1967: Dawson Sets Passing Record as Chiefs Beat Oilers

The Kansas City Chiefs began the defense of their 1966 American Football League title on September 9, 1967 against the Houston Oilers. The Chiefs had won the Western Division with an 11-2-1 record in ’66, easily defeated Buffalo for the AFL Championship, and then lost the first Super Bowl to the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Head Coach Hank Stram’s team boasted the league’s most efficient passer in QB Len Dawson (pictured at right), a fine running game with halfbacks Mike Garrett and Bert Coan and FB Curtis McClinton, an excellent deep receiver in flanker Otis Taylor, and a solid defense.

The Oilers, on the other hand, had lost their last eight games in 1966 and were in a rebuilding mode under GM Don Klosterman. Wally Lemm, who guided the club to the 1961 AFL title, had returned as head coach in 1966 and by the opening game of the ’67 season, many of Houston’s veteran stalwarts were gone, including QB George Blanda, FB Charlie Tolar, flanker Charley Hennigan, and safety Fred Glick. Jacky Lee, long-time backup to Blanda at quarterback (except when loaned out to the Denver Broncos in 1964 and ‘65), was promoted to the starting job. Second-year FB Hoyle Granger had moved into the starting lineup during the ’66 season. Garland Boyette was moved from defensive end to middle linebacker and was joined by promising rookie OLB George Webster. Another rookie, safety Ken Houston, joined a revamped and talented defensive backfield.

There were 28,203 fans in attendance for the Saturday night game at Rice Stadium. Following a scoreless opening period, Kansas City capped a seven-play, 85-yard drive early in the second quarter with Garrett’s two-yard touchdown run. The possession was helped along by Dawson passes to split end Chris Burford and Garrett.

With Lee starting at quarterback, the Oilers responded with an 80-yard drive in 10 plays that was highlighted by the running of the fullback Granger and HB Sid Blanks. Granger started it off with an 18-yard carry and ended it with a four-yard TD. Blanks had a 35-yard run along the way.

The Chiefs came back with another scoring possession, this one capped by a 54-yard field goal by rookie placekicker Jan Stenerud with just under four minutes left in the half. Houston again put together a scoring drive of its own, this time aided by a 39-yard pass interference call against the Chiefs. Granger and Blanks combined for 41 rushing yards, with Blanks going the final seven yards for the touchdown. Following the successful extra point, the fans gave the home team a standing ovation.

Dawson’s passing keyed the next Kansas City drive, which covered 82 yards, as he threw for 12 and 19 yards to Garrett and 16 yards to TE Fred Arbanas for a touchdown with just seconds left on the clock before halftime. The possession was helped along by a pass interference call on Houston CB W.K. Hicks and the score stood at 17-14 in favor of the Chiefs at the intermission.

In the second half, Kansas City LB Bobby Bell intercepted a Lee pass and returned it 32 yards for a TD. The Chiefs went for two points and were successful as Dawson threw to TE Reg Carolan.

Dawson completed 15 straight passes before finally throwing an incomplete sideline pass during the fourth quarter. He was also victimized when Houston’s rookie Ken Houston intercepted a pass in the end zone intended for Burford and returned it 77 yards, with Webster and CB Miller Farr throwing key blocks along the way. On the next play, Lee tossed a short pass to Granger who went the remaining 28 yards for a touchdown, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. The Chiefs held on to win by a final score of 25-20.

Houston actually had the most total yards (336 to 312) although Kansas City accumulated the most first downs (20 to 17). The Chiefs only turned the ball over once, while the Oilers suffered four turnovers. Kansas City was penalized 10 times, at the expense of 117 yards, while Houston was flagged on seven occasions and lost more yards (128).


With his high efficiency, Len Dawson completed 17 of 19 passes for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Mike Garrett (pictured at left) led the Chiefs in rushing with 80 yards on 19 carries, including one for a TD, and also had the most pass receptions with 6, for another 42 yards. Otis Taylor gained 60 yards on his four catches.

For Houston, Jacky Lee was successful on 16 of 25 throws for 158 yards with a TD and two interceptions. The running game was proficient as Hoyle Granger gained 101 yards on 13 carries, including a score, and Sid Blanks added 79 yards on 18 attempts with a TD. WR Charley Frazier caught 6 passes for 82 yards.

Dawson’s 15 consecutive completions were a then-pro football record (NFL as well as AFL). It broke the existing mark of 13 by the NFL’s Fran Tarkenton and the AFL record of 11 by Dick Wood of the Jets in 1964. Joe Namath of the Jets tied the mark several weeks later and it stood until 1974.

The Chiefs had another good season, but couldn’t beat the Raiders or Chargers and ended up second in the Western Division with a 9-5 record. Len Dawson again topped the AFL in completion percentage (57.7) and was among the leaders in passing (83.7 rating by the current system).

Houston’s rebuilding process was more successful than anticipated, although Jacky Lee was traded, ironically enough, to the Chiefs for Dawson’s backup, Pete Beathard. Beathard proved to be a good fit, the defense was outstanding, and the Oilers won the Eastern Division with a 9-4-1 tally, although they were routed by Oakland in the AFL Championship game. Hoyle Granger (pictured below) ranked second in the league with 1194 yards rushing (Mike Garrett ended up third with 1087) and first in yards from scrimmage (1494).

1964: Jets Debut at Shea Stadium Before Record Crowd

The New York Jets franchise took a significant step forward on September 12, 1964 when they played their first game at the new Shea Stadium. For four seasons (three as the Titans, one as the Jets) the club had played at the badly decaying Polo Grounds and had difficulty drawing fans. The move to the new stadium solved that problem immediately, as there was a crowd of 45,497 on hand, the largest to attend an American Football League game to date.

Since the new ownership group, led by David A. “Sonny” Werblin, had taken over the former Titans franchise from the bankrupt original owner, Harry Wismer, following the 1962 season, the club had gone through a revitalization process. There was a new name, new uniforms, and highly-respected new head coach in Weeb Ewbank. Now they were moving into a new stadium and the only remaining question to address was the quality of the players.


To that end, another significant change for 1964 was that the team was able to sign some high draft picks – something that had not happened during the Wismer era. The biggest prize had been FB Matt Snell (pictured at left), the first draft choice out of Ohio State who had also been selected in the NFL draft by the rival Giants (third round). Other signees from the draft who would have an impact were Gerry Philbin out of Buffalo in the third round, selected as a linebacker but who would play defensive end as a pro, and LB Ralph Baker from Penn State, chosen in the sixth round.

The Jets, coming off of a 5-8-1 season in ’63, faced the Denver Broncos in the season-opening game, a club that had been the worst in the AFL with a 2-11-1 tally. Head Coach Jack Faulkner came to the team amid great expectations in 1962, but after breaking even at 7-7 that year, the Broncos had regressed. In an odd arrangement, QB Jacky Lee was obtained from Houston, where he had backed up veteran George Blanda for four years, as part of a two-year lease agreement (the Broncos gave up DT Bud McFadin and a first round draft choice as part of the deal). He was to be returned to the Oilers after the lease was up, where no doubt it was anticipated that the 37-year-old Blanda would be ready to retire and Lee, having gained experience as a starting quarterback, could step in.

Lee’s first regular season performance was a poor one. He completed 18 of 32 passes for 127 yards and three interceptions. Star end Lionel Taylor contributed a fourth interception on an option pass, and in all the Broncos couldn’t move the ball and turned it over five times.

The Jets, with the lanky and immobile Dick Wood at quarterback, took advantage of the turnovers and gave up none of their own. Wood threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to TE Gene Heeter in the first quarter and in the fourth quarter connected with star flanker Don Maynard, who made an outstanding catch that resulted in a 39-yard TD. In between, rookie placekicker Jim Turner connected on field goals of 11 and 27 yards in the second quarter and 21 yards in the final period.

Two Gene Mingo field goals provided the only scoring for the Broncos, who were as close as 13-6 in the fourth quarter, but following that the Jets scored two touchdowns and a field goal to win easily, 30-6.

While Wood completed just 9 of 18 passes for 144 yards, two of them were touchdowns and none were picked off. Maynard was the top receiver with four catches for 101 yards and the TD. But the star on offense was the rookie fullback Snell, who gained 82 yards on 22 carries and scored the final touchdown. It was a good start to a season in which he would rank second among the AFL’s rushers with 948 yards.

The Jets outgained the Broncos with 247 yards to 192. They also sacked Lee five times, while Denver’s defense never got to Wood, and were flagged three times while the Broncos drew 9 penalties. FB Billy Joe led Denver in rushing with 41 yards on 9 attempts, and Lionel Taylor and HB Charley Mitchell both caught five passes, with Taylor gaining 61 yards.


Aside from Snell’s performance, the other player for the Jets who drew attention was Ed “Wahoo” McDaniel (pictured at right), a middle linebacker who had been obtained from Denver. A 6’1”, 235-pound Native American (Choctaw and Chickasaw) who was a professional wrestler on the side, McDaniel had played college football at Oklahoma under legendary Head Coach Bud Wilkinson. He was drafted by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and AFL’s Los Angeles Chargers in 1960 but failed to make either club. After catching on with the Houston Oilers as a guard, he was dealt to Denver and returned to his regular position of linebacker. As Coach Faulkner put it, “he was a tough guy, but he wasn’t very big…he didn’t have great speed, but he gave you effort.”

McDaniel’s acquisition hadn’t been considered a major one by the Jets, but he made it into the starting lineup and became an instant fan favorite. From the first time he made a tackle and his name was announced over the public address system to each occasion that his face appeared on the big Jetorama screen, the crowd cheered wildly. After awhile the PA announcer simply asked “Who made the tackle?” and the fans shouted back “Wahoo!”

There were times when that likely wasn’t the correct answer to the question, for the announcer began asking it on most every gang tackle and, it was said, on occasions when McDaniel was nowhere near the play. But it became a popular part of Jets home games for the remainder of the season. Owner Werblin, an entertainment executive who knew how to market talent, had McDaniel’s last name removed from the back of his jersey and replaced with “WAHOO” thereafter.

New York ended up with another 5-8-1 record in ’64, placing third in the Eastern Division. However, Coach Ewbank was assembling the pieces that would bring greater excitement and success, and overall home attendance jumped from 91,000 in 1963 to 298,000. Denver also repeated its 2-11-1 tally of the previous year; Faulkner was let go after a 0-4 start and replaced by former Cleveland Browns star Mac Speedie.

As a footnote, Jacky Lee lost his starting job to the equally-ineffective Mickey Slaughter. Rather than preparing him to be a starting quarterback, the leasing deal only made Lee less appealing to his original club, the Oilers, who sat him back on the bench when he returned in 1966.