SENIORBOWL.com :: Senior Bowl History

America's tumultuous decade of the 1960s saw the Senior Bowl enjoy tremendous prosperity including record crowds, top-notch players and continued growth into one of the nation's premier sporting events.

Alabama’s Joe Namath throws his 53-yard touchdown pass to Bob Hayes in the 1965 Senior Bowl. The future Pro Football Hall of Famer passed for 246-yards in the contest.

NORTH 26, SOUTH 7
MVP: Jackie Lee, Cincinnati
NORTH COACH: Jim Lee Howell, Giants
SOUTH COACH: Weeb Ewbank, Colts
TOP PLAYERS: Jackie Burkett, Carroll Dale

Cincinnati's Jackie Lee passed the North to a 26-7 upset victory over the South before a record crowd of 40,119 in the 1960 Senior Bowl. Passing for two touchdowns and completing 13 of 21 passes for a record 283 yards, Lee almost single-handedly turned a torrid first half duel into a second half rout -- capped by a Senior Bowl record 73-yard TD pass -- and earned the game's MVP award.

SOUTH 33, NORTH 26
MVP: Dick Norman, Stanford
NORTH COACH: Jim Lee Howell, Giants
SOUTH COACH: Weeb Ewbank, Colts
TOP PLAYERS: Norm Snead, Pat Dye, Ed Dyas

Wake Forest quarterback Norm Snead rifled a Senior Bowl record four touchdown passes, including the game-winner with just seven seconds remaining, to give the South an electrifying 33-26 victory before 36,287 hysterical Ladd Stadium fans in 1961. The contest featured the greatest passing duel in Senior Bowl history, as Snead threw for 305 yards, but was topped by North quarterback Dick Norman of Stanford's 311 -- performances which now rank as the fourth and fifth highest individual totals in the game's history. With just three minutes remaining, the North tied it at 26-26 on a 15-yard Norman pass to set the stage for Snead's game-winning 55-yarder to Georgia's Fred Brown, who made a spectacular diving catch in the end zone in the final minute, to send the Ladd Stadium crowd into a frenzy.

SOUTH 42, NORTH 7
MVP-TIE: Earl Gros, LSU / Ronnie Bull, Baylor
NORTH COACH: Tom Landry, Cowboys
SOUTH COACH: Weeb Ewbank, Colts
TOP PLAYER: Billy Neighbors

With LSU's Earl Gros and Baylor's Ronnie Bull leading a devastating ground attack, Coach Weeb Ewbank's South squad scored a convincing 42-7 victory over the North before 35,132 fans in the 1962 contest. Bull gained 133 yards, including a record 58-yard scoring run, and Gros 114 as the pair tied for the game's MVP Award and the South rolled up a 42-0 lead before the North avoided the first shutout in Senior Bowl history with a score in the game's final seconds.

SOUTH 33, NORTH 27
MVP: Glynn Griffing, Ole Miss
NORTH COACH: Tom Landry, Cowboys
SOUTH COACH: Weeb Ewbank, Colts
TOP PLAYERS: Ed Budde, Lee Roy Jordan, Jim Dunaway

Rebel rifles Glynn Griffing of Ole Miss and Gary Cuozzo of Virginia sparked the South to five touchdowns in the first three quarters and the greatest goal line stand in Senior Bowl history by the South defense, headed by Alabama All-American Lee Roy Jordan, stopped the North on the one-yard line in the final seconds as the South posted a 33-27 win in 1963. The South surged to a seemingly invincible 33-6 lead after three periods, but the North scored 21 points in the fourth stanza to make it 33-27, and then drove to a first down on the South three with time running down. Two runs and an incomplete pass made it fourth and goal from the one, and the South then threw quarterback Jerry Gross of Detroit for a two-yard loss on the last play for the win.

SOUTH 28, NORTH 21
MVP: Ode Burrell, Mississippi State
NORTH COACH: George Wilson, Lions
SOUTH COACH: Tom Landry, Cowboys
TOP PLAYER: Paul Krause

In a contest strikingly similar to 1963, the South, with Miami's George Mira, game MVP Ode Burrell of Mississippi State and Georgia Tech's Billy Lothridge leading the offense, scored four TD's in the first three quarters and then withstood a rampaging North threat in the final period to record its fourth straight series win -- 28-21 -- in 1964. Most of the 37,094 who witnessed the thriller stayed to the end despite a cold rain which worsened as the game progressed. Utah State quarterback Bill Munson led the North's late rally, passing for two fourth-period scores -- one to future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Paul Krause of Iowa, who also kicked two extra points.

SOUTH 7, NORTH 7
MVP: Steve DeLong, Tennessee
NORTH COACH: George Wilson, Lions
SOUTH COACH: Tom Landry, Cowboys
TOP PLAYERS: Joe Namath, Tucker Frederickson, Bob Hayes, Marty Schottenheimer

Not even Alabama's Joe Namath could rally Coach Tom Landry's South troops to victory before a record sellout crowd of 40,605 in the 1965 Senior Bowl, as the contest ended in a 7-7 tie -- the first in the game's 16-year history. The South dominated the statistics, but had to come-from-behind to salvage the draw as the Rebels racked up 415 yards in total offense to the North's 150. Trailing 7-0, Namath, who threw for 246 passing yards, connected with Florida A&M speedster "Bullet" Bob Hayes on a 53-yard scoring toss for the South's lone score in the third quarter. The South controlled the ball for almost the entire fourth quarter, but couldn't get it in the end zone and missed two field goals of 29 and 35 yards as the score remained deadlocked at the final whistle.

Alabama’s Joe Namath, left, and Florida A&M’s Bob Hayes were South squad teammates in the 1965 Senior Bowl. Both are inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame, while Namath was named the quarterback on the All-Time Senior Bowl Team selected by fans in 1999.

SOUTH 27, NORTH 18
MVP: Howard Twilley, Tulsa
NORTH COACH: Mike Holovak, Patriots
SOUTH COACH: Weeb Ewbank, Jets
TOP PLAYERS: Gale Gillingham, Paul Crane, Walt Garrison, Howard Twilley

Tulsa's Howard Twilley put on the Senior Bowl's greatest receiving show ever in 1966, but it wasn't enough as the South scored a 27-18 come-from-behind win and take a 11-5-1 series lead before another sell-out crowd. The Rebels overcame an 18-7 halftime deficit on the running of Arkansas' Bob Burnett, who scored twice, and the passing of Texas A&I's Randy Johnson. But the game's star was clearly Twilley, who was voted the game's MVP with 12 pass receptions -- a record performance which still stands.

NORTH 35, SOUTH 13
MVP: Bubba Smith, Michigan State
NORTH COACH: Norm Van Brocklin, Falcons
SOUTH COACH: Otto Graham, Redskins
TOP PLAYERS: Bubba Smith, Ray Perkins, Gene Upshaw

The North won for the first time since 1960, and celebrated breaking the streak with a convincing 35-13 victory in 1967 -- setting North team records for points scored and largest winning margin in the process. The North's defensive charge was led by Charles "Bubba" Smith, the "man mountain" from Michigan State, who earned the game's MVP Award as he helped the North set a Senior Bowl record which still stands by allowing the South a scant 23 yards rushing on the day.

Michigan State defensive lineman Charles “Bubba” Smith accepts the trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the North’s 35-13 victory in the 1967 Senior Bowl.

SOUTH 34, NORTH 21
MVP: Kim Hammond, Florida State
NORTH COACH: Mike Holovak, Patriots
SOUTH COACH: Hank Stram, Chiefs
TOP PLAYERS: Jim Kiick, Claude Humphrey

The South used a strong passing combination of Florida State QB and game MVP Kim Hammond to Ala-bama's Dennis Homan and the first two successful field goals in Senior Bowl history to score a 34-21 win in 1968. The Hammond-Homan connection accounted for 116 yards and a touchdown, Tulane's Bobby Duhon rushed for 74 yards and two scores and Ole Miss' Jimmy Keyes ended the Senior Bowl's field goal drought with successful boots of nine and 23 yards in the South victory. Those efforts were countered by the North with a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD by San Diego State's Haven Moses -- a Senior Bowl record which still stands.

NORTH 27, SOUTH 16
MVP: Jerry Levias, SMU
NORTH COACH: Allie Sherman, Giants
SOUTH COACH: Charley Winner, Cardinals
TOP PLAYERS: Ted Hendricks, Joe Greene, Gene Washington, Roger Wehrli, Ted Kwalick, Bill Bergey, Bill Stanfill

Future NFL stars such as All-Time Senior Bowl team members "Mean" Joe Greene, Ted Hendricks and Roger Wehrli, along with Gene Washington, Bill Bergey and Ted Kwalick, helped attract another sell-out crowd of 40,646 to the 1969 Senior Bowl as the North, trailing 16-14 in the third quarter, came back to score a 27-16 victory.