The 1934 NFL Championship Game, also known as the Sneakers Game, was the second scheduled

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL)

championship game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

. Played at the Polo Grounds in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on December 9, it was the first title game for the newly created

Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy The Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy was the trophy awarded to the champions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1934 through 1967. The trophy was named after Ed Thorp, a noted referee, rules expert, sporting goods dealer, and friend to many of the ...

. With a remarkable fourth quarter, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 30–13.

Game summary

The defending champion Bears entered the game undefeated at 13–0, with an 18-game winning streak. The Giants (8–5) won consecutive division titles, but had lost their final regular season game at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The Bears were favored to repeat as champions. A freezing rain the night before the game froze the Polo Grounds field.Pervin, 2009, pp. 9–10. After Giants end

Ray Flaherty Raymond Paul Flaherty (September 1, 1903 – July 19, 1994) was an American football player and coach in the National Football League, and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was part of three List of NFL champions (1920–69), NFL Champ ...

remarked to head coach Steve Owen that sneakers would provide better footing on the frozen playing surface, Owen sent his friend Abe Cohen, a tailor who assisted on the Giants sideline, to Manhattan College to get some sneakers. There, Brother Jasper, the athletic director (and the later namesake of the

Manhattan Jaspers The Manhattan Jaspers are composed of 19 teams representing Manhattan College in intercollegiate athletics. The Jaspers compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Manhattan College fields 19 Divisi ...

) emptied the lockers of the school's basketball team. Cohen arrived in the third quarter with nine pairs of basketball sneakers from the college. The Bears led 10–3 at the half when the Giants switched to the basketball sneakers. A Chicago field goal was the only score in the third quarter, extending the lead to ten points. Early in the fourth, Giants

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Ed Danowski Edward Frank Danowski (September 30, 1911 – February 1, 1997) was an American football player who played quarterback and halfback in the National Football League (NFL). He grew up in Aquebogue, his father, Anton, was a Polish immigrant. Foot ...

threw a touchdown pass to Ike Frankian to close the score to 13–10. (The pass was momentarily intercepted at the Bears' 2-yard line, but Frankian was there to snatch the ball out of the defender's hands.) On the next New York drive,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Ken Strong Elmer Kenneth Strong (April 21, 1906 – October 5, 1979) was an American football halfback and fullback who also played minor league baseball. Considered one of the greatest all-around players in the early decades of the game, he was inducted ...

scored on a 42-yard touchdown run. Later Strong had another touchdown run. The Giants scored for a final time on Danowski's 9-yard run, a fourth unanswered touchdown. New York scored 27 points in the 4th quarter and won 30–13. The Giants 27 fourth quarter points in a championship game set an NFL record that still stands today.

Scoring summary

''Sunday, December 9, 1934''
Kickoff: 2 p.m. EST *First quarter **NYG – FG

38, 3–0 NYG *Second quarter **CHI –

Bronko Nagurski Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional ...

1 run (

Jack Manders John Albert "Automatic Jack" Manders (January 13, 1909 – January 29, 1977) was an American football player. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears from 1933 to 1940. He's considered pro football's f ...

kick), 7–3 CHI **CHI – FG Manders 17, 10–3 CHI *Third quarter **CHI – FG Manders 22, 13–3 CHI *Fourth quarter **NYG – Ike Frankian 28 pass from

(Strong kick), 13–10 CHI **NYG – Strong 42 run (Strong kick), 17–13 NYG **NYG – Strong 11 run (kick failed), 23–13 NYG **NYG – Danowski 9 run (

Bo Molenda John Joseph "Bo" Molenda (February 20, 1905 – July 20, 1986) was an American football player, primarily a fullback, who played for the University of Michigan and nine seasons in the NFL. He played for two Big Ten Conference championship teams ...

kick), 30–13 NYG

Officials

*Referee: Bobby Cahn *Umpire: George Lowe *Head Linesman: George Vergara *Field Judge: M.J. Meyer The NFL had only four game officials in ; the back judge was added in , the line judge in , and the side judge in .

Players' shares

The projected attendance of 55,000 was not reached, as the week's weather kept it under 36,000. Each player on the winning Giants team received $621 (equivalent to $ in ), while the Bears received $414 (equivalent to $ in ) each.

Aftermath

This was the Giants second NFL championship, and the first time they won a championship game. After the game, Abe Cohen promptly returned the sneakers to Manhattan College so the basketball team could practice the next day. Many of the participants have been interviewed since the game took place, most notably

of the Bears and

Mel Hein Melvin Jack Hein (August 22, 1909 – January 31, 1992), sometimes known as "Old Indestructible", was an American football player and coach. In the era of one-platoon football, he played as a center (then a position on both offense and defense) ...

of the Giants. Generally, players from both sides have attributed the Giants' second-half dominance to their selection of footwear. As Nagurski put it later, "We immediately said something was wrong because they suddenly had good footing and we didn't...they just out-smarted us." A mini-documentary of the game, narrated by

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

, can be seen in the 1987 video "Giants Among Men." NFL Films named the game the #8 bad weather game of all time, and in 2019, it was named the #62 greatest game in NFL history.

References

*''Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' () *''The Sporting News Complete Super Bowl Book 1995'' () *''Strange But True Football Stories'' () *Cavanaugh, Jack (2008), ''Giants Among Men''. New York:Random House. * Pervin, Lawrence A. (2009). ''Football's New York Giants''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. {{NFL pre-sb Chicago Bears postseason New York Giants postseason National Football League Championship games

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

Sports in Manhattan American football in New York City Sports competitions in New York City

1930s in Manhattan Washington Heights, Manhattan