NFL Redeeming Moments

It was June 2008.  Several big guys who looked like potential NFL players were in my math class.  I always give pep talks on the first day of class, so I told a little story on the first day in 2008.

I told them about a game I attended in 1970.  It was cold and wet at Shea Stadium in New York City.  The team of my choice seemed to be losing the game.  I almost gave up, but I hung in there.

In the fourth quarter when the clock showed eight seconds, something spectacular or even miraculous happened. 

According to an article written by Joseph Durso, it had happened before in Oakland Raiders history.

Men with a certain knack were able to turn the outcome of the game around, in the direction of a Raiders win.  George Blanda "had a hand or foot in Oakland's earlier miracles" says a 1970 article.

On December 6, 1970, however, Blanda was on the sideline watching.  Lamonica threw a 33-yard pass, and a man whose hands seem to clasp a football better than most, caught the ball.

Earlie Thomas was one of the men in the crowd of players, trying to catch the pass intended for a Raider. 

W. K. Hicks and Gus Holloman were in the crowd, trying to get the ball in the hands of the Jets.

Something unusual happened, Thomas said: "I thought the ball was dropping into my hands," he continued, "but the wind carried it and he (Warren Wells) lunged for it."

Wells added in the article: "It (the ball) sort of floated in the wind.  I thought I'd get a clear shot at it but he tipped it and I tripped over his leg as we went up."

Thomas then added: "Somebody knocked it out of my hand."

Holloman said: "I was coming in behind either Earlie or W. K., and Wells happened to be facing the right way."

It just doesn't make any sense, Holloman added.

The moment was one of the most exciting in football history. 

Too few professional sports writers recall this spectacular play, which may have been one of the final miraculous plays of Warren Wells' career.

When this B/R writer looks back at this historical moment, a realization of a benchmark is established. 

First, let's take a good look at the results during the 12th week of the 1970 season:

• Baltimore Colts 29, Philadelphia Eagles 10
• Cincinnati Bengals 17, San Diego Chargers 14
• Cleveland Browns 21, Houston Oilers 10
• Dallas Cowboys 34, Washington Redskins 0
• Detroit Lions 16, St. Louis Cardinals 3
• Green Bay Packers 20, Pittsburgh Steelers 12
• Kansas City Chiefs 16, Denver Broncos 0
• Los Angeles Rams 34, New Orleans Saints 16
• Miami Dolphins 37, Boston Patriots 20
• Minnesota Vikings 16, Chicago Bears 13
• New York Giants 20, Buffalo Bills 6
• Oakland Raiders 14, New York Jets 13
• San Francisco 49ers 24, Atlanta Falcons 20

Notice that the tightest game in the list is the Raiders/Jets game on December 6.  The Raiders won the game and there was only one point difference in the score.  All of the other wins had a larger difference.

The 1970 Oakland Raiders record read 4 L, 2 T, and 8 W. 

So putting that game in its historical context in the 1970 season, you have to admit that something spectacular or even miraculous happened. 

Wells' catch tied the game; Blanda's kick put the Raiders over the top.

Now back to the classroom.  I told this story to the class, but one young football player was really impressed.  His name is Lloyd Ford.  He is a wide receiver for Prairie View University in Texas.

I saw Lloyd's eyes light up.  I gave him a picture of a historical NFL wide receiver.  On the back of the picture, I wrote the receiver's career average, 23.1.  I wrote the NFL receiver's name and wrote 94 yards which was one of the longest catches in NFL history back in those days.

I said to Lloyd: "Go on and prepare to play for the NFL and just do one thing for me...Do a better job than the players of my generation."

Lloyd took the picture.  He kept it until Sunday, May 3, 2009.

Then, on Monday, May 4, 2009, I was unlocking my college classroom door to start a math class.  A young lady said,:"Professor, look at this picture."

I asked: "Where did you get it?"  She said: "From my brother, Lloyd."

The lesson to be learned:

1.  It was a miracle that Warren Wells caught that ball in 1970 in the last eight seconds of the game.

2.  It is a miracle that a picture I gave a young man in June 2008, made a full circle back into my hands on May 4, 2009 by way of a sister who I am currently teaching.

The redeeming message of this true story is that just as the game was won in the last eight seconds in 1970, no doubt there has been a redeeming process over these last 39 years of the game of life.

It is a process moving toward victory for those of us who witnessed the great NFL play. It is a redeeming process, no doubt, for those who partook in the accomplishment of the great Raider victory on December 6, 1970.

Perhaps all of this is a foreshadow of a comeback of the greatness of the Raiders in the coming football season. Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders can say: "Let's do it again."

Let's wait and see!