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December of 1972 was a landmark month in Pittsburgh Steelers history. Over the course of one week, the Steelers won their first ever championship of any kind as AFC Central Champions and their first ever playoff game in the “Immaculate Reception” game vs. the Oakland Raiders.
Largely forgotten and overlooked were the 1963 Pittsburgh Steelers. Under the stewardship of 2x NFL Champion head coach Buddy Parker, the Steelers entered the final week of the season with the chance to win the Eastern Conference Championship and thus would have played for the NFL Championship vs. the Chicago Bears. The early 1960s Steelers teams are often overlooked due to not succeeding and how Parker’s short term strategy of trading away 1st round picks left the Steelers in a situation of little hope.
Although they would have been underdogs against the eventual NFL Champion Bears, it was very possible given they gave the Bears all they could handle just weeks earlier. They also were coming off a 9-5 season in 1962 (the Steelers best record ever to date) where they lost the Playoff Bowl, a game to determine “3rd place” in the final standings. They also had their share of star talent – including Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne and DE Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb. Layne retired in the off-season, always regretting he could not deliver a championship for Art Rooney. Lipscomb passed away of a heroin overdose at age 31, still among the best players in the league at his position.
There were still a lot of talented players on the 1963 team, including John Henry Johnson, Dick Hoak, Buddy Dial, Dick Haley, Preston Carpenter and Ernie Stautner. Stautner was the first and for many years the only Steelers player to have his number retired. There were also two rookies you might recognize: Ray Mansfield and Andy Russell.
The main point is that the Steelers were not a bad team – you just did not know which team would show up any week. Parker was a mean and nasty cuss as head coach and it reflected on the team being one that even if you played and won, you got beat up.
The 1963 season was the first season the Steelers featured the hypocycloids on their helmets and it was only the 2nd time (1947) that they were a single win from winning a Conference Championship – which automatically qualified them for the NFL Championship game. It was also arguably their best shot as many of the players fit into Parker’s mold: veterans he didn’t have to coach up, although most were on the back-end of their careers. One can only wonder if Layne returned for one more season or Lipscomb was still there, but the scrappy group bloodied teams en route to a 7-3-3 record entering the game that would determine the Conference vs. the far more polished New York Giants.
Nobody wanted to play these guys because they were so physical, even if erratic. The 3 ties did not count towards the standings and only one team – the Vince Lombardi led Green Bay Packers really handed the Steelers a decisive defeat all year. The rag-tag bunch played the entire season with “house money” as they played like a backyard football team without the stress of being cut that Parker put into his players. Most of the best players were on the plus side of 30 and nearing the end of their careers anyway, so they were not afraid of the tyrant Parker. They would frequently spend nights out all week drinking and socializing. They put less work into practice and more into socializing. Starting QB Ed Brown was known for being at a pub multiple times a week, every week, as the 35 year old was having by far his best season. They won games by being stress free and playing (and living) hard and fast with rules.
But then it happened. After a tie vs. the Bears, they would hang a loss on the Dallas Cowboys entering the final week of the season it dawned upon this motley crew of players who spent most of their careers with other teams, they had the opportunity to represent the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL Championship for the first time. The gravity of the situation took root. So, after 13 weeks of playing and living like renegades, they tried to get “serious.”
The owner of the pub that Brown frequented noticed that Brown (and many teammates) were not there all week and immediately became concerned. Myron Cope would later paraphrase the sentiment the owner shared: “All season long they behaved like guys without a care, but now they are trying to be ‘focused’?”
The pub owner was right. Instead of playing relaxed, the “professional” Steelers received a 33-17 beatdown by the Giants in the crucial game, one which the final score made it look closer than it really was.
Most of the 1963 Steelers players and coaches would retire after that game or by the end of 1964 and all of the trades that Parker that stripped the Steelers of draft picks left them with gaping holes throughout the rest of the decade. The team and season are largely forgotten.
But, one has to wonder, if they would have just kept being themselves if the Steelers would have actually snuck in a NFL Championship before the arrival of Chuck Noll?
Leave a comment below.
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Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
Largely forgotten and overlooked were the 1963 Pittsburgh Steelers. Under the stewardship of 2x NFL Champion head coach Buddy Parker, the Steelers entered the final week of the season with the chance to win the Eastern Conference Championship and thus would have played for the NFL Championship vs. the Chicago Bears. The early 1960s Steelers teams are often overlooked due to not succeeding and how Parker’s short term strategy of trading away 1st round picks left the Steelers in a situation of little hope.
Although they would have been underdogs against the eventual NFL Champion Bears, it was very possible given they gave the Bears all they could handle just weeks earlier. They also were coming off a 9-5 season in 1962 (the Steelers best record ever to date) where they lost the Playoff Bowl, a game to determine “3rd place” in the final standings. They also had their share of star talent – including Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne and DE Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb. Layne retired in the off-season, always regretting he could not deliver a championship for Art Rooney. Lipscomb passed away of a heroin overdose at age 31, still among the best players in the league at his position.
There were still a lot of talented players on the 1963 team, including John Henry Johnson, Dick Hoak, Buddy Dial, Dick Haley, Preston Carpenter and Ernie Stautner. Stautner was the first and for many years the only Steelers player to have his number retired. There were also two rookies you might recognize: Ray Mansfield and Andy Russell.
The main point is that the Steelers were not a bad team – you just did not know which team would show up any week. Parker was a mean and nasty cuss as head coach and it reflected on the team being one that even if you played and won, you got beat up.
The 1963 season was the first season the Steelers featured the hypocycloids on their helmets and it was only the 2nd time (1947) that they were a single win from winning a Conference Championship – which automatically qualified them for the NFL Championship game. It was also arguably their best shot as many of the players fit into Parker’s mold: veterans he didn’t have to coach up, although most were on the back-end of their careers. One can only wonder if Layne returned for one more season or Lipscomb was still there, but the scrappy group bloodied teams en route to a 7-3-3 record entering the game that would determine the Conference vs. the far more polished New York Giants.
Nobody wanted to play these guys because they were so physical, even if erratic. The 3 ties did not count towards the standings and only one team – the Vince Lombardi led Green Bay Packers really handed the Steelers a decisive defeat all year. The rag-tag bunch played the entire season with “house money” as they played like a backyard football team without the stress of being cut that Parker put into his players. Most of the best players were on the plus side of 30 and nearing the end of their careers anyway, so they were not afraid of the tyrant Parker. They would frequently spend nights out all week drinking and socializing. They put less work into practice and more into socializing. Starting QB Ed Brown was known for being at a pub multiple times a week, every week, as the 35 year old was having by far his best season. They won games by being stress free and playing (and living) hard and fast with rules.
But then it happened. After a tie vs. the Bears, they would hang a loss on the Dallas Cowboys entering the final week of the season it dawned upon this motley crew of players who spent most of their careers with other teams, they had the opportunity to represent the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL Championship for the first time. The gravity of the situation took root. So, after 13 weeks of playing and living like renegades, they tried to get “serious.”
The owner of the pub that Brown frequented noticed that Brown (and many teammates) were not there all week and immediately became concerned. Myron Cope would later paraphrase the sentiment the owner shared: “All season long they behaved like guys without a care, but now they are trying to be ‘focused’?”
The pub owner was right. Instead of playing relaxed, the “professional” Steelers received a 33-17 beatdown by the Giants in the crucial game, one which the final score made it look closer than it really was.
Most of the 1963 Steelers players and coaches would retire after that game or by the end of 1964 and all of the trades that Parker that stripped the Steelers of draft picks left them with gaping holes throughout the rest of the decade. The team and season are largely forgotten.
But, one has to wonder, if they would have just kept being themselves if the Steelers would have actually snuck in a NFL Championship before the arrival of Chuck Noll?
Leave a comment below.
#SteelerNation
Support SteelerNation by clicking here to read the story..
