Seniors Committee, please, it's time to bring this travesty to an end.
Put "the Horse" in the hall.
Alan Ameche scored the biggest TD in NFL history 50 years ago when he plowed in from the one-yard line to push the Baltimore Colts past the New York Giants in the NFL's first sudden death NFL Championship game.
On that legendary game-winning drive, Ameche caught an eight-yard Johnny Unitas pass and had a decisive 23-yard run on a draw play.
Ameche's game-winning TD was his second of the first nationally-televised title game, and after it was over, he carried the ball off the field.
The NFL as a booming entertainment monster was born, and television would be its nurturing momma.
But Ameche was more than just the player who scored the big TD against the favored Giants.
'It was probably the shortest run I ever made and the most remembered,'' Ameche later said about his most famous play.
Ameche, fresh from winning the Heisman at Wisconsin, was Rookie of the Year in 1955, and he led the league in rushing and was an All Pro his first year in the league.
The Horse's first pro carry was a 79-yard TD run against the Bears.
Powering the Colts' attack, Ameche made five Pro Bowls in the 1950s while playing on Baltimore's championship teams.
Ameche was voted onto the All-Decade Team of the 1950s.
The big back is one of the few players on the '50s All-Decade Team that is not already in the Hall.
His career was shortened by injury and an inability to accept the sometimes sarcastically harsh coaching methods of Webb Ewbank.
"The Horse" was not a Webb pet.
After just six seasons, "the Horse" was done.
But what a run he had.
And what fun the old Baltimore Colts had.
So 50 years later, with "the Horse" long dead of a bad heart, it's time to bring him home.
Put "the Horse" in the Hall.
His run put the NFL in your house.
Give "the Horse" a home.
Seniors Committee, do the right thing.
2 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Scott Watson 11 months ago
Couldn't agree with this article more. How does any player be named to the all-decade team and not be in the HOF?? The Horse belongs in the Hall! (The same could be said for another Baltimore Colt, DB Bobby Boyd, a member of the 1960s NFL all-decade team.)
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Emery Songer 11 months ago
I agree, Ameche should be in the Hall. But I just wrote a similar article for another one of his All-50s teammates in Otto Graham. I know he's in the Hall but he deserves more recognition from the average sports fan, much like "The Horse." We fans cannot be so nearsighted when it comes to great players like Graham and Ameche. Thanks for the nice article.
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