It was one of those indelible moments in sports history: The 1958 NFL Championship, played on December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York. The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants 23-17 in sudden death overtime. Sixty-five years later, the events of that Sunday afternoon still resonate throughout pro sports and sports media.

In 1958, the National Football League was far from the huge phenomenon we see today. Americans generally had much more interest in baseball, and during the Fall, college football captured the attention of sports fans on Saturday afternoons. The annual Army/Navy and Harvard/Yale clashes were national news stories, and fans followed the exploits of powerhouses like Notre Dame and Michigan. For most fans, pro football was an afterthought. Even in cities with pro franchises, the NFL clubs often played runner-up to the local baseball teams.

Baltimore and New York were two exceptions. The Colts were upstarts — Baltimore didn’t get an NFL team until 1953 — and the city quickly fell in love with the Colts. On game days, Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium was described as “the world’s largest outdoor insane asylum.” Meanwhile, the Giants had been part of the NFL since 1925, and they were considered the league’s most glamorous team, located in the world’s media capital. Two very different teams, both with passionate fan bases, playing a nationally-televised title game in New York City… indeed, America was destined to notice pro football that day.

Seventeen Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees were in the stadium that afternoon, along with a Heisman Trophy winner (Baltimore running back Alan Ameche). The Colts were led by quarterback Johnny Unitas. The New York offense revolved around halfback Frank Gifford, while linebacker Sam Huff anchored the defense.

With just two minutes left in the game, Johnny Unitas moved the Colts downfield quickly. While there were several misfires, he made four critical completions, including three straight passes to his star receiver Raymond Berry. Those last three plays moved the ball 62 yards to the Giants’ 13-yard line, and with just seconds remaining, the Colts rushed Steve Myhra out to attempt a tying field goal. Myhra had struggled with field goal attempts all season, and Baltimore fans held their collective breath until the ball went through the uprights. The fourth quarter ended tied 17-17.

So, what happens next? Many of the players and coaches weren’t sure. It was not unusual for football games to end in a tie, but this game was for the NFL title. Would the teams be declared co-champions? Fortunately, the NFL had recently instituted an overtime rule for championships, and it would be decided on the field. The teams would play pure “sudden death.” The first team to score in any manner would win, and they would play for as long as it took.

The Giants won the toss and chose to receive, but they were not able to mount any kind of drive, and they punted the ball back to the Colts. Unitas now had all the time in the world, and Johnny U methodically moved the Baltimore offense to the New York 8-yard line. It was first-and-goal, and then, suddenly the NBC Television feed disappeared! Nothing but snow on the screen!

This caused immediate panic in NBC’s control room, not to mention in homes across the nation, as viewers — particularly in Baltimore — bolted from their living rooms and scrambled to find the nearest radio. It was one of the worst possible moments to lose the live feed of a TV broadcast. And then a fan ran onto the field! Play was halted for nearly a full minute before New York’s Finest chased him down and escorted him to the sideline. Over the years, there has been endless rumor and speculation about this incident. Photographs show the fan was well-dressed and appeared very cooperative when the cops took him away; he certainly didn’t look like a drunken lout. Who was this guy?

Whoever he was, he is now the stuff of sports broadcasting legend. More than six decades later, it is widely believed that he was an NBC employee who realized the broadcast was interrupted and ran onto the field — or perhaps was told to run onto the field — to delay the game long enough to give the TV crew enough time to find a loose cable and fix the connection. As far as I know, he was never identified, and the story has never been confirmed. One hopes the fellow received a bonus and a promotion for his quick thinking!

When the game resumed, the Colts ran two plays to reach third-and-goal from just over a yard away. A field goal attempt might have been the obvious choice, but Baltimore coach Weeb Ewbank was leery of sending a struggling Steve Myhra in to kick. Meanwhile, the coach trusted Unitas completely, and he left Johnny U and the offense on the field. A routine handoff to Alan Ameche secured a 23-17 Baltimore victory.

The game was breaking news nationwide. It was a big topic of Sunday afternoon dinner conversations, and it was headline news on front pages and in sports sections the following day. NFL and television executives soon realized that professional football could become a very valuable property, and they started making plans for increasing television coverage and boosting marketing exposure for the teams, the star players, and the sport overall. And down in Dallas, Lamar Hunt — a son of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt — started thinking about owning his own football team. Those dreams eventually led to his role in establishing the rival American Football League, which merged with the NFL just over a decade later. Historians and sportswriters have studied the 1958 title game, and they generally agree that event was the start of professional football growing into the colossus it has since become. It was the aftermath and the impact  — as much as the drama of the game itself — that led them to calling it “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” 

Back then, television did not put a high priority on archiving sports events. There is no known videotape of the game; videotape was in its infancy, and while NBC presumably had one or two of the early machines available, it seems nobody bothered racking them up. There is no known kinescope film recording of the television broadcast, either. Fortunately, there was plenty of film footage of the game, both from overhead and from sideline views. This footage was shot by NFL Films, as well as various newsreel cameramen working for different organizations.

On the 50th anniversary of the game in 2008, ESPN produced a special documentary that used the old footage to recreate much of the action. The historic clips were colorized for broadcast, and the action was interspersed with comments and memories from players, fans, and broadcasters who were there. (Sadly, many of these people have passed away in the fifteen years since.) Most of Bob Wolff’s Baltimore radio broadcast was saved, and the NBC national radio call was saved almost in entirety. This historic audio was used in conjunction with the preserved video. Several versions of the ESPN special can be found on YouTube.

Others have collaborated on an almost-complete reconstruction of the game, using the original newsreel and NFL footage, some of the colorized ESPN content, stock footage, and still photos. The audio portion uses the NBC national radio call by Joe Bolan and Bill McColgan (complete with vintage commercials!). There are several uploads of this project on YouTube, and there is also a version on the Internet Archive. If you’ve never seen any of “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” punch it up on your laptop and enjoy!

Mark Wainwright is a long-time radio personality and voiceover performer. He was most recently the morning host at WSYR in Syracuse, and has hosted morning shows at WGY in Albany, WHAM in Rochester, and other stations around the country. Mark currently resides in Saratoga County and can be reached at: markwainwright@earthlink.net

NOTE: This article was originally published in TALKERS, a daily online newsletter for professionals in news/talk radio. It has been edited for length. The author wishes to thank Michael Harrison and Kevin Casey at TALKERS for allowing this story to be re-published here.

GREENFIELD —The Town of Greenfield hosted its first Winterfest at the Brookhaven Winter Park last Sunday. Festivities included 5K and 2.5K snowshoe races, children’s story time with local author Amy Gerardi, and a snowman-building contest. U.S. Congressman Paul Tonko and Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch attended the event.

BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa runner Harriet Healey placed 2nd in the girls’ 500 meter dash at the Armory Officials Hall of Fame Invitational 2024. Healey’s time of 1:17:18 was a new school record, according to Director of Coaching Gary Preece. Healey, a senior, has committed to running track at Penn State University next year.

GLENS FALLS —The Adirondack Thunder have won 11 straight games, starting with a 5-4 victory against the Newfoundland Growlers on December 30 and culminating with a 5-2 win against the Trois-Rivières Lions on January 20. The team will have an opportunity to continue its streak this weekend with three home games at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls.

The Adirondack Thunder are in the midst of one of their most successful seasons in years. The team is atop the ECHL North Division for the first time since November 2019. Their winning percentage currently stands at 0.750.

SCHUYLERVILLE — Luke Sherman, Schuylerville High School’s varsity basketball star, is on the brink of breaking two all-time school scoring records. 

As of Jan. 16, when a snowstorm canceled a scheduled home game against Queensbury, Sherman had netted 1,283 career points with the Black Horses. This placed him 35 points shy of breaking the boys’ basketball scoring record set by Eric Stover in 1978. Sherman may also surpass Carol Cheney’s 1986 boys and girls scoring record of 1,566.

Sherman’s next game is on Friday, Jan. 19 at Glens Falls. As of press time, the Jan. 16 home game had not yet been rescheduled.

BALLSTON SPA —The Ballston Spa girls varsity basketball team’s four-game winning streak came to an end last Friday. In their game against Niskayuna, the Scotties lost 41-59. They are now 8-5 this season.

Despite the loss, the team maintains a positive outlook. Head Coach David Morse’s focus is on the immense improvement from last year. Referring to last season as a year to “put a system in place, and get everything in order,” Morse said this year, the team is putting all of the pieces together.

Morse said that there was a lot of work put in during the offseason, and it paid off. “We had so many girls come in that have improved so much,” he said.

One of these girls was junior Sophia Lee. She leads the team in points, averaging 14 per game. Coach Morse said that when the team is struggling, like they were against Nisky, they will turn to her to score. She finished with 19 points in Friday night’s game.

But Morse also highlighted the team as a whole, praising them all for their talent. “It seems like every game we have someone else step up in a big role,” he said. With multiple players averaging almost double digits in both points and rebounds, every win is a team effort.

The Scotties look to use this week’s loss as a way to improve. “Our focus is moving forward,” Morse said. “We reflect on what we did poorly and we look to get better every day.” Their next game is on Friday, January 19 against Guilderland.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —The Saratoga Springs High School girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams were formally recognized and celebrated by the Board of Education at a meeting on January 11.

Dr. Michael Patton, Superintendent of Schools, said that “the teamwork and comradery and really the year-round effort that our student-athletes put into our running program is just an incredible accomplishment.” Patton said that the board meeting was “truly a special night to have both our boys and girls here together to be celebrated for this wonderful accomplishment.” 

The state champion girls’ team was introduced by their coach, Linda Kranick. “This team went on to win the Federation meet, which is yet another state championship and that’s the best of the best in New York State and [the team] finished number six in the United States this year at Nike Cross-Country National Championship,” Kranick said. “I personally want to thank all the parents, both boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams, because you’re out there in the roughest weather supporting your sons and daughters and we really appreciate it.”

Boys’ coach Shane Zanetti introduced his team and praised them for setting “a culture and tradition that’s going to continue for the next few years.”

At the NYSPHSAA Class A championship in November, the girls’ team captured the team title for the fifth straight year, and senior Emily Bush won the Section 2 individual title. A week later, the girls’ team won the Federation Cross Country Championships.

The boys’ team won the Class A championship in a tiebreaker, marking their first team title since 2012. They finished third at the Nike Cross Country Regional Qualifier, just one spot away from a trip to the national championship.

East Greenbush/ New York City — The New York Yankees have signed infielder Kevin Smith, a native of East Greenbush, to a minor league deal. Smith played in 49 games with the Oakland Athletics last year, finishing with a career-best OPS of .546. He also played with the Athletics in 2022 and saw 36 plate appearances with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021.  

Smith graduated from Columbia High School in East Greenbush, about ten minutes outside of Albany. After playing at the University of Maryland, College Park, he was drafted in the fourth round of the 2017 MLB draft by Toronto. 

Saratoga Springs/ Atlanta — Anthony Weaver, a former Saratoga Springs High School football player and member of the Blue Streaks Hall of Fame, interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons’ head coaching position on Sunday. While at Saratoga, Weaver won the National Football Foundation scholar-athlete award. He’s also a member of the Capital Region Hall of Fame.

Weaver is currently the assistant head coach and defensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens. He has 12 years of coaching experience, including stints with the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, and Houston Texans. Prior to coaching, he played as a defensive end for the Ravens and Texans. He was a second-round pick in the 2002 NFL Draft.

According to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter, the Washington Commanders have also requested to interview Weaver for their head coaching job.