THE 1968 PITTSBURGH STEELERS

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THE 1968 PLAYERS

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1968 NFL TRIVIA

How important is the home field in a National Football League game?

In 1967 there was 112 regular season games played in the NFL and the home team won less than half the time. Final breakdown was 55 victories for the home club, 48 victories for the visitor and 9 ties. The overall home and away table shows further that six teams had better records on the road than they did at home, including the Green Bay Packers, who won a record third straight NFL championship. Best home record in the NFL belonged to the Baltimore Colts, who won six and tied one at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Best road team was Los Angeles, which had an identical 6-0-1 mark away from Memorial Coliseum in California.

When was the first National Football League night game played?

Wednesday night, September 24,1930, in Portsmouth, Ohio between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Portsmouth Spartans. Portsmouth, coached by Potsy Clark, won the game 12-0. This bit of NFL history is commemorated by a poster and a set of team rosters recently presented to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, by Earl E. Joseph of Portsmouth, Ohio.

Portsmouth, the forerunner of the current Detroit Lions' franchise, went on to finish eighth in the league that year with a 5-6-3 record while Brooklyn, coached by Al Jolley, was fourth with 7-4-1. Research by the Hall of Fame staff discloses that the game drew 6,500 fans and Portsmouth's touchdowns were scored by Chuck Bennett and Will Glasgow.

Capsule quote from Bart Starr on Vince Lombardi: "He taught me that winning is not everything but making the effort to win is. It not only made me a better quarterback but also a bigger and better person."

PLAYING COLORS

The new York Giants are the only NFL team to change its home jersey color policy from last season. The Giants, who wore white at home in 1967, will wear blue this season. Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Pittsburgh will wear white, as they did in `67.

Wearing colored jerseys will be Baltimore (blue), Chicago (blue), Detroit (blue), Green Bay (green), Minnesota (purple), Philadelphia (green), San Francisco (red), Washington (burgundy) and New York. Atlanta will wear black except for white against Baltimore (Sept. 22) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 3). St. Louis will wear red except against New Orleans (Oct. 27) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 10).

Photos and information from the programme for October 5th 1968.