Cannon, defense give Oilers second crown
By Anthony Holden
A total of 13 players had to be helped off the field. Oilers receivers Bill Groman and Charley Hennigan were both knocked out of the game with injuries, as was San Diego's mountainous defensive tackle, Ernie Ladd.
"I have to rate this as the most vicious, hard-hitting football game I've ever witnessed," said Oilers coach Wally Lemm, who won for the 10th straight time since taking over coaching duties from the fired Lou Rymkus. "That game was played with more ferocity than I had ever seen before. The game became more violent as it progressed and the hitting could literally be heard in the stands."
Blanda -- who agreed with Lemm regarding the brutality of the game, said it was "the roughest game I've ever played in." Blanda 's 46-yard field goal in the second quarter was the only score of the first half. In the third quarter, Billy Cannon, who had scored the backbreaking touchdown against the Chargers in the 1960 title game, foiled San Diego again. He caught a Blanda pass over the middle, broke a tackle and cruised to the end zone to complete a 35-yard play that gave the Oilers a 10-0 cushion.
San Diego drove to a 12-yard George Blair field goal 39 seconds into the fourth period, but the Chargers could get no closer. Their best chance came after the Oilers were flagged for a 37-yard pass interference penalty that put the ball on the Houston 37. Kemp dropped back to pass and fired in the direction of Dave Kocourek, but Julian Spence intercepted with less than two minutes to play to seal the victory.
GAME PLAYER PROFILES
Earl Faison, Chargers
"Ladd's the biggest," Flowers said, "but Faison is their bull."
Ladd, who eventually became a well-known professional wrestler, was known for his legendary eating habits. A dinner sometimes would feature as many as 4, 16-ounce steaks, 3 baked potatoes, 3 servings of spinach, 3 dishes of coleslaw, 8 rolls with half a pound of butter smeared on, 3 desserts and a half gallon of milk. Faison was probably the better football player.
He wasn't as quick in pursuit as Ladd, but there was no one who could fight through blocks to make plays. "They shouldn't ever run over Earl Faison," said Chargers coach Sid Gillman. "At his best he's the absolute best in the league. His pursuit may not be the greatest, but he's very tough to hold in a block. He's quick, strong, intelligent and he hits."
George Blanda learned his lessons playing against Faison. When he called running plays against the Chargers, they always were aimed in the direction opposite Faison.
"You pull a guard out to help the tackle block him and he doesn't blink, he just blows through both," said Blanda.
Like Ladd, Faison's career was short but terrific. Four times Faison was voted to the all-AFL team, and during his six years with the Chargers, he played in four AFL championship games.
The Chargers strength coach at the time, Alvin Roy, who doubled as an Olympic trainer, said Faison was "the most magnificent physical specimen I've ever seen. He has the potential to be the strongest man in the world."
However, a bad back cut short his career, and by 1967, Faison was out of football for good at the age of 27, and running backs, quarterbacks and offensive linemen were breathing a sigh of relief.
Billy Cannon, Oilers
Cannon spurned the Los Angeles Rams -- after verbally agreeing with Rams general manager Pete Rozelle to join the NFL team. Instead, he signed a lucrative $100,000 contract with the Oilers on Jan. 1, 1960, right underneath the goal posts of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans following Louisiana State's loss to Mississippi.
The Rams took Cannon to court and lost, and the running back -- who had won the 1959 Heisman Trophy at LSU -- became the focal point of the AFL.
Cannon didn't set the AFL on fire, and in fact, in 1960, he lost the rushing title to Dallas' Abner Haynes. However, Cannon led the Oilers to the AFL title game against the Chargers, and his dazzling 88-yard catch-and-run of a short George Blanda pass cemented the championship victory.
"It wasn't easy for an All-American breaking into a new league where there are no established stars," Cannon said. "After the papers had built me up pretty good, the people all expected me to be a crowd pleaser."
In his second year, Cannon led the league in rushing, with 948 yards, plus he caught 43 passes for 586 yards and totaled 15 touchdowns to earn all-AFL honors. The Oilers returned to the title game, again opposite the Chargers, and in this game, Cannon scored the game's only touchdown on a 35-yard reception as Houston won its second straight title.
But Cannon never reached those heights again. A back injury in 1962 became a chronic problem for the rest of his career and he was never able to flash the brilliance he showed in college.
"It was in my third season, we were playing in San Diego, and I carried the ball into the line on a short yardage situation," he recalled. "There was no hole so I tried to jump over the pile and was thrown back and fell flat. A linebacker came running over and he landed on me with both knees and tore the muscles loose in my back."
After the injury, Cannon said, "My lateral mobility was gone."
The Oilers grew disenchanted with his play and traded him to Oakland in 1964, and it was there that Cannon re-invented himself. The Raiders were hit hard by injuries at the tight end position, so coach Al Davis asked the 205-pound Cannon if he'd give it a try.
Cannon did, and the team saw that not only could he catch, he could block. Cannon built himself up to 230 pounds, and in 1967 when the Raiders won the AFL title and advanced to Super Bowl II, Cannon was an all-league selection at his new position as he caught 32 passes for 629 yards and 10 touchdowns.
He finished his career with 2,455 yards rushing, 236 catches for 3,656 yards, 1,704 kickoff return yards, and 65 total touchdowns.
CBS SportsLine Historian
It is one of the oldest sayings in football -- offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. For the second year in a row, the Oilers and Chargers squared off with the AFL title on the line, and while the Oilers possessed the league's most potent offense, the Chargers wielded an unyielding defense, not to mention the home-field advantage.
San Diego's defense was everything it was cracked up to be as the unit held Blanda to 18 of 40 passing for just 160 yards and intercepted the league's MVP five times. However, the Oilers defense -- overshadowed all year by the prolific offense -- intercepted Jack Kemp 4 times, recovered 2 fumbles, held running backs Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln to a combined 37 yards rushing, and limited the Chargers to a single field goal during a bitterly-fought 10-3 victory.
Houston's Billy Cannon scored key touchdowns in the first two AFL title games.
(AP)
It was hard to ignore San Diego's mountainous defensive tackle Ernie Ladd. Not only was he the biggest player in pro football in the 1960s, he was, at times, one of the best.
But New York Titans running back Charlie Flowers, ever respectful of the "Big Cat" was perhaps even more fearful of the man they called "Tree."
San Diego defensive tackle Earl Faison was one of the best linemen in AFL history.
(AP)
Chances are the AFL would have still kicked off in 1960 even without the presence of everybody's All-American, Billy Cannon. But understand this: Cannon gave the fledgling football league a star to hang its hat on in that tumultuous first season when many people laughed at the AFL and thought it would be crushed by the big and powerful NFL.