Download Clouds over the Goalpost: Gambling, Assassination, and the NFL in 1963 AudioBook Free
A season that the NFL could not forget.The expert football season of 1963 was dominated by the unforeseen. In April, weeks before the starting of play, it was revealed that two All-Star players, Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, were betting on the activity and would be suspended from play for at least yearly. Even worse, in-may, one of the league's bigger-than-life personalities, Big Daddy Lipscomb, was found inactive, with police saying he perished from a heroin overdose, something those who recognized him best still dispute. As play commenced in September, the Pro Basketball Hall of Popularity opened its doorways in Canton, Ohio, the same town where in fact the National Football Little league was founded in 1921 and inducted its first class. Also, the warfare for players and prestige raged with the upstart North american Football League attempting to obtain identical footing in the public eye. In the field, it was to be the entire year the Chicago Bears, and their increasing age owner-coach George Halas recognized glory once more, overcoming the latest dynasty of Green Bay Packers led by Vince Lombardi in a season-long run after for the Western Division name. Yet even that was overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. As the land mourned and other athletics leagues suspended activity, the NFL played out on with its regular season that unhappy weekend - a selection commissioner Pete Rozelle later called the most detrimental oversight of his tenure. Clouds above the Goalpost is filled up with controversy not only on the field, but off it as well. From the many suspensions to a thrilling championship game between the Bears and Giants, 1963 was a calendar year that the NFL could not neglect - for both the good and the bad.
