Several top sports execs and media members relay their top memories from Super Bowls past to THE DAILY. See tomorrow's issue for another set of Super Bowl memories.
DAVE ANDERSON, N.Y. Times columnist
On Thursday evening before Super Bowl III, I was the only New York sportswriter in the audience at the Miami Springs Villas when Jets quarterback JOE NAMATH received the Pro Football Player of the Year award from the Miami Touchdown Club. During his acceptance speech, Joe said, “This isn’t an award for me. Had it not been for my parents and my family, and my high school coach, LARRY BRUNO, and my coach at Alabama, PAUL BRYANT, and many other people, starting with Mr. [SONNY] WERBLIN and continuing with WEEB EWBANK and our new owners, who are doing a great job, and all my teammates, I wouldn’t be here. This should be a most valuable player award for the entire team. You can be the greatest athlete in the world, but if you don’t win those football games, it doesn’t mean a thing.” Then he added what would be the most memorable words in Super Bowl history: “And we’re going to win Sunday, I guarantee you.”
 |
Esiason Describes Almost Winning
Super Bowl XXIII As Best Moment |
BOOMER ESIASON, CBS analyst
My greatest Super Bowl moment was when JIM BREECH kicked a field goal that put us up 16-13 with 3:30 left to go in Super Bowl XXIII. Unfortunately, we left a little too much time on the clock. But that was the moment that we were as close as we ever could be to winning a Super Bowl, and I’ll never forget that feeling.
TOM FOX, Wasserman Media President
In 1989, the Niners were playing the Bengals in Miami. It was my first Super Bowl and I was with Gatorade at the time. We got word that the NFL had sold Diet Coke the halftime show and was planning on putting Diet Coke coolers and cups on the sideline alongside Gatorade’s as part of the deal. I’ll never forget the meeting between JOHN BELLO, RICK DUDLEY and JIM SCHWEBEL from the NFL and MIKE CALLAHAN, the new Gatorade president at the time, BILL SCHMIDT and me in Bello’s large suite at the Fountainblue Hilton. Even though it was clearly a violation of Gatorade’s NFL contract, the NFL … was unrepentant and was still pushing to get it done. Right up until game time we were still in disagreement and no one was sure what was going to happen. The situation miraculously resolved itself when most of the Diet Coke coolers and cups mysteriously went missing and the remaining few were either placed on the ground under the tables or never made it out of the locker room. It was then I learned the importance of our relationships with NFL athletic trainers. Back then, they ran the show.
 |
Greene Recalls Heightened
Security At Super Bowl XXV |
HARVEY GREENE, Dolphins Senior VP/Media Relations
My most indelible memory of the Super Bowl (and I’ve been to 18 of the last 19 of them) was in 1991 at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa. The game took place during the Gulf War and security at Tampa Stadium was unprecedented. For the first time ever, ticket holders had to go through metal detectors to enter the stadium, and there was a heightened, and very visible, police presence everywhere. I was in charge of the photographers’ area on the press box roof, giving the photogs a view of not only the field but of the entire stadium. There were some mattresses placed on the roof in the locations with the best sight lines, and the photographers started to lie down on them, thinking the NFL put them there for their comfort. Unfortunately, I had to tell them they had to move. They started complaining and refused to budge until I told them, “Those mattresses are reserved for the snipers.” I didn’t have any problems with them after that.
DAVID HILL, Fox Sports Chair & Exec Producer
It was January 1997, Super Bowl XXXI. The Pack were taking on the Pats. It was also Fox Sports’ first Super Bowl, and the butterflies had become vultures. We’re in the truck, an hour off air. Rehearsals had gone well. I look at SCOTT ACKERSON.
“We didn’t rehearse the opening segment, did we?”
“No, you haven’t written it.”
“I thought you were writing it,” I say, as the sweat breaks out on my forehead.
“No, you were,” Scotty says emphatically.
And it was a complex opening segment. Blimps were in place, a paddle-wheeler moving into place on the Mississippi, remote cameras on Bourbon Street, reporters standing by. The production center was vacant. I grab a computer and start writing. No notes. Fifteen minutes to air. I print it out, and sprint for the studio on the field. I leave my credentials on the desk. My blue shirt is black. The official tries to stop me. I keep running. It’s now five minutes to air. I give JAMES BROWN the copy.
"Quick, read it. I’ll cue you over your IFB.”
The normally unflappable J.B. now looks as scared as I am. Sprinting back to the truck, I charge in.
“One minute to air,” says Scott.
The opener rolls. I cue J.B., and his melodious voice flows out of the speakers. River boats are cued, the blimp’s cameras are cued, reporters are cued, and J.B. is throwing to the first commercial break eight minutes later. I take my first breath for an hour. Air never tasted sweeter.
 |
Hudson Feels Prince's Super Bowl XLI
Performance One Of Best Halftime Shows |
DAWN HUDSON, Outgoing PepsiCo North America President & CEO
I’ll never forget last year’s Pepsi halftime show. During a driving rainstorm, PRINCE fittingly closed out a wonderful set with “Purple Rain.” The entire rain-soaked crowd waved lights and sang along as the real rain continued to drench them. It was an appropriate finale to what many music critics consider one of the best halftime shows ever.
JACK KEMP, USA Football Chair
I have attended every Super Bowl except one; the one I missed was my most memorable. The 1969 New York Jets’ upset of the Baltimore Colts was a seminal moment in NFL history. I missed the game and had to watch it on TV because we were merging the AFL Players Association with the NFL Players Association in Palm Springs, California, and as AFLPA president, I advocated on behalf of the great Colt JOHN MACKEY to be our new president. Joe Namath’s guarantee and performance were stunning. I remember the intense pride I had watching the game with fellow AFL players and NFL players as the AFL Jets beat the NFL Colts soundly. The foundation of a merger that yielded the current two-conference league that exists today had been laid, but this game cemented the reality that the AFL was on the same footing as the NFL. That game gave final validation for the AFL and led to the great on-field product that has become the No. 1 spectator sport in the world: the National Football League.
RALPH WILSON, Bills Owner
I would say my favorite Super Bowl was the first one the Bills were in, with the New York Giants in Tampa. That was a historic one for us and for the city of Buffalo. It was also the start of the Gulf War. There was so much security -- even security on top of the stadium, with machine guns and so forth. It was a very close game, and with eight seconds to go SCOTT NORWOOD lined up to kick the winning field goal and just missed by a few feet. That was probably the most memorable game for me.
