FILE - In this Aug. 25, 1960, file photo, American Football League owners meet at the offices of Harry Wismer, president of the New York Titans, in New York. Left to right, front: Harry Wismer, New York Titans; Joe Foss, of the AFC; Lamar Hunt, Dallas and Bud Adams, Houston. Rear from left are: Bill Sullivan, Boston; Chet Soda, Oakland; Ralph Wilson, Buffalo and Bill Howsam, Denver. The AFL launched in 1960. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
Marty Lederhandler
The 1960 NFL season was played with 13 clubs, with the expansion Dallas Cowboys joining the league that season and the Chicago Cardinals moving to St. Louis. The other teams were Cleveland, the New York Giants, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, the Baltimore Colts, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco.
The Minnesota Vikings were an expansion team the following season, with the Atlanta Falcons joining in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967.
FILE - In this Jan. 14, 1968, file photo, Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi is carried off the field after his team defeated the Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II in Miami, Fla. Packers guard Jerry Kramer (64) is at right. The Packers were the dominant team of the 1960s, winning NFL championships in 1961, '62 and '65 and then winning the NFL and the first two Super Bowls against the AFL champion Kansas City in the 1966 season and Oakland in the 1967 season with a roster that included 12 Hall of Famer players and coach Vince Lombardi. (AP Photo/File)
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The Packers were the dominant team of the 1960s, winning NFL championships in 1961, '62 and '65 and then winning the NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls against the AFL champion Kansas City in the 1966 season and Oakland in the 1967 season with a roster that included 12 Hall of Famer players and coach Vince Lombardi.
The tough luck team of the decade might have been the Baltimore Colts. They lost 13-10 in overtime to Green Bay in the 1965 playoffs when they had to play with halfback Tom Matte as the QB with Johnny Unitas and backup Gary Cuozzo injured. They tied for the best record in the league in 1967 when they went 11-1-2 but missed the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker with the Rams. They were even better the following year despite losing Unitas to an injury in the preseason. Baltimore went 13-1 in the regular season, won the NFL title with a 34-0 victory over Cleveland but then lost the Super Bowl to the New York Jets in one of the biggest upsets ever.
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 1968, file photo, Johnny Unitas, left, of the Baltimore Colts poses with Jim Brown during an awards ceremony in Hollywood, Calif. Unitas emerged as a star in the late 1950s when he led Baltimore to the title in 1958 against the Giants. That success carried over into the next decade when he was the signature quarterback in the league. Cleveland running back Jim Brown only played until 1965 but his impact in the first six years of the '60s was enough to make him perhaps the most dominant player in the NFL during that period. (AP Photo/Harold P. Matosian, File)
HAROLD P. MATOSIAN
Chargers receiver Lance Alworth was perhaps the AFL's greatest player after opting for the new league over the more established NFL in 1962. He topped 1,000 yards receiving in his final seven seasons in the AFL and led the league in receptions, yards and TD catches three times each during that span. His best season was in 1965 when he had 1,602 yards receiving and 14 TDs in a 14-game season, averaging 23.3 yards per catch. He was a first-team All-Pro selection in six straight seasons. He finished his career with 542 catches for 10,266 yards and 85 TDs in 137 games.
Unitas emerged as a star in the late 1950s when he led Baltimore to the title in 1958 against the Giants. That success carried over into the next decade when he was the signature quarterback in the league. His 26,548 yards were the most by anyone in the NFL in the 1960s, he was the MVP in 1964 and '67 and was selected as a first-team All-Pro three times that in the decade.
FILE - This is a Dec. 1967 file photo showing Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry. Landry built that franchise from the ground up to challenge the Packers for NFL dominance at the end of the 1960s and later become known as "America's Team." (AP Photo/File)
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Lombardi was so iconic that the league named the Super Bowl trophy after him. He won five titles in the 1960s with the Packers, including the first two Super Bowls. He never had a losing record in the NFL, winning 73% of his regular-season games and going 9-1 in the playoffs. Green Bay was known for its dominant running game that featured Paul Hornung running the "Lombardi sweep."
Sid Gillman. The impact Gillman had on the game was immense as he is known as the father of the modern NFL passing game. He was one of the game's great offensive innovators with the Chargers in the AFL, known for his deep passing attack. He had only a .550 winning percentage and went 1-5 in the postseason, but his coaching tree is extensive, with greats such as Al Davis, Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox, Dick Vermeil, George Allen and Don Coryell all working underneath him over the years.
FILE - In this Jan. 12, 1969, file photo, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath gives his father, who is wearing an Orange Bowl hat, a big hug in the Jets' locker room after leading the team to a 16-7 win over Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl III NFL football game in Miami. (AP Photo/File)
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Ice Bowl. The 1967 NFL championship game was one of the most famous in NFL history. It was a rematch of the title game the previous season when Green Bay won 34-27 in Dallas on the way to the first Super Bowl title. The game-time temperature was 15 degrees below zero with a wind chill of minus-48. Making matters even worse, the turf-heating system at Lambeau Field malfunctioned, turning the surface to ice. The Cowboys led late 17-14 late in regulation when Starr led from the Packers 32 to the 1. On third down with 16 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Lombardi went for the win and Starr sneaked it in behind Jerry Kramer for the 21-17 victory.
Super Bowl III. The AFL and NFL announced a merger in 1966 to form a unified league starting in 1970. In the interim, the two champions would play in what would become known as the Super Bowl. The more established NFL won the first two title games relatively easily behind the Packers and the third one figured to be a mismatch as well between the upstart New York Jets of the AFL and the vaunted Baltimore Colts of the NFL. The Colts went into the game as 18-point favorites but Joe Namath famously "guaranteed" a New York win. The Jets dominated the game, rushing for 142 yards and forcing five turnovers to win 16-7 and establish the AFL teams as legitimate rivals to the NFL squads.
GAME CHANGERS
FILE - In this Jan. 24, 1961, file photo, Commissioner Pete Rozelle, center, talks with NFL officials in New York. From left are: Bert E. Rose Jr., of the Minneapolis Vikings; Carroll Rosenbloom of Baltimore Colts; Rozelle; Texas Schramm of the Dallas Cowboys and and Walter Wolfner of the St. Louis Cardinals. The 1960 NFL season was played with 13 clubs, with the expansion Dallas Cowboys joining the league that season and the Chicago Cardinals moving to St. Louis. The Minnesota Vikings were an expansion team the following season. (AP Photo/File)
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The biggest change in the '60s was the launch of the AFL, which brought more high-powered offensive attacks to professional football in a style of play that still resonates today. The AFL aggressively challenged the NFL by signing several of the top college players and targeting NFL stars behind the leadership of Al Davis, who was the Raiders coach and then commissioner before the merger was announced. The AFL also cleared the way for more black players to enter the league by mining historically black colleges for talent that the NFL had long overlooked.
Pete Rozelle was elected commissioner of the NFL in 1960 and his leadership helped set the stage for the NFL becoming America's dominant sport. One of Rozelle's most lasting accomplishments came early in his tenure when he convinced big market teams such as the New York Giants and Chicago Bears to pool the league's national television rights, assuring that smaller markets such as Green Bay would get an equal share of the revenue. With the value of television rights skyrocketing in the ensuing years, that decision provided more equal footing between franchises and helped establish the parity that Rozelle believed was so crucial to the league's success.
FUN FACT
The shotgun formation got its name in 1960 when coach Red Hickey brought it to the San Francisco 49ers with quarterback John Brodie. The Jets used it briefly with Joe Namath to ease the pressure on his injured knees. The formation didn't really reach popularity until a decade later when Landry used it in Dallas.
