Clouds over the Goalpost: Gambling, Assassination, and the NFL in 1963

by Lew Freedman

The pro football season of 1963 was dominated by the unexpected. In April, months prior to the beginning of play, it was revealed that two All-Star players, Paul Hornung and Alex Karras, were gambling on the sport and would be suspended from play for at least a year. Even worse, in May, one of the league’s bigger-than-life personalities, Big Daddy Lipscomb, was found dead, with police saying he perished from a heroin overdose, something those who knew him best still dispute.

 As play began in September, the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors in Canton, Ohio, the same town where the National Football League was founded in 1921 and inducted its first class. Also, the war for players and prestige raged with the upstart American Football League trying to obtain equal footing in the public eye.
On the field, it was to be the year the Chicago Bears and their aging owner-coach George Halas knew glory once more, fighting off the latest dynasty Green Bay Packers led by Vince Lombardi in a season-long chase for the Western Division title. Yet even that was overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. While the nation mourned and other sports leagues suspended activity, the NFL played on with its regular season that sad weekend—a choice commissioner Pete Rozelle later called the worst mistake of his tenure.

Clouds over the Goalpost is filled with controversy not only on the field, but off it as well. From the various suspensions to an exciting championship game between the Bears and Giants, 1963 was a year that the NFL would never forget—for both the good and the bad.

Genres: Sports, Football, History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2013

Reviews

[victor harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a hero worship tribute to George Halas than a serious analysis of the 1963 season. Very repetitive and in need of serious editing. Ham-handed attempts at humor fall flat. Biographical sketches of players such as Gene " Big Daddy" Lipscomb are the only strength of the book. Unless you are a Bears and Halas fan, you will find this unworthy of consideration.

[Adrian]

Read this one because it was mostly about the 1963 Chicago Bears who won the NFL championship over the NY Giants in a game my dad often talked about. Freedman includes chapters on the Hornung-Karras gambling suspension, Big Daddy Lipscomb's death, and Pete Rozelle's decision to play the weekend of JFKs assassination. Much in here about George Halas who was mostly an ass. I think his family still holds the franchise back. The amount of repetition in here is awful and there are pages of boilerplate prose. Not a classic.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the premise of the book - examining the tumultuous NFL year of 1963. A year in which star players were suspended for gambling, another star dies of an overdose under mysterious circumstances, battles for the best players with the upstart AFL, and the assassination of a president. Top billing in the book though goes to the Chicago Bears who would interrupt Lombardi's championship success for year. I was a bit disappointed that too of the book is spent on the Bears' story, compelling as it was. Jim'Brown's extraordinary season is barely accounted for here. Good read nonetheless.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1963, professional football was just starting to enjoy its ascent into the minds and television sets of American sports fans. There were two professional leagues and two of the more stories franchises, the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, faced each other in the NFL championship game. But two other events really shaped that season and they covered as well as the action on the field in this book by Lew Freedman.
While I listened to the audiobook and liked the story of the 1963 season, my one issue with the audio version is the mispronunciation by the narrator of well-known players, including Paul Hornung. This is crucial because he and Alex Kara’s are the central figures of one the aforementioned events - they were suspended in 1963 for gambling. This was the most repeated mispronunciation but not the only one.
Putting that aside, the rest of the book was fine - it was the typical book about a particular sports season in which the championship team (here, the Bears) and a few other teams make up the bulk of the discussion. Along with the Bears and their coach-owner George Halas, the Green Bay Packers ger a good amount of text in the book as well, even more than the runner-up Giants.
The upstart American Football League also gets some love in the book, including a full chapter on their championship game. That wasn’t too exciting as the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Boston Patriots 51-10. Other stories about the AFL, thanks to Freedman’s writing, were more exciting than this game.
Overall, the book is fine if you like books on season recaps - just pick up the physical or e-book version.

[Paul Mashack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kinda think it was overly ambitious. Perhaps this book would have been better if it focused on one 1963 aspect of the NFL (the Kennedy assination, Halas' final championship run, the mysterious death of Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, etc.).

[Drake McCrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole book is a giant love letter to George Halas, so take that for what you will.

[Steven Beningo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good history of the 1963 NFL season, with a decent amount of AFL coverage as well. However, some chapters were a bit long-winded.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good look at football almost 60 years ago.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable recap of an interesting season in football.

[Jim Hendrickson]

Excellent book about a year that saw many moments that changed the NFL.

[Edward Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for any football fan who loves history as well.
The title says it all, 1963 was definitive for sports and football too.

[Mark Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very specific subject. NFL was very different then

[Adam N Prince · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rough read. It regurgitates the same information over and over again. Made the book very tiresome.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valuable as a historical document for the average reader and must reading for Chicago Bears fans. Green Bay Packers fans will also find much to reflect on their team's glorious history. Also a good general history of the beginnings of the NFL and the role of George Halas in it.