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1961 American Football League Season
The 1961 American Football League season was the second regular season of the AFL. It consisted of 8 franchises split into two divisions: the East Division ( Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Titans of New York, Boston Patriots) and the West Division ( San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders). After having spent its inaugural season in Los Angeles, the Chargers moved to San Diego, California for this AFL season; 56 years later, the franchise returned to their original home. The season ended when the Houston Oilers defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. Division races The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was a tie in the standings at the top of either division, a one-game playoff would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1961 Houston Oilers Season
Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (Koivulahti air disaster): Douglas DC-3C OH-LCC of Finnish airline Aero crashes near Kvevlax (Koivulahti), on approach to Vaasa Airport in Finland, killing all 25 on board, due to pilot error: an investigation finds that the captain and first officer were both exhausted for lack of sleep, and had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol at the time of the crash. It remains the deadliest air disaster to occur in the country. * January 5 ** Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ** After the 1960 military coup, General Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey (25th government). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1961 Buffalo Bills Season
The 1961 Buffalo Bills season was the team's second year in the American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. .... The Bills played in the American Football League#AFL franchises, Eastern division, winning six games, losing eight, and missing the postseason. The Bills didn't have a winning record at any point in the season; they played their final five games of the season on the road. Season summary The Bills had a problematic quarterback situation, with former Washington Redskins, Redskin M.C. Reynolds, second-year Bills QB Johnny Green and ex-Detroit Lions, Lion Warren Rabb all struggling at the passer position. None completed more than 46% of their passes, and only Reynolds had a winning record (2–1) and threw for more than 1,000 yards. Punter Bill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wally Lemm
Walter Horner Lemm (October 23, 1919 – October 8, 1988) was an American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels and achieved his greatest prominence as head coach of the American Football League's Houston Oilers and the National Football League's St. Louis Cardinals. Early career Lemm graduated from Carroll College, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 1942 after playing football for head coach John W. Breen. After service in World War II during the next two years, Lemm served as an assistant coach at the University of Notre Dame under Hugh Devore in 1945. Lemm returned to Carroll as an assistant coach with the school's football team the following year, then became a head coach for the first time, accepting the top job for Waukesha High School in 1948. Coaching career Following Lemm's one year at Waukesha, Carroll's former coach, Breen, took the head coaching position at Lake Forest College. Lemm served under his leadership for the next three years, while ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Rymkus
Louis Joseph "the Battler" Rymkus (November 6, 1919 – October 31, 1998) was an American football player and coach in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). Playing as a tackle for the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and NFL in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Rymkus provided pass protection for quarterback Otto Graham as the team won five league championships. Following his playing career, Rymkus took a number of assistant coaching jobs before serving as the first head coach of the AFL's Houston Oilers in 1960. The team won the league's first championship, but Rymkus was fired by Oilers owner Bud Adams after a slow start in 1961. Rymkus was born in Royalton, Illinois and grew up in Chicago. He was a star lineman in high school and won a football scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, he played on a 1941 team that went undefeated under head coach Frank Leahy. Rymkus was drafted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Holovak
Michael Joseph Holovak (September 19, 1919 – January 27, 2008) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He played college football at Boston College, where he was an All-American at fullback in 1942. Holovak was the fifth overall selection of the 1943 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Rams. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he played in the National Football League (NFL) with the Rams in 1946, who had moved to Los Angeles, then with the Chicago Bears in 1947 and 1948. Holovak was the freshman coach at his alma mater Boston College, then was head coach of the varsity from 1951 through 1959, compiling a 49–29–3 record. In 1960, he joined the Boston Patriots of the new American Football League as an assistant under head coach Lou Saban, coaching the offensive backfield. Holovak took over as head coach for the final nine games in 1961 after Saban was fired after a 2–3 start, and remained as head coach through 1968. In 1976, he served one game ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Saban
Louis Henry Saban (October 13, 1921 – March 29, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He played for Indiana University in college and as a professional for the Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference between 1946 and 1949. Saban then began a long coaching career. After numerous jobs at the college level, he became the first coach of the Boston Patriots in the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. He joined the Buffalo Bills two years later, and led the team to consecutive AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. After serving briefly as head coach at the University of Maryland, he was hired as head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1967, where he remained for five years. Saban returned to the Bills—by then in the National Football League following the AFL–NFL merger—from 1972 to 1976, reaching the playoffs once but failing to bring Buffalo another championship. Following his departure from Buffalo, Saban returned to college coaching. He coached team ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Candlestick Park
Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until 1999, after which the Giants moved into Pacific Bell Park (since renamed Oracle Park) in 2000. It was also the home field of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1971 through 2013. The 49ers moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the 2014 season. The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014, and the demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2015. As of 2019, the site is planned to be redeveloped into office space. The stadium was situated at Candlestick Point on the western shore of San Francisco Bay. Candlestick Point was named for the " candlestick birds" (long-billed curlews) that populated the area for many years. Due to Candlestick Park's location nex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to Los Angeles veterans of World War I. Completed in 1923, it will become the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympics three times when it hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics; the stadium previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, a day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics. The stadium serves as the home of the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The Coliseum is jointly owned by the State of California's Sixth District Agricultural Association, Los Angeles County, and the city of Los Angeles. It is managed and operated by the Auxiliary Services Department of the University of Sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now known as the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers' first home game in San Diego was at Balboa Stadium against the Oakland Raiders on September 17, 1961. Their final game as a San Diego-based club was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego at the end of the 2016 season against the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated them 37–27. First Los Angeles season (1960) In 1959, the team began as the "Los Angeles Chargers" when they entered the American Football League (AFL), joining seven other teams: the Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders, New York Titans, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, and Boston Patriots. The Chargers' first owner was Barron Hilton, the son of Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotels corporation. Lamar Hunt, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Blanda
George Frederick Blanda (September 17, 1927 – September 27, 2010) was an American football placekicker and quarterback who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). Blanda played 26 seasons of professional football, the most in the sport's history, and had scored more points than anyone in history at the time of his retirement. Blanda retired from pro football in August 1976 as the oldest player to ever play at the age of 48. One of only two players to play in four different decades (the other being John Carney), he holds the record for most extra points made (943) and attempted (959). During his career, he played under head coaches Bear Bryant, George Halas, Clem Crowe, Lou Rymkus, Wally Lemm, Pop Ivy, Sammy Baugh, Hugh Taylor, John Rauch, and John Madden. Collegiate career Blanda was a quarterback and kicker at Kentucky from 1945 to 1948. Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who later won fame and set countless records at Southe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1961 Oakland Raiders Season
The 1961 Oakland Raiders season was the team's second in the American Football League. Based in Oakland, they played their home games in San Francisco at Candlestick Park. The Raiders tried to improve on their 6–8 record from 1960, but finished last in the AFL West at 2–12, dropping their final six games. They set an AFL record in 1961, posting a point differential of negative-221,Oakland scored 271 points, and surrendered 458 points â€Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1960 to 1969, in the AFL, in the regular season, sorted by ascending Points Differential/ref> and surrendered 36 rushing touchdowns, a pro football record. The following year, the Raiders moved to the new Frank Youell Field in Oakland, and played in that temporary venue for four seasons. Season schedule Standings Players References Oakland Oakland Raiders seasons Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
