The Uncrowned Champs: How the 1963 San Diego Chargers Would Have Won the Super Bowl

by Dave Steidel, Lance Alworth (Foreword by)

Overview

Before the inception of the Super Bowl—football’s faceoff of the best teams to find out who is truly superior—the two leagues (AFL and NFL) would each have their own championship game. This bad blood stuck around until the merger of the leagues in 1966.

Since beginning play in 1960, the American Football League had always taken a backseat to the National Football League. It was considered a secondary league; the best and most skilled players went to the more powerful NFL, which had been around for nearly fifty years.

During the 1963 NFL season, the Chicago Bears reigned supreme, commanding every team that crossed their path. But were they the best team in football? If you asked the San Diego Chargers of the AFL, that answer would be a resounding no.

The Uncrowned Champs follows the incredible season of the ’63 Chargers as they transformed their roster from a 4–10 finish in 1962 to a conquering force that ripped through the AFL. With a week-to-week breakdown, Dave Steidel chronicles the team’s innovative, high-scoring, juggernaut offense and top-rated defense that featured a fearsome, foursome front-line.

Unfortunately for football fans, the Bears and Chargers never met on the field that year. But thanks to new technology, we are able to conduct a computer simulation of what would have been the first Super Bowl game and answer the fifty-year-old question of who was the best football team of ’63?

Featuring a foreword by Chargers Hall of Fame wide-receiver Lance Alworth, The Uncrowned Champs is a terrific look into the pre–Super Bowl era, when two rival leagues fought for dominance in the public’s eye.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631440465
Publisher:	Carrel Books
Publication date:	11/24/2015
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Dave Steidel is a football historian and the author of Remember the AFL: The Ultimate Fan’s Guide to the American Football League.

Lance Alworth is a former wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys. He is a member of the AFL All-Time Team, the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, and was elected into both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Foreword Lance Alworth xvii

Part 1 The Patriarch: Sid Gillman 1

Part 2 Chargers History: 1960-1962 25

Part 3 Rough Acres Ranch 31

Part 4 The 1963 Season 71

Game 1 Buffalo Bills: The First Step to bin Rote 72

Game 2 Boston Patriots: Foreshadowing Earl Faison Ernie Ladd 88

Game 3 Kansas City Chiefs: Making A Statement Dave Kocourek 113

Game 4 @ Denver Broncos: Giving One Away Dick Westmoreland 130

Game 5 New York Jets: Showing Their Mettle John Hadl 148

Game 6 @ Kansas City Chiefs: Second Half Lightning Chuck Allen 164

Game 7 Oakland Raiders: The Formidable Foe Bob Petrich George Gross 179

Game 8 @ New York Jets: Polo Grounds Blowout George Blair 197

Game 9 @ Boston Patriots: Lucky 13! Lance Alworth 210

Game 10 @ Buffalo Bills: Just Enough Dick Harris 231

Game 11 Houston Oilers: Sending a Message Wright DeLuca Rogers Shea Mix Gruneisen 245

Game 12 @ Oakland Raiders: Fourth Quarter Letdown Schmidt McNeil Karas Maguire Whitehead Norton Robinson 263

Game 13 @ Houston Oilers: One Step Closer McDougall Jackson MacKinnon Buncom Mitinger 283

Game 14 Denver Broncos: Winning the West Paul Lowe 298

AFL Championship: Third Time's a Charm Keith Lincoln 312

Part 5 What Would Have Happened If There Were a Game Between the Two Leagues? 327

Part 6 Scouting the Bears and Chargers 335

Part 7 The Game: Chargers vs Bears in the First Super Bowl 345

Part 8 Would the Chargers Have Won If the Game Were Replayed? 393

In Memoriam 395

Season Statistics 396

Acknowledgments 403

About the Author 406