1955: Weed’s 3 Field Goals Help College All-Stars to Edge Browns

The 22^nd College All-Star Game on August 12, 1955 had a different twist than its predecessors in that a group of former pro coaches, led by Head Coach Curly Lambeau, directed the All-Stars rather than the usual college coaches. Lambeau, founder and long-time coach of the Green Bay Packers, had more recently coached the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins. His assistants included Hunk Anderson, a noteworthy line coach with the Bears; Steve Owen, who coached the Giants for 23 years; and Hamp Pool, former head coach of the Rams.

The All-Star roster contained Notre Dame QB Ralph Guglielmi, Heisman Trophy-winning FB Alan “The Horse” Ameche from Wisconsin, and outstanding linemen in OT Jim Ray Smith of Baylor and Notre Dame C Dick Szymanski. But along with Guglielmi and HB L.G. Dupre of Baylor, the key player for the collegians would be diminutive (5’6”, 146 pounds) HB-PK Tad Weed of Ohio State (pictured above).

Representing the NFL were the Cleveland Browns, coached by Paul Brown. The team had dominated the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) before moving to the NFL in 1950, and added a second NFL title in 1954. But QB Otto Graham had retired and the Browns would be starting George Ratterman, the backup quarterback for the previous three seasons, in his place.

There were 75,000 fans present along with a national television audience. Weed started off the scoring in the first quarter with a 31-yard field goal for the All-Stars. The Browns responded with Ratterman sneaking over from a foot out for a touchdown.

The All-Stars came back quickly with a 48-yard kickoff return by Marquette HB Ron Drzewiecki. Dupre had a 19-yard run and the drive was capped when HB Frank Eidom from SMU ran for a three-yard touchdown. Cleveland put together a 10-play, 76-yard series that ended with HB Ray Renfro taking a pitchout and running 18 yards for a TD. The Browns were ahead again by 14-10.

The All-Stars once more drove to another score, highlighted by Dupre’s running. End Henry Hair from Georgia Tech caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Guglielmi and it was the collegians back on top at 17-14. Cleveland roared back as Ratterman threw to end Dante Lavelli for a 42-yard gain and then to Renfro for a 25-yard TD. Lou Groza’s extra point attempt was blocked but the Browns took a 20-17 lead into halftime.

Following the back-and-forth second quarter, there was just one score in the third quarter as Weed booted a 14-yard field goal to tie the game at 20-20. In the final period, Guglielmi passed to Dupre for a 19-yard gain to the Cleveland one that set up a touchdown carry by FB Mel Triplett of Toledo. QB Dave Leggett of Ohio State ran for the extra point and a 27-20 lead for the All-Stars. Weed made it a ten-point game with a 34-yard field goal that would prove to be decisive.

Late in the game the Browns put together an 80-yard scoring drive that concluded with HB Curly Morrison running for a five-yard TD, but time ran out on Cleveland as the All-Stars hung on to win by a score of 30-27.

The All-Stars outrushed the Browns, 200 yards to 163, and had an edge of 329 total yards to Cleveland’s 325. They also had more first downs, 20 to 15.

Ralph Guglielmi (pictured at left) played the full game for the All-Stars and completed 10 of 19 passes for 129 yards and had one picked off. L.G. Dupre rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries and gained another 39 on three pass receptions. Tad Weed kicked three field goals and two extra points.

For the Browns, QB George Ratterman was successful on 9 of 18 throws with two interceptions.

“This is the greatest offensive team I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with,” said a triumphant Ralph Guglielmi. “Man, I never saw such blocking and tackling.”

“We have a lot to do,” said a disappointed Paul Brown in a quiet Cleveland locker room. “Our defense was poor but I thought George Ratterman did a pretty fair job. They got us. That’s the only thing to say. We were outplayed and soundly defeated. They had a great bunch of running backs and fine coaching, and earned everything they got.”

The Browns continued to struggle in the preseason until Otto Graham was persuaded to come out of retirement. Cleveland went 9-2-1 during the regular season and won another NFL title, after which Graham left for good.

The 30 points were the most for the All-Stars since the start of the series (a record they would exceed three years later). Curly Lambeau coached them for the next two years, but the All-Stars did not win again under his guidance.

Tad Weed played one season in the NFL with the Steelers, connecting on three of six field goal attempts and all 12 of his extra point attempts. Ralph Guglielmi, the first round draft choice of the Washington Redskins, had an undistinguished seven-year pro career. L.G. Dupre was drafted by the Colts in the third round and also played for seven years, contributing to a back-to-back NFL Championship team in Baltimore before finishing up with the fledgling Dallas Cowboys.

1960: Cowboys Tie Giants for Only Non-Loss of First Season

It had been a rough first year for the expansion Dallas Cowboys as they took on the New York Giants on December 4, 1960. Under Head Coach Tom Landry, who had previously been defensive coach of the Giants, the team was 0-10. The Cowboys had a capable quarterback in diminutive (5’9”, 168) Eddie LeBaron (pictured at right), formerly of the Redskins and dissuaded from retiring in order to lead the offense until rookie Don Meredith was ready. There were some capable veterans to throw to, such as flanker Billy Howton and TE Jim Doran, and the defense had a star in MLB Jerry Tubbs, but for the most part the new team was awash in mediocre players.

New York, coached by Jim Lee Howell, had won the Eastern Conference the previous two years, but the aging and injury-riddled club was 5-3-1 and coming off of back-to-back losses to the Philadelphia Eagles that had assured they would not finish first a third time. 39-year-old QB Charlie Conerly was one of the injured players, and backup George Shaw was behind center against the Cowboys. HB Alex Webster was also out, as was star HB Frank Gifford, who had been finished for the year – and the whole next season – after a noteworthy tackle by LB Chuck Bednarik in the first loss to Philadelphia.

There were 55,033 fans at Yankee Stadium, the smallest home crowd of the year for the Giants on a sunny afternoon. New York scored quickly on its first possession, taking just four plays with Shaw completing a 41-yard pass to end Bill Kimber and then throwing 10 yards to FB Mel Triplett for the touchdown. HB Joe Morrison followed up with a one-yard scoring plunge and the Giants had a 14-0 lead.


However, before the first quarter was over, HB L.G. Dupre (pictured at left) ran in for a five-yard TD to get the Cowboys on the board. Still, Shaw extended New York’s margin in the second quarter as he connected with end Kyle Rote on a 28-yard scoring play.

Dallas continued to fight back. LeBaron, who nearly sat the game out with a rib injury, tossed a pass to Dupre for a 21-yard TD and Fred Cone kicked an 11-yard field goal to narrow the score to 21-17 at halftime.

Pat Summerall posted the only points of the third quarter with a 26-yard field goal that gave the Giants a seven-point lead. The Cowboys knotted things up in the fourth quarter thanks to a 56-yard drive capped by LeBaron throwing again to Dupre for a 23-yard touchdown, followed by Cone’s extra point.

First-year backup QB Lee Grosscup put the Giants back ahead 5:45 into the final period with a 26-yard touchdown pass to end Bob Schnelker. With five minutes to go, Dallas DT Bill Herchman recovered a fumble by Morrison. LeBaron passed to Doran for 32 yards to the New York nine and two plays later connected with Howton for an 11-yard TD. Cone kicked the tying extra point, and that was it. The game ended in a 31-31 draw, the first non-losing game in Dallas franchise history.

The statistics reflected the evenness of the score. The Cowboys outgained New York by just one yard (328 to 327) and each team had 19 first downs. The Giants turned the ball over three times, to two by Dallas.


Eddie LeBaron completed 17 of 35 passes for 267 yards with three touchdowns and two intercepted. Billy Howton (pictured at right) caught 6 passes for 78 yards and a TD and Jim Doran added three receptions for 62 yards. The game’s scoring star, L.G. Dupre, accumulated the most receiving yards, however, with 82 on three catches that included two touchdowns while also rushing for 27 yards on 8 carries with another TD. HB Don McIlhenny was the leading ground gainer for the Cowboys with 34 yards on 8 attempts.

For the Giants, George Shaw was successful on 8 of 16 throws for 149 yards and two TDs against one interception. Lee Grosscup added five completions in 11 attempts that gained 75 yards and a touchdown (his only one of the season). Bob Schnelker hauled in 5 passes for 69 yards and a TD and Kyle Rote also gained 69 yards on his three receptions that included a score. HB Ed Sutton topped the running attack with 62 yards on 7 carries.

The Cowboys lost their season finale at Detroit and finished at the bottom of the Western Conference with a record of 0-11-1 (they shifted to the Eastern Conference in ’61). New York split its last two games and placed third in the conference at 6-4-2.

Eddie LeBaron had a respectable season for a bad team, although he led the NFL by tossing 25 interceptions. Still, he was in the top five in pass attempts (225), yards (1736), and yards per completion (15.6). L.G. Dupre’s accomplishments were more modest as he led the club in rushing with just 362 yards and caught 21 passes for 216 more. His three touchdowns against the Giants accounted for most of his season total of five.