English: Crowd at Municipal Stadium in South Philadelphia for a visit of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, October 22, 1927. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Congratulations to Gus Andrews for being the top choice of the Rowan County Republican Party for the Rowan County Board of Elections Chairman. I figure this is as good time as any to trot out the December 2013 Rowan Free Press Article: “Gus Andrews and Steve Mensing at Coldest Bowl Game in History: The 1963 Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia.” (below)
Yesterday afternoon I sat in the warmth of my living room and watched the Philadelphia Eagles battling the Detroit Lions in a snowstorm in Philadelphia. By game’s end, some 8 inches of snow fell. It was an odd experience seeing a punted ball come to a dead-stop in the snow or a running back turning the corner and leaving a white plume behind like a downhill skier. What a game–the Eagles came from behind, scoring 28 points in the final quarter with an incredible performance by running back LeSean McCoy. This gifted athlete, somewhat stymied by the Lion defense in the first half, seemed to defy physics with long cutback runs, eating up large chunks of what appeared like Yukon real estate. At a break in the 4th quarter I poured myself a cup of hot coffee to warm up. I became so engrossed in the game I lost contact with my actual surroundings (A climatically controlled 68 degrees) and felt a vicarious chill, watching the teams surge back and forth in the Philadelphia snow.
Somewhere in that magnificent snowbound 4th quarter I recalled the bitter cold of the 1963 Liberty Bowl played in Philadelphia. Deep in my memory’s backroom records and now mostly elicited by cold surroundings and football games, I experience flashbacks to a bitterly cold (19 degrees) December day spent in Philadelphia’s 102,000 seat Municipal Stadium. Allegedly 8,309 other fans were in attendance, but likely far less showed due to the elements and the outer limits of football fan dedication.
My mother asked me the morning of the game: “Stephen, Do you really want to go? It’s supposed to drop to around 19 degrees today and be windy. Do you know the signs of frostbite?”
“Really don’t worry. If it’s too cold I’ll take the subway back early. I’d really like to see these teams.”
She was puzzled by her 17 year old son’s odd dedication to football either playing it in high school or attending a bowl game in bitterly cold weather.
Municipal Stadium was indeed freezing that day made so by a relentless 17 mile-an-hour wind whipping across the Delaware River and through the neighboring the Naval shipyard with its gray “mothball” fleet. The old Municipal Stadium was not built for football–it was designed as an Olympic track and field stadium. It offered zero protection from the elements, making it particularly unsuitable for hard winter winds surging across the Delaware.
Municipal Stadium owned quite a sports history. It was the scene of the famous Jack Dempsey–Gene Tunney (1926) heavyweight boxing championship where Tunney lifted Dempsey’s title. Several decades later Rocky Marciano fought “Jersey Joe” Walcott here (1952) for the Heavyweight Championship. For years the stadium was the home of the Army–Navy football games. In 1964 the stadium’s name changed to JFK Stadium in honor of our late President.
You’ve no doubt heard the expression: “small world”. Sometimes its said in regard to two people meeting and noting they share some commonality or both knew the same person. This is where Gus Andrews, a former county commissioner, and I enter the picture. During his 2012 campaign for county commissioner we shared a “small world” moment: The coldest bowl game in college football history–the 1963 Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia. Gus participated as a fullback and kicking specialist for N.C. State and I as a high school kid and young fan trying to stay warm in the windswept stands.
I recall the moment Gus and I first chatted at the Republican meeting at the County Administration Building prior to the 2012 county commission election. We’d talked a minute or so when Gus said: “You sound like you’re from up North?”
“Philadelphia” I replied.
“I’ve been to Philly. First time was the Liberty Bowl. I played in it and boy it was cold.”
Suddenly I got swept away by an undertow of memories–very cold memories. “Was that in 1963?”
“That’s right.”
“Was it N.C. State and Mississippi State?”
“Why yes–how did you know?” The former county commissioner appeared puzzled by my football acumen. Perhaps it entered his mind that he crossed the trail of a football idiot savant?
“I was there Gus–it was the coldest freaking football bowl ever.”
Gus and I quickly warmed to the subject of the Liberty Bowl, somewhat like the survivors of the German 10th Army discussing Stalingrad’s oppressive Winter and looking at the upside. Both of us shared how absolutely bone-chilling cold it was that day in Municipal Stadium.
“I was wearing layers of clothing, sweaters, long-johns, double pairs of sweat socks and a heavyweight parka,” I said. “By midway in the 2nd quarter my face was numb and my toes were losing feeling. I tried drinking hot chocolate to keep warm–but its effects were short-lived. People were leaving the stands and going home before the half. I was jumping up and down to stay warm. My gloved hands were shaking when I held a cup.”
“Steve, it was real cold down on the field. The promoter Bud Dudley promised us a large sideline heater. It was large alright, but by kickoff it only radiated heat about a half inch out. Kicking a football in that weather hurt. My feet were numb. The stadium turf was rock hard. A lot of us were glad to get out and go back home to North Carolina. To make matters worse the car we rode back in had a busted heater. A small hole near the car door let air in. Couldn’t wait to get back down South. It was a cold ride all the way.”
I reminded Gus that after taking an attendance shellacking due to the cold, the Liberty Bowl promoter “Bud” Dudley decided to scuttle Philadelphia as a bowl venue and moved it to Atlantic City’s Convention Hall. This new indoor football bowl was called: “The Boardwalk Bowl.” The Atlantic City address was short-lived. It migrated to Memphis in 1965 and remained there ever since.
Whenever I meet up with Gus its usually in restaurants like D.J.’s and O’Charleys. Gus is a likeable guy and no one needs to pull teeth to make conversation with him. Another laudable fact is he isn’t a sore loser unlike some political folks who wear their shoulder chip badly.
The 1963 Liberty Bowl was unremarkable save for it’s record cold. It was mostly a defensive struggle played by two gritty teams and marred somewhat by Mississippi State’s penalties. The final was Mississippi State 16 to 12 over North Carolina State. The other noteworthy event, outside the stadium, was the Philadelphia NAACP protested the participation of Mississippi State at that time still a segregated university.
Yes–small world. And sometimes very cold.
