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Super Bowl I: Cheap seats, last-minute decisions

Nobody goes to the Super Bowl today on a whim. But 50 years ago, that’s how Edward McNally, now a Manhattan attorney, got to see the first Super Bowl live. As a 10-year-old from Chicago, where his father was a surgeon for the Blackhawks, McNally was a last-minute sub for his mom on a trip to San Francisco for a medical convention. No problem then that the airplane ticket had his mother’s name on it — the first in a series of seemingly unconnected events that eventually put McNally into a 40-yard-line seat at Super Bowl I.

Stories from Super Bowl I
Event No. 1: McNally and his father got to the San Francisco Airport early in the morning of Jan. 15, 1967, anticipating a flight to Chicago. However, they happened to pass the counter for a commuter airline, which was touting hourly shuttle flights to Los Angeles.

Well aware that the first AFL-NFL championship was that day, they hopped on a flight, only to encounter dense fog that made a landing at LAX impossible. As the plane circled vainly, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum game site was visible, but chances of getting there seemed remote. The plane finally landed in Ontario, Calif., about an hour from the stadium. However, on a Sunday in mid-January, there were no cabs.

Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Event No. 2: The doc and his son had coincidentally befriended a man on the plane who turned out to be R.C. Owens, the former 49ers wide receiver. Since Owens was doing color commentary for the game, he quickly had a car and they drove together to the game, and bought $12 tickets minutes before kickoff.

The Third “Would Never Happen Now” Occurrence: Since the McNallys were in the middle of a “business trip,” they had to schlep their luggage into the game; clearly that was before stadium security and metal detectors were as routine at stadiums as beer and peanuts.

■ ■ ■

The stadium was about a third empty that day. When you talk to those who attended or worked at the first Super Bowl, a theme emerges. Going to that game wasn’t quite like going to an afternoon matinee of the latest Hollywood offering, but it wasn’t far removed.

“I went with some friends on a lark, paid $12 for tickets,” said Tom Shine, Logo Athletic founder and former Reebok senior vice president. “Today, someone offered me a 20-person Super Bowl suite for $500,000, which I turned down.”

By Super Bowl III, Shine had secured his first NFL apparel license. “Today everyone knows that two networks televised the first Super Bowl, but I remember they were getting along so well, there was a big chain-link fence separating the crews and trailers,” he said with a laugh.

■ ■ ■

It seems peculiar in an age where the Super Bowl is the biggest TV event of any year, but in 1967, it was blacked out locally. In Los Angeles, the closest place to see the game was in Santa Barbara.

“People were making antennas out of coat hangers, but I don’t remember any of those working,” said Stan Rosenfield, whose L.A.-based public relations firm represents Rich Eisen and Eddie George on the sports side and actors including George Clooney and Robert De Niro. Rosenfield had booked a Santa Barbara hotel room as a way to watch the game. The morning of the game, a friend called with a ticket.

Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
“It wasn’t like I’d just won the lottery; I was just going to a game,” he said. Rosenfield still has the program, which cost $1, and while leafing through noted that the first mention of the term “Super Bowl” appeared on page 61, within a soft-drink ad.

Another Super Bowl I veteran: Bill Barron, who worked at the NFL from 1977 to 2004. In 1967, Barron was a Loyola Marymount student who wanted to watch the AFL-NFL World Championship Game on TV. So did some engineering students, so they built a makeshift antenna tower with two-by-fours and a rooftop TV antenna. The signal came in fine — until a heavy wind toppled the antenna early in the game. The solution? Barron and his buddies drove to the coliseum, bought tickets and were in their seats before the end of the first quarter.

“When I gave the guy in the ticket booth my money, he actually thanked me for coming,” Barron said with a laugh.

Think that still happens?

The blackout also catalyzed a publicity stunt. Working on behalf of a now-defunct law firm, Rosenfield helped orchestrate and publicize litigation, which attempted to get the courts to kill the blackout on the basis that the game was being played in a municipally owned stadium. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, CBS and NBC were sued. Rosenfield’s recollection is that Rozelle was deposed the week before the game.

“That was my involvement in the game itself,” Rosenfield said. “But a judge said that the league and the networks had no obligation to televise the game.”

■ ■ ■

As a neutral-site championship, Super Bowl I was unique.

“It was a weird atmosphere — a little like the Pro Bowl is now,” said Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss, who has photographed every Super Bowl. “I was used to covering NFL championships on muddy or cold fields in places like Green Bay, but this was warm and had a lot of empty seats — it was such a transition.”

Now it’s a badge of honor to have attended Super Bowl I.

“At the time, it was no big deal,” Barron said, “because it seemed no one cared about the game. In retrospect: very cool. Nobody at that game could have imagined what it’s turned into.”

As for McNally? The first Super Bowl was his only one, until now. For Super Bowl 50, McNally is taking another 10-year-old: his daughter, Quinn.

“They’ll be bookends,” he said. “I guess you could say I’m repaying a generational debt.”

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