NewsFebruary 11, 2023
Remembering the first Super Bowl
Cape Girardeau resident John Piepho remembers well watching on TV the first Super Bowl, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Green Bay Packers, on Jan. 15, 1967. Piepho had moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in June 1964, and was in the community when the inaugural contest was played...
Cape Girardeau resident John Piepho remembers well watching on TV the first Super Bowl, Kansas City Chiefs vs. Green Bay Packers, on Jan. 15, 1967.
Piepho had moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in June 1964, and was in the community when the inaugural contest was played.
"The Chiefs were a big underdog. This was a few years before the old American Football League merged with the National Football League," Piepho recalled, noting the AFL-NFL merger was finalized in 1970.
"Wow, the AFL is going to play an NFL team!" Piepho remembers thinking. "The people of Kansas City were all rooting for them. We were crossing our fingers, but I don't know if any of us really expected the Chiefs to pull it off."
The Chiefs lost the game to Green Bay, 35-10.
"It was really disappointing, because at halftime, we had some hope the Chiefs might come back and win the game," Piepho said.
Piepho recalled the city's professional baseball team, the American League's Athletics, was not playing well at the time.
"I don't think (the A's) had a winning record the entire time they were in Kansas City," he recalled.
Indeed, the Athletics played 13 years in Kansas City and went 829-1,224 during their Missouri tenure, a .404 winning percentage -- never once finishing above .500 in any single season.
A's owner Charlie Finley, who had publicly professed his desire to move the franchise for several years, was allowed to do so following the 1967 season, relocating the team to Oakland, California, where they remain today.
Rivals, partners
More than half a century since 1967, the two former rival leagues have reached parity.
In the years since the inaugural Super Bowl, what is now known as the American Football Conference (AFC) has won 27 times; the NFL has prevailed 29 times.
Historian Frank Nickell was an all-conference high school football player in Atwood, Illinois, and later played for Eastern Illinois University as a lineman.
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"When the Super Bowl started, I cannot tell you how excited I was. Just the idea of bringing all these great players together for one game," said Nickell. "(The Super Bowl) was not a big deal back then. There was not a big crowd, and it didn't have a true national following then but of course, it does now -- and it will continue to grow, I think, in popularity."
Last year's Super Bowl 56, featuring Los Angeles and Cincinnati, was watched by more than 101 million people, according to NBC.
The network admits it is difficult to ascertain a true audience figure since some gather with friends and family to watch in a single household setting.
"The only problem I see going forward is controlling the injuries," said Nickell, who recalls being "sickened" while watching Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin be critically hurt during a nationally televised Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati.
Hamlin's recovery transfixed the nation as the player spent days in critical condition following a cardiac arrest.
Phenomenon
Nickell said TV is primarily responsible for making the NFL the most followed sports league in the U.S. and acknowledged people watch the Super Bowl for many reasons -- the commercials, the halftime show and for the game itself.
"The focus on the face of the quarterback as he calls out the signals, being able to get up close and personal with players is a big part of the NFL's success," he said.
Prediction
The former gridiron warrior suggested football's supremacy in America may not last.
"In 20 or 30 years, perhaps longer, due mainly to injuries and the game's overall expense, I see soccer eventually eclipsing football," Nickell said.
"Soccer is a simpler game. You just need a ball and a good field. The players don't get hurt nearly as often as they do in football, and there are fewer long-term medical issues. The game already is the most popular sport in Europe, South America and indeed, in much of the world."
Kansas City faces Philadelphia Sunday in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Central.
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