Last Team Standing (33 page)

Neale and Kiesling carefully went over the game plan one more time, the pass patterns, the running plays, the defensive alignments. Each player's assignments were reviewed, who blocked whom, who covered whom. Above all, the coaches emphasized the need to stop Don Hutson, Green Bay's lithe receiver. Hutson, who planned to retire after the Steagles game, was leading the league in scoring and pass receptions. The Steagles were fortunate in that Hutson would not be in top shape: he had accidentally slammed his hand in the door of a taxicab a few days before the game. His right index finger was in a splint. But Greasy Neale knew a one-handed Don Hutson was still more dangerous than most two-handed receivers in the league. Neale once called him “the only man I ever saw who could feint in three different
directions at the same time.” Just as the key to beating the Redskins was stifling Sammy Baugh, the key to beating the Packers was stifling Don Hutson. To that end, the Steagles would employ the same tactic that had been so successful against Baugh: They would try to rough up Hutson at every opportunity. Knock him off his game. In a time when receivers were afforded few of the protections from interference they enjoy today, it was a perfectly logical and licit strategy.

Emotionally, the two teams were worlds apart. The Steagles were coming off their stunning and ferocious victory in Washington. The Packers hadn't even had a game scheduled the previous Sunday, but, as was customary, they filled the open date with an exhibition contest. At a ballpark in Bristol, Connecticut, they crushed a semipro outfit called the New London Diesels, 62-14. The Packers arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon and worked out at Shibe Park the rest of week. Another difference between the two teams was that, while the Steagles had everything to play for (namely a chance to tie for the Eastern Division title), the Packers had nothing at stake in this game. Win, lose, or draw, they were guaranteed to end the season in second place behind the Bears in the West (and to pocket their share of the championship pot).

The game would pit Green Bay's high-powered offense against Phil-Pitt's smothering defense. The Packers were second in the league in total yards gained per game (341.5) and passing yards per game (200.7). The Steagles meanwhile had given up the second-fewest total yards per game (224.8) and the fewest rushing yards (68.7). The Steagles, however, would not be at full strength. Their second-leading rusher, Johnny Butler, was sidelined by a broken thumb. The bookies rated the Packers slight favorites.

The Steagles' pregame skull session took about 30 minutes. Neale and Kiesling wished the players luck and sent them into the long tunnel that led to the field. Neale was the last man out of the locker room. It was one of his many superstitions. Once he spotted a player running back to the locker room to use the bathroom before a game.

“We better win today or else,” he growled.

Neale also wore the same suit and hat when his team was winning.

“I even drive to the park by the same route, if we won the last time I took that route,” he once confessed.

As they walked through the concrete tunnel, the players' hard rubber cleats made a loud clickety-clack sound that echoed in their heads. The tunnel opened into the baseball dugout along the first base line. When they reached the top step of the dugout, the Steagles were amazed by what they saw: Shibe Park was absolutely packed.

The lines had started forming outside the ticket windows at nine o'clock that morning, two-and-a-half hours before they opened and five hours before kickoff. It was the first NFL game ever played in Philadelphia for which the demand for tickets exceeded the supply. The weather helped: it was an unseasonably mild day. But there was more to it than that. Not since the days of the Frankford Yellow Jackets had the city's pro football fans seen a team as good as this one. Their Eagles—well, their Steagles—were completing the most successful season in the history of the franchise, with a chance of winning it all. Their enthusiasm foretold the fervor that would come to grip the team's fans in the generations to come.

By game time the stands were overflowing. Even way, way up, in the far reaches of the upper deck behind home plate, not an empty seat could be seen. Everywhere there were people. The players had never seen anything like it. More people, in fact, had assembled to watch this game than had ever before witnessed a professional football game anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania. Lex Thompson, there on his usual weekend pass, was “flabbergasted” by the size of the crowd. The attendance of 34,294 shattered the record set against the Redskins four weeks earlier. Back in Pittsburgh, thousands more were tuned into radio station WWSW to hear Joe Tucker and Bill Cullen call the game. In the
Pittsburgh Press,
Cecil Muldoon wrote, “The big complaint from Pittsburgh fans was the scarcity of games there but the combined
team's showing [has] more than made up for the deficiency and provided a successful season instead of a possible blackout.” The
Post-Gazette's
Havey Boyle agreed: “[T]he merger worked out pretty well.”

It would work out even better if they beat the Packers.

The Packers were decked out in their classic blue jerseys with gold trim. (Not until the early 1950s would green become the team's primary color.) The crowd roared in anticipation as Don Hutson kicked off, the ball spinning end over end in a high arc, but the Steagles' first drive ended prematurely, as had many all season, with a fumble. Jack Hinkle was the culprit this time. Green Bay recovered the ball on the Steagles 31. From there Tony Canadeo busted through a big hole at right guard and streaked into the end zone. Hutson converted the extra point, and barely two minutes into the game, Green Bay led 7-0. Hinkle atoned for his miscue on the Steagles' next possession, sweeping wide around the left end and dashing 38 yards down the sideline for the tying touchdown. Just a few minutes later the Packers jumped back in front. Irv Comp intercepted a Roy Zimmerman pass on the Packers 25 and returned it 46 yards, all the way to the Steagles 39. Three plays later, Canadeo took the snap and handed off to Lou Brock. As the Steagles converged on Brock, Canadeo slipped undetected into the right corner of the end zone. Just before getting smeared, Brock hit Canadeo with a wobbly pass. Hutson converted again and it was 14-7 Packers.

But once more the resilient Steagles struck right back. On third down from the Green Bay 44, Zimmerman heaved the ball to Tony Bova near the ten. Don Hutson stepped in front of Bova and nearly intercepted the pass, but, encumbered by the splint on his index finger, he bobbled the ball momentarily. Bova snatched it out of Hutson's hands and raced across the goal line. As was the custom, Bova gently placed the pigskin on the ground. The crowd exploded. Shibe Park was literally shaking with excitement. Zimmerman calmly booted the extra point, and the rip-roaring first period ended with the two teams dead even on the scoreboard: 14-14.

While the fans were delirious, Greasy Neale was concerned. He didn't think the Steagles could possibly sustain the frenetic and exhilarating pace of the first period.

In the second period Don Hutson kicked a 25-yard field goal: Green Bay 17, Phil-Pitt 14. In the third, Joe Laws intercepted a Zimmerman pass to set up a four-yard scamper by Irv Comp: Green Bay 24, Phil-Pitt 14. On the last play of the third quarter, Zimmerman was intercepted again, leading to a 12-yard touchdown pass from Comp to Hutson: Green Bay 31, Phil-Pitt 14.

Then Greasy Neale took a gamble. He decided to give Zimmerman, who was exhausted, a rare rest. Twenty-year-old rookie quarterback Allie Sherman went into the game and calmly guided the Steagles on a 60-yard drive that ended when he tossed a perfect 13-yard touchdown pass to Tony Bova. When the Steagles got the ball back, Neale reinserted a refreshed Zimmerman, who masterminded a 63-yard drive that included a 45-yard pass to Bova and ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Ernie Steele. Suddenly, with seven minutes left, the Steagles trailed by just three points, 31-28. The crowd, wrote Red Smith, “looked on with jaw agape and eye glazed.”

On Green Bay's next possession, the Packers were forced to punt. With less than five minutes left, Lou Brock booted the ball high into air from his own 26. Jack Hinkle, who was having the best season of his life, camped under the ball. It hit him in the chest with a thud and he bobbled it momentarily. By the time he'd gained full control of it, five Packers were bearing down on him. Hinkle was buried in an avalanche of blue and gold jerseys and the ball came loose for another fumble. Green Bay's Charley Brock collapsed on the ball on the Steagles 38. Four plays later, Irv Comp fired a 24-yard touchdown pass to Don Hutson, who managed to make the catch with his left hand—his only “good” hand. It was the spectacular final act of Hutson's spectacular career. It was also the final nail in the Steagles' coffin: Green Bay won, 38-28.

Despite their best efforts, the Steagles had not been able to stop Hutson. He caught six passes for 56 yards, scoring two
touchdowns. He also kicked a field goal and five extra points, giving him 20 points for the game and 117 for the season, most in the league by far.

The Steagles' line had played a good game, with Phil-Pitt out-rushing Green Bay 318-278. But turnovers, their Achilles' heel all season, killed them. The Steagles fumbled four times and Roy Zimmerman threw six interceptions, three of which led to Packer touchdowns. He also missed two field goal attempts.

“We made mistakes” is how a disappointed Greasy Neale summed up the team's performance after the game.

Nevertheless, the Steagles had much to be proud of. Theirs was the first winning season in the history of the Philadelphia franchise and just the second for Pittsburgh. Their defense ended the season ranked second to the Bears in fewest total yards allowed per game (230.1) and first against the rush, ceding opponents just 79.3 yards per game on the ground. On offense they led the league in rushing yards per game (173), ending the Bears' four-season hold on that title.

Jack Hinkle rushed for 59 yards against the Packers, ending the season with 571. In the papers the next day he was hailed as the league's new rushing king, but the Giants' Bill Paschal still had one more game to play. In that game Paschal would surpass Hinkle by a single yard to win the closest ground-gaining race in league history (subsequently equaled in 2004). Hinkle's total, of course, does not include the 37-yard run he made against the Giants on October 9 that was mistakenly attributed to Johnny Butler. Contemporaneous newspaper accounts confirm that Hinkle, not Butler, made that run. Rightfully, Jack Hinkle was the NFL's leading rusher in 1943, but he has never pursued the matter with the league.

“In my mind I know I won it,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle's achievement did not go unrewarded, however. Owner Lex Thompson gave him a raise (subject to wage-control guidelines, of course).

Ernie Steele rushed for 96 yards against the Packers to finish the season with 409, good enough for sixth place on the rushing
list. Steele surpassed teammate Johnny Butler, who sat out the game with a broken thumb, though Butler still finished seventh in the league with 362 yards. With 291 yards, Bobby Thurbon finished eleventh, giving the Steagles four of the league's top 11 rushers, a testament not only to the talents of the running backs themselves, but also to the dexterity of the linemen who blocked for them. Steele and Thurbon led the team in scoring with 36 points each. Half-blind Tony Bova was the team's leading receiver with 17 catches for 419 yards, a whopping average of 24.6 yards per catch, best in the league.

After the season, seven Steagles were named to the various all-pro teams selected by the wire services: Tony Bova, Ray Graves, Jack Hinkle, Elbie Schultz, Vic Sears, Ernie Steele, and Roy Zimmerman. Perhaps most surprisingly—and certainly most important, as far as Messrs. Bell, Rooney, and Thompson were concerned—the Steagles were a box office smash. Their cumulative paid home attendance of 129,347 was a record for both franchises. A “combination official” confided to the
Inquirer
that it was “the most successful season financially either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh ever had.” Bert Bell said, “We took in more in the six home games this year than the Eagles and Steelers did together in ten games last year.”

On the whole the players were satisfied with the season.

“I think we surprised ourselves,” said Al Wistert. “We did pretty well in spite of the fact that we were a hybrid team.” Vic Sears credited Greasy Neale for the Steagles' unexpected success.

“We got better all the time,” Sears said. “Nobody stays the same with Greasy Neale.”

A farewell banquet was held for the team at the Hotel Philadelphian the night of the Packers game. The next morning the players scattered. Although they were not required to, many players kept working at their war jobs in Philadelphia. Bobby Thurbon joined a Teamsters basketball team in Pittsburgh. Walt Kiesling went back to his off-season job in the Office of the Register of Deeds in St. Paul. Vic Sears' draft board ordered him to return to Oregon for yet another physical, which, due to his
ulcers, he again flunked. Rocco Canale reported back to Mitchell Field. Bucko Kilroy returned to convoy duty on the North Atlantic. Roy Zimmerman went back to his California farm. Ernie Steele went home to Seattle and found work in a shipyard. Ray Graves, who like Allie Sherman aspired to be a head coach someday, went back to his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, where he was hired as an assistant. (He wouldn't return to the Eagles until 1946.) Ted Doyle, of course, just kept working on the Manhattan Project at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh.

Ironically, when the Giants played the Redskins in the final game of the regular season a week later, the Steagles were rooting for the Redskins to win. Having already been eliminated from the title chase, the Steagles still hoped to finish tied for second with the Giants. Alas, the Giants won and the Steagles missed out on the portion of the championship pot that would have come with sharing second place: $52.83 each.