On this day in 1967, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first-ever world championship game of American football.
In the mid-1960s, the intense competition for players and fans between the National Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) led to talks of a possible merger. It was decided that the winners of each league’s championship would meet each year in a single game to determine the “world champion of football.”
In that historic first game–played before a non-sell-out crowd of 61,946 people–Green Bay scored three touchdowns in the second half to defeat Kansas City 35-10. Led by MVP quarterback Bart Starr, the Packers benefited from Max McGee’s stellar receiving and a key interception by safety Willie Wood. For their win, each member of the Packers collected $15,000: the largest single-game share in the history of team sports.
Postseason college games were known as “bowl” games, and AFL founder Lamar Hunt suggested that the new pro championship be called the “Super Bowl.” The term was officially introduced in 1969, along with roman numerals to designate the individual games. In 1970, the NFL and AFL merged into one league with two conferences, each with 13 teams. Since then, the Super Bowl has been a face-off between the winners of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) for the NFL championship and the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, named for the legendary Packers coach who guided his team to victory in the first two Super Bowls.
Super Bowl Sunday has become an unofficial American holiday, complete with parties, betting pools and excessive consumption of food and drink. On average, 80 to 90 million people are tuned into the game on TV at any given moment, while some 130-140 million watch at least some part of the game. The commercials shown during the game have become an attraction in themselves, with TV networks charging as much as $2.5 million for a 30-second spot and companies making more expensive, high-concept ads each year. The game itself has more than once been upstaged by its elaborate pre-game or halftime entertainment, most recently in 2004 when Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” resulted in a $225,000 fine for the TV network airing the game, CBS, and tighter controls on televised indecency.
Also On This Day, 1936
Ford Foundation is born
On January 15, 1936, Edsel Ford, the son of auto industry pioneer Henry Ford, forms a philanthropic organization called the Ford Foundation with a donation of $25,000. The foundation, which was established in part as a legal way for the Ford family to avoid the hefty inheritance taxes that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration imposed on large estates, grew into a multi-billion dollar institution that today supports programs in the U.S. and over 50 other countries around the globe for the purpose of the “advancement of human welfare.”
Henry Ford (1863-1947) founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and went on to launch the first affordable, mass-produced car–the Model T–in 1908. Ford was also credited with pioneering the moving assembly line and introducing, in 1914, the $5-per- day minimum wage and the eight-hour workday, which made it possible for ordinary factory workers to buy the cars they built and helped to create the American middle class.
Henry Ford’s only child, Edsel (1893-1943), succeeded his father as the president of the Ford Motor Company after his father resigned the position in December 1918 following a disagreement with stockholders. However, father and son soon managed to purchase the stock of these minority investors and regain control of the company. As president of Ford, one of Edsel Ford’s key contributions was to the styling of cars, which he believed could be stylish as well as functional. His push for style upgrades to the Model T eventually helped to convince his father to drop his rule that customers could have any color Model T, as long as it was black. In 1922, the Ford company bought failing luxury automaker Lincoln Motor Company and Edsel Ford was involved with developing such elegant, prestigious models as the Lincoln Continental and Lincoln Zephyr.
Edsel Ford, who in addition to establishing the Ford Foundation was a major patron of the arts, died of cancer at the age of 49 in 1943. Edsel’s oldest son, Henry Ford II (1917-1987), became president of the Ford Motor Company in 1945. He also served as the Ford Foundation’s second president, from 1943 to 1950, and remained active with the organization as board chairman then a trustee until 1976. Under his leadership, the foundation grew into the planet’s wealthiest philanthropy. Today, the Ford Foundation– headquartered in New York City and completely separate from the Ford Motor Company–supports a range of causes, from the arts and public broadcasting to civil rights, education, health care and fighting poverty. It continues to rank among the world’s wealthiest charitable organizations.
No comments:
Post a Comment