35
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.05
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.06
LOCAL IMPACT—6.55
TOTAL: 42.81
“COLONEL SAND-BAGGED”
Overall, the Kentucky Colonels were probably the best team the ABA had to offer, but they were consistently frustrated in the early years of the league. A bitter defeat in Game Seven of the 1971 Finals to Utah was a classic example of their tantalizing nature. The team responded by adding dominant center Artis Gilmore out of Jacksonville for the 1972 season. The 7’1” Gilmore was a tower of interior power, slam dunking with such violence defenders under the basket cringed in fear of being hit by the ball.
Gilmore averaged 24 points and 18 rebounds in his rookie year, one that saw him named MVP (tipping another rookie, Julius Erving of Virginia). The Colonels, coached by Joe Mullaney and led by Gilmore but also featuring high-scoring forward Dan Issel and quick point guard Louie Dampier, went an astounding 68-16 in the regular season, shattering the record for wins in the nascent league.
Kentucky had their eyes on the championship prize, but first would have to get to the Finals. The initial roadblock was the New York Nets, a talented but mercurial team defined by its temperamental star, Rick Barry. Few gave the Nets any hope of defeating the rampaging Colonels, but they shocked the Louisville crowds that stormed Freedom Hall expecting an easy time, winning both of the first two games. Louisville grabbed Game Three on Long Island, but despite being without Barry, who was sick with the flu, the Nets romped to a Game Four win to seize control, 3-1. Barry was back for Game Five in Kentucky, but he was clearly not himself as the Nets played poorly and lost, setting up a key Game Six on Monday night, April 10, 1972 at the Nassau Coliseum.
“We're going to have to push ourselves more than we have in any game this season,” said Lou Carnesecca, the Nets’ coach in his pre-St. Johns days. “We will be fighting for our lives. We have to try and win at all costs.”
Most sports fans in the City had their eyes on Madison Square Garden, where a rare Knicks/Rangers playoff doubleheader was staged (the Knicks closed out the Baltimore Bullets in six, while the Rangers lost Game Five to Montreal in a series they would win two nights later at the Forum). But New York contains multitudes, and 11,533 roaring, diehard fans spent the night in Uniondale cheering for the huge upset.
Barry was still not 100%, so John Roche took over scoring duties, repeatedly driving the lane and either pulling up for jumpers or taking it to the net and getting fouled (he shot eleven free throws in the game, making nine). “I had a bad game,” admitted Barry after he was held to 15 points. “Roche did a great job of running the club.” Roche’s jumper near the end of the first broke a 24-24 tie and put the Nets ahead—for good, as it turned out.
Meanwhile the team continued its brilliant defensive effort. Gilmore was too good to stop entirely—he scored 24 points, right at his season average. But seven-footer Billy Paultz outfought him off the backboards, grabbing 19, while Tom Washington shut down Issel, holding him to just 13 points on 6-18 shooting. “This series bas been the low point of the season for Dan,” Mullaney said. “Everything he has done lately just seems to be wrong.” With little floor balance, Kentucky was unable to maintain enough offense to stick with New York.
The Nets held a double-digit lead for long stretches into the third period, though the Colonels, led by Gilmore, put on a rally late in the quarter to cut it to four (80-76) after three. A bucket made it a two-point game, but then the Nets reeled off nine straight to thrust back out by double-digits. One more Kentucky spasm—Louie Dampier drove past Roche to make it 99-96 with 53 seconds to go. Washington missed a shot, and the Colonels came downcourt with a chance to tie (the ABA had the three-pointer long before it became an NBA staple, remember). But Issel was whistled for an offensive foul, capping his awful series, and Kentucky was spent.
The final was 101-96, and the Nets had shocked the red, white and blue basketball world by dumping the heavy favorites in the first round, in six.
AFTERMATH
The Nets kept the mojo rolling, winning a thrilling seven-game series by taking the decider on the road against the Virginia Squires and their star, Dr. J, who would shortly become the Nets’ standard bearer. In the finals they split the first four games with Indiana, only to lose Games Five and Six and the series to the Pacers.
Kentucky continued to be frustrated despite having excellent teams, losing another seven-game series in the 1973 Finals, then getting swept by the Nets and Dr. J in ’74. At last, they took the trophy in 1975, besting Indiana in five games int he Finals.
WHAT THEY SAID
“It’s the greatest upset in the history of the American Basketball Association.”
—John Roche, Nets guard
FURTHER READING:
Loose Balls by Terry Pluto
VIDEO:
893. NEW YORK GIANTS VS CLEVELAND BROWNS
NOVEMBER 27, 1955
POLO GROUNDS
QUALITY OF PLAY—8.43
DRAMA—6.97
STAR POWER—8.05
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.15
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.72
LOCAL IMPACT—6.85
TOTAL: 42.82
“OTTO-MAN EMPIRE”
It had been a storybook ending. Otto Graham, “Automatic Otto,” one of pro football’s greatest quarterbacks of all time, had capped an amazing career by winning his sixth title while putting on one of the great championship game performances in any sport. His Cleveland Browns crushed the Lions in the 1954 Championship Game, with Otto running for three touchdowns and passing for three more. With no summits left to conquer, Graham, newly 33 years old, retired from the sport.
But the 1955 Browns, coached by the eponymous Paul Brown, struggled in training camp. No one could replace Otto as field general, unsurprisingly. So the Bat signal went up, and Brown convinced Graham to unretire and play one more year. The $25,000 ($250,000 today) he paid Otto to do so went a long way toward bringing the legend back.
Behind Otto, the ’55 Browns were 7-2 and in their usual position atop the Eastern Division of the NFL in late-November. The team came to New York for the second of the two annual wars they had with the Giants. Big Blue was a solid team, but dwarfed by the Cleveland Colossus. However, the coaching staff was making progress. Jim Lee Howell was a fine head man but the true genius lay in his coordinators, Vince Lombardi on offense and Tom Landry on defense. Quarterback Charlie Conerly was getting up in years (he was older than Graham by several months), and was splitting time with heir apparent Don Heinrich. The team was paced by the spectacular halfback Frank Gifford and end Kyle Rote, a pair of dual threats, and All-Pro safety Emlen Tunnell.
Generally the Browns and Giants played defensive battles, but on this crisp Sunday, November 27, 1955, they embarked on a thriller the AP called a “wild and wooly adding-machine game.” Just shy of 46,000 fans, a large number for pro football at the Polo Grounds at the time, came out to Harlem to see the locals vie with the champs. Included in the throng were several baseball stars—Don Newcombe, Bobby Thomson, Eddie Mathews, Gil McDougald, and Larry Doby, all sporting royalty in 1955.
A classic offensive display started with a special teams mistake. Cleveland was forced to punt, but the snap arrived to Horace Gillom on a bounce, and New York recovered deep in Browns territory. Running back Alex Webster plunged in for the opening score subsequent. The Browns came right down the field, but were forced to settle for a field goal try, which was blocked by Giants tackle Ray Krouse. Heinrich, in the starting role this week, responded with another TD drive to make it 14-zip, and it appeared the champs were content to take the afternoon off.
Just before halftime, the Browns sprung from their stupor, and wouldn’t be stopped again. Graham drove the team 91 yards and threw a touchdown pass just before halftime. Then the teams “exploded with some strange but exciting football that rocked the rafters,” as AP put it.
Graham opened the second half with a “needle threader,” a 42-yard bomb to Ray Renfro to tie the game. Gifford took the ensuing kickoff 62 yards but fumbled it back to Cleveland and Graham did it again, a very similar 41-yard pass, this time to tight end Darrell Brewster. From the walking dead to a 21-14 lead in an eye blink.
But before the third period was over, New York—with a little luck— had retied the game. Conerly entered the game, and drove the Giants into Browns territory. Ed Price took an inside handoff and raced twenty yards to the goal line, where he fumbled before breaking the plane. But Bob Schnelker was Johnny-on-the-Spot for the G-men, falling on the wayward pigskin for the tying touchdown.
That set up the crazy, 28-point fourth quarter, where “every time a fan looked down to light a cigaret (sic) he missed a touchdown,” according to Gene Ward in the Daily News. Conerly hit Rote for the go-ahead score, but in just three plays, Graham tied matters once again, thanks to a 43-yard heave to Renfroe, a scramble to the one, and a touchdown plunge from Dick Modzelewsi.
Conerly then made a key mistake, one that showed why he wasn’t fully trusted by Howell and Lombardi and why the team used two quarterbacks. New York tried to set up a screen pass but Conerly fired the ball right into the stomach of Browns linebacker Chuck Noll—yes, that Chuck Noll, the future head coach and four-time Super Bowl winner of the Steelers. Noll took it home for the go-ahead pick-six with 8:18 to go, and the Browns led 35-28.
Working methodically, letting the clock dwindle, the Giants moved 85 yards on nine plays, including a 33-yard strike to Kyle Rote. From the 23-yard line Conerly spotted Gifford somehow standing all alone in the corner of the end zone, and delivered one of the easiest of his 173 career TD passes to tie the game at 35. But Graham had time, and a 27-yard scramble got them into New York’s territory, as the capacity crowd grew fatalistic. Fred Morrison rumbled for 16 yards, and with seconds to play, the Browns were on the Giants 14-yard line.
Lou “The Toe” Groza, Cleveland’s Hall of Fame kicker, lined up the attempt, let it fly—and saw it come right back at him, blocked—again!—by Krouse, “the old warhorse from Maryland,” according to the Daily News. There was no overtime at the time, so when the gun sounded, it ended the game in a 35-35 tie. “I don’t know why the Giants are out of contention,” said Paul Brown afterward. “They’re a great club, certainly the best we’ve faced all season.”
Graham finished with 289 yards passing and three touchdowns. Gifford had 113 scrimmage yards, Rote 103. Ironically, the tie eliminated the G-Men from the Eastern Division race, and they still had not beaten the Browns since 1952, but it showed they were just about ready to challenge in 1956.
AFTERMATH
That the Giants did. The Browns went to win their second straight championship behind Automatic Otto in 1955, clubbing the Rams 38-14. But in ’56 the tide turned. Playing on the same Yankee Stadium greensward where the Bombers had won a dramatic World Series over the Dodgers, the Giants captured the East at last, finally beating the Browns along the way. Big Blue then won its first NFL Championship since 1938 by demolishing the Chicago Bears, 47-7.
WHAT THEY SAID
“Otto Graham staged the most spectacular passing and running show he ever put on in the Big Town…this must be marked as the most thrilling tie ever registered in cash-and-carry football. A lowly lineman emerged as the hero of an engagement about which the season’s high crowd of 45,699 will be talking about all winter.”
—Gene Ward, New York Daily News
FURTHER READING:
OttoMatic by Duane Graham
VIDEO:
https://www.efootage.com/videos/54185/giants-browns-end-game-tie-1955