Half-time entertainment included a map of the U.S created by the combined bands of the University of Arizona and Grambling State University
… except it wasn’t called the Super Bowl in those long ago days. Officially it was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game — played on Jan. 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Off camera, media pundits called it the Super Bowl. After that, the name stuck until here we are at Super Bowl No. 44. That really dates me doesn’t it? Oh, what the hay.
Two marching bands entertained during the game; University of Arizona, and Grambling State University. Trumpeter Al Hirt was there as well as an assortment of astronauts showing off jet packs on their backs, zipping around the field in clouds of smoke and steam. It was a day game with none of the Los Angeles smog yellowing the sky. No rock stars and multi-bazillion-dollar halftime shows. Our heroes were the astronauts.
I was a proud member of the University of Arizona Marching Band, the Pride of Arizona, and if I do say so myself, we were one hot band. Feet lifted to the same precision height when marching eight to the five (eight steps to five yards), heads held high with fluffy red things on our hats lilting in the wind, twirlers catching higher and higher tosses of their silvery batons — all under the watchful eye of Band Director Jack Lee.
Photo from UA News - Jack Lee
Lee, who also composed the school’s famous fight song, “Bear Down,” was the Pride of Arizona’s cherished director for 33 years and died at 84.
Jack Lee was not a tall fellow but standing on a high podium directing the band, he was an imposing force — especially when he yelled, “Somebody get Blondie in step.” That would be me — never have been much good at knowing my left from my right. “Hey, go left, NO, your other left!”
HALF TIME
We were a mostly-white bunch of kids, green from the sticks of Tucson, Ariz., and excited to be in the big city of L.A. Little did we know we were to be part of history.
But in 1967, oh yes, we thought we were hot stuff as a band. That was until Grambling, lead by Willie Hill, took the field.
Photo credit ESPN - Twirler William Hill leads the snappy Grambling band onto the field.
Their instruments were yanked from side to side in time with Eddie Lee Floyd’s ‘Knock on Wood’. Their uniform capes flew behind them and before they had even gone a step, the crowd in the stadium was stamping its feet, all 67,000 pairs it felt like. The band was a sizzling mass of jazz and organized high-speed locomotion. We stood there and watched them go by, our mouths agape in amazement and admiration. Now THAT was a hot band!
The game itself went by in kind of a white-green/white-red haze. I remember thinking I wanted the cute guys in the red and white uniforms to win. Those are the ones that towered over us in the colosseum tunnel before the game. Their eyes looked haunted as if they knew what was coming. But the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t shirk or shrink from the game, they just didn’t win. The Green Bay Packers led by Bart Starr did.
There WAS a costume mishap, but no breasts were exposed. One of the astronauts had a problem with his jet pack.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory/news/story?id=1723920
Lara Hartley is a photographer and writer from the High Desert of California
What a fun time for you to remember and I thank you for sharing.
This is also a ‘gotcha’ ’cause I really did think you had been to the other Super Bowl.
((( hugs )))
what other super bowl? this is the only one that i can remember.
Nostalgic. I was where also. I with the USMC Recruiting Station in Los Angeles, and we had furnished the “color guard” for all the Rams home games for a few years. We were asked to present the colors at the first game, which they thought no one would attend anyway…..
I am super excited about 2010 Superbowl. It is great shoot out. I’ll take dem Indianapolis Colts in a blow out.
I was there! Although we are never given any credit, just like the USMC recruiters above, the Anaheim High School Drill Team was an integral part of the pregame and halftime marching. In the picture of the “USA” included with this article we are the ones along the goal lines. We were also the ones holding the white cards inside the USA. We marched right along side Grambling and UofArizona, went to all the practices at UCLA, etc. We also marched at the Rams Games. We were in the Disney 10th Anniversary TV show. By the way–Grambling was the coolest band we had ever seen! Little did we know that we were marching into history that day. And I like to say this is my “claim to fame”.