RELATIVELY FEW ON-HAND
Nebraska’s 1963 media guide account of the 1962 Gotham Bowl, in Bob Devaney’s first season as Husker head coach, indicated “some 11,000” attended. Newspaper accounts had 6,166 tickets sold and 5,000 youngsters admitted free. So the numbers lined up.
The game was played at New York City’s 63,000-seat Yankee Stadium.
If there were just over 11,000 on-hand, Devaney wrote in his 1981 autobiography, “about 10,000 of them went home before kickoff.” He also wrote: “There wasn’t even next of kin there.”
On a couple of occasions, he told me, jokingly, fans must’ve been dressed as empty seats.
One reason might’ve been the weather. Temperature at the 11 a.m. kickoff was 14 degrees. Another might’ve been the New York Titans and Houston Oilers had an AFL playoff game at the Polo Grounds, located within walking distance across the Hudson River—hence the 11 a.m. kickoff.
Another reason might’ve been the limited time to promote the matchup between the Huskers and George Mira-led Miami. TCU reportedly withdrew from consideration, then Miami indicated it preferred Navy as an opponent. Nebraska received the bid December 4. The game was played December 15.
In addition, the Huskers, whom Devaney had tried to persuade to turn down the bid, refused to leave Lincoln for New York City until bowl officials deposited a $35,000 check as a guarantee the day before the game. The team waited two hours at the Lincoln Municipal Airport.
Both teams had lost two of their final four games. Nebraska was 8-2, Miami 7-3. Despite theirrecord, the Hurricanes had been outscored 145-121. But they featured an All-America quarterback, Mira.
With him leading the way, Miami rolled up 502 yards of offense and 34 first downs. It punted only once and drew 5 yards in penalties. Nebraska had 296 yards, 12 first downs and 69 yards in penalties. The Huskers punted six times—and won the game, 36-34.
It was “a stunning Nebraska victory to garnish a stunning 1962 season,” the 1963 Husker media guide said.
Mira completed 24-of-46 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns. But he was intercepted twice. Husker quarterback Dennis Claridge, who played in the secondary on defense, had the first interception to set up what was the winning touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Halfback Willie Ross, nicknamed “the Twister,” scored the touchdown, his second of the game. In the first half, he returned a kickoff 92 yards to tie the score at 12. Lincoln’s Sunday Journal and Star noted a “track coach in the press box had a stop watch on Willie – and the Twister was clocked at :10.1.”
Fullback Bill “Thunder” Thornton scored the two-point conversion following Ross’s second touchdown to provide the winning margin. Thornton also scored two touchdowns, while Claridge hooked up with Mike Eager on a 6-yard pass for Nebraska’s other touchdown.
Guard and linebacker Bob Brown had the second interception at the Nebraska 43 with 1:09 remaining. The plan was to run out the clock but Claridge inadvertently ran out-of-bounds on third down with 12 seconds remaining and had to punt the ball away.
The cold affected footing on the frozen turf, causing players to wear tennis shoes.
Cold or not, Devaney was quoted in the Sunday Journal and Star: “The people of New York missed a tremendous football game.”
To interject myself, I wasn’t in New York but I watched the game on ABC, which televised it live in Nebraska, delayed elsewhere on Wild World of Sports later that day.
Mike Babcock
