My first Pittsburgh Steelers-Green Bay Packers game

Sunday, November 24, 1957, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh

BY ALAN J. STEINBERG

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

On Sunday, February 6, 2011, the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers will play the NFC Champion Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV in beautiful, lavish new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This truly will be a battle of the dynastic heirs: the Packers, formerly coached by the immortal late Vince Lombardi being the dynasty of the 1960s and the Steelers, formerly coached by Chuck Noll being the dynasty of the 1970s. In order to purchase a ticket at this late date, you will have to pay a broker at least $1,000.

Super Bowl XLV contrasts sharply with the first National Football League game I ever attended: A matchup on Sunday, November 24, 1957 between the same Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers at the late, lamented Forbes Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh's Oakland district, in the shadows of the famed Cathedral of Learning of the University of Pittsburgh. At that time, these were two failing National Football League franchises.

I had started following the Steelers in 1956 at the ripe age of seven. My father, Melvin Steinberg was able to purchase two tickets for the November 24, 1957 Packers-Steelers game for a total of ten dollars from Alex Sloan, a local men's clothing merchant who also served as a Steeler ticket salesman in our Pittsburgh suburb of New Kensington. In those days, the Steelers were a true Mom and Pop operation, hardly the billion dollar corporation they are today.

Forbes Field was a memorable baseball park, with wonderful intimacy but all too many obstructed views. As a venue for football, it was a dump, plain and simple.

In 1958, the Steelers moved to Pitt Stadium, the home of the University of Pittsburgh football Panthers, but the Steeler fans complained about having to walk up Oakland's "Cardiac Hill" to enter their new home venue. After the 1958 season through 1963, the Steelers split their games between Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium. Thereafter, the Steelers played all their games at Pitt Stadium until Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1970.

I thought it was obscene when the Steelers set up seats in left and center fields in Forbes Field, where one of my favorite Pittsburgh Pirates, Bill "the Quail" Virdon had established himself as one of the greatest center fielders in the history of baseball. They really didn't need those seats, because the Steelers rarely sold out a game during those years.

One aspect of Forbes Field gave me something to boast about to my friends: My cousin, Morris "Moe" Heyison ran the parking lot across the street from Forbes Field.

I had to chuckle during the post-game AFC Championship ceremonies last Sunday when Franco Harris and the Rooneys referred to "Steeler nation". Steeler nation? Until the 1970s, most people in Pittsburgh displayed massive apathy towards the Steelers, and when I left Pittsburgh for Northwestern University, most of my fellow students made fun of me for rooting for a franchise that was synonymous at that time with professional football failure. I never cease to be amazed by public opinion polls that now describe the Steelers as the most popular sports franchise in America.

The Steelers were without question until the 1970s the worst franchise in the National Football League. Capacity crowds were a rarity at Steelers home games during the 1950s and 1960s. They never won a title of any type until they won the AFC Central Division title in 1972. Prior to that, the closest the Steelers ever came to winning a title was in 1947, when they tied the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFL Eastern Conference title. The Steelers and Eagles then had a tiebreaker playoff game at Forbes Field, won by the Eagles, 21-0. My father attended that game.

Steelers' owner Art Rooney was a wonderful man with a deep dedication to the City of Pittsburgh. Otherwise, he would have sold the team to businessmen who would have moved the franchise during those depressing years of Steelers failure.

It must be said, however, that the coaches Art Rooney hired made some of the worst decisions ever made in NFL history. The leader in that regard was Walt Kiesling, whose horrific decisions during his last Steeler coaching stint of 1954-1956 were truly unforgettable.

In 1955, the Steelers drafted Louisville quarterback John Unitas. Kiesling decided that Unitas was not smart enough to play quarterback in the NFL and released him. Unitas joined the Baltimore Colts in 1956 and became one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

In 1956, the Steelers had the first pick in the draft, due to the lottery bonus system then in effect. Football scribes expected Kiesling to draft running back/receiver Lenny Moore from Penn State, who was ultimately drafted by the Baltimore Colts and had a stellar career, earning himself a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Inexplicably, the Steelers passed on Moore, drafting instead Gary Glick, an unknown defensive back from Colorado A. and M., today Colorado State. Glick remains unknown to this very day, and for good reason.

In 1957, Kiesling further distinguished himself by passing on Jim Brown in the draft and instead drafting quarterback Len Dawson from Purdue. The Steelers would eventually trade Dawson to the Cleveland Browns, who would later release him. Dawson then signed with the Dallas Texans, later the Kansas City Chiefs, of the upstart American Football League (AFL), where he would have a Hall of Fame career, including a win in Super Bowl IV. He was, however, no Jim Brown.

Kiesling had been replaced by former Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions coach Buddy Parker prior to the 1957 season. As described by the late NFL cornerback Johnny Sample in his book, Confessions of a Dirty Football Player, Parker was a world class anti-African-American bigot and a drunk of the highest order.

Parker had a habit of trading Steelers future draft choices for veteran players in the hope that they would help the Steelers immediately win a championship. He failed to achieve this goal, however, and he resigned from the Steelers prior to the 1965 season, telling Rooney, "I can't win with this bunch of stiffs." The problem was that the "stiffs" had been traded for and signed by Parker himself.

Buddy was at the helm of the Steelers on that Sunday, November 24, 1957 game. His starting quarterback was Earl Morrall, who would later be on Super Bowl teams with the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins. Parker wanted his former Detroit Lions quarterback, Bobby Layne leading the Steelers, so he traded Morrall for him during the first half of the 1958 season. Layne was not a bigot, but he was also, like Parker, one of the major alcohol drinkers in NFL history, a factor that is believed to have contributed to his death prior to reaching the age of sixty.

My favorite Steelers player in that 1957 season was a tight end named Elbie Nickel. Sometimes, he played wide receiver, where he was called a "slot back." There were some star quality Pro Bowl players on that Steelers team, including defensive back Jack Butler, wide receiver Jack McClairen, middle linebacker Dale Dodrill, and defensive end Ernie Stautner, whose career was, in the words of the late Steelers' announcer Myron Cope, "a tribute to good gin."

The Steelers that year would finish in third place out of six NFL Eastern Conference teams, with a 6-6 record. In 1957, this record was considered above average for a Steelers franchise that was a model of football futility on and off the field.

On that Sunday of November 24, 1957, the question was whether the Green Bay Packers franchise would survive, although the team had opened a new stadium that year. They were playing two of their six home games in Milwaukee, and there was real pessimism about the long-term future of the franchise.

The Packers on that Sunday were coached by Lisle Blackburn. They would finish 3-9, in last place in the NFL Western Conference. Blackburn was replaced as head coach in 1958 by Ray McLean, whose record was an even worse 1-11-1. Vince Lombardi became the Packers head coach in 1959, and the dynasty of the Packers would begin with the 1961 NFL Championship, followed by repeats in 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967.

The 1957 Packers team actually had a number of players who played key roles in the Lombardi era, including Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ron Kramer, Max McGee, Jim Ringo, and Hawg Hanner. Lombardi would teach these men how to win as a team.

The Sunday, November 24, 1957 Packers-Steelers game was played in the pre-Pete Rozelle era. There were no network television contracts with the NFL, and each team had their own separate radio/ television package. The Steelers announcer, Joe Tucker, was one of the top broadcasters of his era.

The Packers won that game between these two then failing franchises, 27-10. I don't remember much about the game, except that Paul Hornung was hurt during the first half. I also remember that Dad bought me hot chocolate. They never served hot chocolate at Pirate games.

America and the NFL have come a long way since that Sunday, November, 24, 1957 Packers-Steelers game. In those days, pro football was thought of as simply the sport you watched after the baseball season and the World Series were over. Today, pro football is America's number one spectator sport, and the Super Bowl is virtually a national holiday.

So who will win Super Bowl XLV? As on that long ago day of Sunday, November 24, 1957 in the late, lamented Forbes Field of Pittsburgh, I will be rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have no doubt, however, that the Green Bay Packers will win. Vince and Marie Lombardi will be in heaven grinning widely — Aaron Rodgers is a quarterback Vince would have loved to have had on his team, even more than Bart Starr.

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Region 2 EPA consists of the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian nations. Under former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, he served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. He currently serves on the political science faculty of Monmouth University.