Three Rights Make a Left

by KEN LEONARD 

I was crushed by the defeat of my Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers. The rematch had been anticipated since the Cowboys’ loss in the NFL championship game the year before. The game was so intense that four people were taken to the hospital after suffering from heart attacks. More than a few people suffered frostbite from the bitter cold. The Cowboys had taken the lead in the fourth quarter with a pass from Don Meredith to Dan Reeves. It looked like my Dallas Cowboys were on their way to their first Super Bowl. Then with just a few seconds left on the clock, the Packers drove to the goal line. Coach Tom Landry thought Bart Starr would roll out for a pass, so he had his defense ready. Across the field, Coach Vince Lombardi had another plan. He put two blockers on Jethro Pugh and forced the big man back while Bart Star dug his spikes into the turf Lombardi had spent $80,000 to heat. With 16 seconds left, the Packers dealt an even more crushing defeat than the year before. The 1967 NFL Championship game became known as the “Ice Bowl” and is universally heralded as the best NFL game of all time. Bart Starr’s goal line score is burned into my memory to this day. I was thirteen years old.

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