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Professional football was not a nationally beloved sport in the 1950s, with baseball and its all-time greats making it America’s pastime. NBC, well before enjoying the NFL on “Sunday Night Football, aired the league title tilt between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, when 64,000-plus fans packed into Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28. The Colts had a modern explosive passing game, headlined by two Hall of Famers, QB Johnny Unitas and wide receiver Raymond Berry. Unitas threw for a pre-Super Bowl record 349 yards. Berry accounted for a then championship record 178 yards with 12 catches and a TD.
Giants QB Charlie Conerly hung in there battling Unitas, but Unitas led the Colts on a late field-goal drive to tie the score at 17. The made-for-TV thriller became the first NFL championship to go into sudden-death overtime, when running back Alan Ameche powered in for the game-winning one-yard TD. The NFL was set in motion to become a sport that could captivate casual and diehard fans alike with its star power, action and excitement.
Pro football would have never surpassed the popularity of baseball to become the most-watched sport in America, without “The Greatest Game Ever Played” preceding the Super Bowl.
MORE: Back to The Sporting News' 140 Greatest Sports Moments of All Time
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