Check out the black highlights from each Super Bowl, I-XXXIX.
Super Bowl I: Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
RB Elijah Pitts and DB Willie Wood
The first AFL-NFL World Championship (the moniker "Super Bowl" wouldn’t be used until Super Bowl III) was supposed to be more drubbing than contest. Pitts and Wood made sure it went to script. The Chiefs outgained the Packers in the first half (despite trailing 17-7) and began the third quarter on the move. But a third-down pass from Len Dawson ended up in Woods’ hands, who returned it 50 yards to the Green Bay 5. Pitts, who filled in all season for the injured Paul Horning, then dashed five yards into the endzone. Pitts would add another touchdown later for the game’s final points
Super Bowl II: Green Bay 33, Oakland 10
DB Herb Adderley
Herb Adderley slammed the door shut in Super Bowl II.
Like his Hall of Fame teammate Wood in Super Bowl I, Adderley slammed the door on the AFL with a second-half interception. Adderley became the first player in Super Bowl history to return an interception for a touchdown when he picked off Raiders’ QB Daryle LaMonica and ran 60 yards to the end zone, putting an exclamation on the 33-10 win and the Packers’ back-to-back Super Bowl crowns.
Super Bowl III: New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7
RB Matt Snell
Super Bowl III will always be remembered for Joe Namath’s cocky pregame posturing, but if Broadway Joe won the gamble that day, his biggest chip was Snell. On the second play from scrimmage, Snell laid out the league’s heaviest hitter, Colts’safety Rick Volk, serving notice that these underdog Jets weren’t intimated by the NFL champions. It wouldn’t be the last time Snell ran over the Colts. Snell and Colts’ running back Tom Matte became the first players to rush for 100 yards in a game and Snell would win that battle too, rushing for 126 yards and a touchdown. The MVP award went to Namath, perhaps as much for his swagger as his game. Namath finished 17-28 for 206 yards and no touchdowns.
Super Bowl IV: Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7
WR Otis Taylor, LB Willie Lanier
The last Super Bowl before the merger of the AFL and the NFL would be won by the man who gave it its name. Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt, who coined the name “Super Bowl” as the Kansas City defense, led by Lanier, held the Purple People Eater Vikings to just 239 yards of total offense. Lanier picked off Vikings’ quarterback Joe Kapp and Taylor hauled in a spectacular 46-yard touchdown pass as part of a six-catch 86 yard day, giving the AFL its second straight Super Bowl title.
Super Bowl V: Baltimore 16, Dallas 13
TE: Thomas Mackey
The game would be known as the “Blooper Bowl” – the two teams combined for 12 turnovers -- but the game’s defining play was when one player was finally in the right place. That player happened to be Baltimore Colts Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, whose name would forever be synonymous with greatness when he became the namesake for the award for best collegiate tight end. As with much of the game, Mackey’s career-defining play was a mistake, but it was one he rectified brilliantly. Dallas cornerback Mel Renfro tipped a Johnny Unitas pass, but Mackey grabbed the ball out of the air and outran the Cowboys defense for the Colts only first-half score. In 1992, Mackey became the first pure tight end inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Super Bowl VI: Dallas 24, Miami 3
RB Duane Thomas
Former Navy star and Heisman golden boy Roger Staubach received the MVP and all the attention for his 12-19, 116 yard passing day, but it was the finest day for “The Sphinx” that carried the Cowboys, who enjoyed a time of possession edge of nearly 20 minutes. Thomas ran for 95 yards and a touchdown as the Cowboys dominated the Dolphins. But unlike the Cowboys’ coronation, Thomas’ story didn’t have a happy ending. Two years later he was out of the league, a victim of his often surly personality (hence the nickname) and an ongoing drug problem.
Super Bowl VII: Miami 14, Washington 7
OG Larry Little, DB Mike Bass
The road to the only undefeated season in NFL history ran right behind Larry Little. Larry Csonka rushed for 112 yards in the capstone game for the Dolphins as Little and the Dolphins’ offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, Redskins defensive back Mark Bass earned his own spot in history after Miami kicker Garo Yepremian let the ball slip out of his hand while attempting an ill-advised pass. Bass picked up the fumble and ran the ball back 49 yards for a touchdown, making the final score much closer than the one-sided affair was.
Super Bowl VIII: Miami 24, Minnesota 7
CB Curtis Johnson
One of the finest cornerbacks ever to play in the Super Bowl, Johnson capped a dominant defensive showing by the Dolphins with the game’s only interception. The Vikings managed just 238 yards and seven points. On the opposite side of the ledger, Snell’s Super Bowl record 126 yards fell by the wayside as Larry Csonka became the first running back to win MVP, rushing for 145 yards. Super Bowl VIII also marked the first time in Super Bowl history a black player failed to score a touchdown.
Super Bowl IX: Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6
RB Franco Harris – MVP, Steel Curtain Defense -- "Mean" Joe Greene, Dwight "Mad Dog" White, Ernie "Arrowhead" Holmes, L.C. "Hollywood Bags" Greenwood, Mel Blount
The Steelers won their first Super Bowl behind a defensive effort which has still yet to be equaled. Anchored by a slew of Hall of Famers, the Steelers held the Vikings to a Super Bowl record 119 yards. White picked up the only points of the first half when he downed Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton in the end zone (leading to the peculiar 2-0 halftime score). Meanwhile Blount and Greene both picked off passes; Greene’s choked off Minnesota’s best drive of the half. On offense, Harris, whose ancestry is half black and half Italian rushed for a Super Bowl record 168 yards and MVP honors.
Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17
WR Lynn Swann – MVP
Talk Willis Reed in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals all you like, but no player has ever picked himself up on the canvas like Swann. Just two weeks after suffering a concussion in the AFC Championship game that should’ve kept him out of the game, Swann caught four passes for a Super Bowl record 161 yards and a touchdown. Swann’s aerial acrobatics earned him the MVP honors – the first time a wide receiver claimed the award. Years later, his Super Bowl heroics would earn him enshrinement in Canton.
