The now named Lombardi Trophy was retrieved the next day
There have been 59 Vince Lombardi trophies handed out, although it was not until 1970 that the “World Championship Game Trophy” was renamed the Lombardi Trophy following the death of the Green Bay Packers and Washington coach Vince Lombardi. The Lombardi Trophy will never be confused with hockey’s Stanley Cup when it comes to tall tales and legendary stories. But there is one tale that rivals that of some of the Stanley Cup stories.
The “World Championship Game Trophy” that was given to the New York Jets following the team’s Super Bowl III victory against the Baltimore Colts on January 12th, 1969 comes straight out of the Stanley Cup strange-but-true stories.
The Jets organization got the trophy in a postgame ceremony, but in all the excitement of winning, someone forgot to take the trophy back to New York. It sat in one of the locker rooms in the bowels of the Orange Bowl in Miami.
It was a story that could have been the equal of some of Stanley’s best tales, but the NFL doesn’t push the past history of the trophy.
Who was in charge of getting the Trophy?
“I am sure it was John Free’s (responsibility),” laughed one-time Jets trainer Jeff Snedeker years later in discussing who was supposed to be in charge of making sure the trophy accompanied the team on the trip back to New York. Free’s main job was making sure Jets quarterback Joe Namath got out of stadiums safely. No one was told to take the trophy and everyone seemed to follow orders. “He never did anything right.”
Neither Snedeker nor Free even knew the trophy was gone, but someone discovered the trophy was missing when the team got home.
“I remember the guy that either went to get it or brought it with him, his name was Tiger Ferraro,” said Snedeker. “I remember it was Tiger that brought it: I don’t remember if they sent him back or he was still there or they went back to the Orange Bowl.
“They did forget the trophy.”
Someone had to fly back to Miami to pick up the trophy
Ferraro was sent back to Miami and retrieved the trophy, which was sitting all alone in the Orange Bowl. No one even bothered to move it after cleaning the locker room. Not even Stanley was left behind by a team in a dressing room and stayed overnight in a cold, damp locker room.
“Nobody expected us to win, so I guess they were not prepared to get the trophy,” said Snedeker, who as trainer might have been responsible for making sure everything was taken out of the room in Miami. “In the euphoria that followed the trophy, it was probably the least of anybody’s concern. Just that we got it, we didn’t have it physically was probably immaterial.”
The trophy eventually caught up with the Jets and was present during a New York City Hall celebration on January 11th, 1969.
An excerpt from the ebook: America’s Passion: How a Coal Miner’s Game Became the NFL in the 20th Century
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
