LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Former voice of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas Jayhawks Tom Hedrick, has called thousands of games in many sports over several decades.
One of them was Super Bowl I.
"It was the most strange game I ever called in my life," Hedrick said.
It was also the biggest game of his life, at the time. But it was called something different when it was played.
"We were instructed to call it the American Football League against the National Football League Championship Game," he said.
Sure enough, it was the first ever game between the storied NFL and the upstart AFL.
Of course, it pitted the Kansas City Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Hall of Famer Bobby Bell was a star linebacker for the Chiefs in that game.
"We did the press around the swimming pool," Bell said.
These days there is often a Super Bowl Media Night held at a stadium with hundreds of reporters from all over the globe.
But that wasn't the only difference.
The Grambling and Arizona State bands performed the national anthem. They played again at halftime with trumpeter Al Hirt, who performed for free.
For the only time in Super Bowl history, the game was broadcast on two networks: CBS and NBC.
Hedrick, who was the Chiefs play-by-play man at the time, was the color analyst for CBS radio.
"They kicked off (in the second half), but NBC wasn't ready so they had to re-kick it," Hedrick said.
That's right, the restarted the second half because some weren't watching.
But, not many were watching at the coliseum either. The stadium was only two-thirds full.
"You could buy a 40 yard line ticket for 12 bucks," Hedrick said.
That was a lot of money at the time.
"We were trying to figure out who in the world is going to pay 12 dollars," Bell said.
StubHub reports that the average purchased ticket for Super Bowl LVI is almost $9,000.
It was a modest beginning to the biggest, single sporting event in the world. None of them knew what they had started.
"It was the first time," Bell said. "It's like the first time for people going to the moon. Everybody didn't know what to expect."
But, while the Super Bowl wasn't exactly super that first year in 1967, the venue was.
The LA Coliseum had been built for the Olympics. In 2028, it will become the first venue in the world to have hosted three Summer Olympics.
Seating over 90,000 people, it was a sports mecca back then.
"It's a long way from Baldwin City, Kansas, to the Super Bowl and LA Coliseum," Hedrick said.
Bell had played in two Rose Bowls before his time in the pros. But even he was in awe of the structure.
"You know how you walk in a new place and all the kids look up?" Bell said. "That's kind of like what it was like."
The Chiefs lost the game that day 35-10, but that game laid the groundwork for their win in Super Bowl IV.
Tickets were $15 for that game.
