FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-60           11/24/99

NFL FANS VOTE "HEIDI"
10TH MOST MEMORABLE GAME OF CENTURY

The game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders on November 17, 1968 featured two of the American Football League’s marquee teams, and a combined 10 future Pro Football Hall of Famers.

But ironically, this "must see" meeting has been voted the 10th Most Memorable NFL Game of the Century because its conclusion was not seen -- at least by millions of television viewers.

To commemorate the end of the century, the National Football League invited fans to vote on nfl.com, the league’s official website, for the 10 most memorable games of the century. Fan voting began on October 13 and ended on November 19. Nearly 35,000 votes were cast. Each Wednesday, the next "most memorable" game will be announced, culminating in the announcement of the Most Memorable NFL Game of the Century during Super Bowl XXXIV week on Wednesday, January 26.

With 65 seconds remaining in the 1968 Jets-Raiders game, the Jets kicked a field goal to take 32-29 lead. The Raiders returned the ensuing kickoff to their 23-yard line. NBC, the network televising the game, then went to commercial -- and never came back.

It was 7:00 PM on the east coast as the commercial break concluded. NBC was scheduled to air the children’s movie Heidi at 7:00. Rather than show the end of the game, NBC Broadcast Operations Supervisor DICK CLINE followed the network’s predetermined plan and switched to Heidi.

"(Prior to the game being played) it was determined that Heidi would air at 7:00," says Cline, now a director for CBS-TV. "If football wasn’t over, we would still go to Heidi at 7:00. So I waited and I waited and I heard nothing. We came up to that magic hour and I thought, ‘Well, I haven’t been given any counter-order so I’ve got to do what we agreed to do.’"

The first 59 minutes of the contest had lived up to its pre-game billing. It was a classic AFL shootout with eight lead changes and ties. Late in the game, fans saw New York quarterback JOE NAMATH masterfully lead the Jets deep into Raiders territory. With just over a minute to play, the Jets’ JIM TURNER kicked his fourth field goal, a 26-yarder that gave New York its 32-29 lead.

Turner kicked off and the Raiders returned the ball to their own 23-yard line. Cut to commercial…on comes Heidi, and…

From his 23-yard line, Raiders quarterback DARYLE LAMONICA completed a 20-yard pass to halfback CHARLIE SMITH, who was facemasked by Jets safety MIKE D’AMATO. The penalty put the ball at the Jets’ 43.

On the next play, Lamonica found Smith again, who outraced D’Amato down the sideline for a 43-yard touchdown. The extra point gave the Raiders a 36-32 lead with 42 seconds to play, and left Namath and the Jets with little time for a comeback.

Namath never got the chance. On the kickoff, Jets kick returner EARL CHRISTY fumbled the ball. It was picked up at the two-yard line by Raiders special teamer PRESTON RIDLEHUBER, who ran it in for a touchdown.

The Raiders had scored two touchdowns in a nine-second span and held on to win a most memorable game, 43-32.

There was an uproar when fans learned about the game’s dramatic ending. NBC ran a "crawl" at the bottom of the screen during Heidi reporting the result more than 20 minutes after the game had ended.

NBC President JULIAN GOODMAN released a statement 90 minutes after the game. "It was a forgivable error committed by humans who were concerned about children expecting to see Heidi at 7:00 PM," said the statement. "I missed the end of the game as much as anyone else."

Ironically, with seven minutes left in the game, NBC had made a decision to air the remainder of the game to the east coast and delay the start of Heidi. But thousands of calls to NBC from concerned viewers inquiring about the game and Heidi caused communications problems.

"People began calling before 7:00 saying one of two things," says former NBC executive CHET SIMMONS. "‘What are you going to do about Heidi?’ Or, ‘Don’t let the game go on.’ What it did was, it literally blew out the switchboard."

The bottom line -- no one got through to Dick Cline. The episode wound up having a major impact on the future of TV sports programming. It prompted the NFL to insert language into its TV contracts guaranteeing that, in the future, games of visiting clubs would be shown to their home markets in their entirety.

"Probably the most significant factor to come out of Heidi was, whatever you do, you better not leave an NFL football game," says VAL PINCHBECK, the NFL’s retired chief of broadcasting. "Ten years earlier, if you did the same thing on a telecast, would you get the same type of an uproar? I don’t know. But you sure did at that point in time. It sure let you know that you better not take my football away from me at 7:00 PM." 

HEIDI GAME FACTS

STARTING LINEUPS

Raiders Offense

 

Raiders Defense

 
81 Warren Wells LE

77

Ike Lassiter LE
76 Bob Svihus LT

53

Dan Birdwell LT
63 Gene Upshaw * LG

85

Carleton Oats RT
00 Jim Otto * C

83

Ben Davidson RE
70 Jim Harvey RG

56

Ralph Oliver LLB
79 Harry Schuh RT

55

Dan Conners MLB
33 Billy Cannon TE

34

Gus Otto RLB
3 Daryle Lamonica QB

43

George Atkinson LCB
40 Pete Banaszak LH

24

Willie Brown * RCB
35 Hewritt Dixon FB

21

Rodger Bird LS
25 Fred Biletnikoff * FLK

45

Dave Grayson RS
           

Jets Offense

 

Jets Defense

 

83

George Sauer LE

81

Gerry Philbin LE

75

Winston Hill LT

72

Paul Rochester LT

61

Bob Talamini LG

80

John Elliott RT

52

John Schmitt C

86

Verlon Biggs RE

67

Dave Herman RG

51

Ralph Baker LLB

71

Sam Walton RT

62

Al Atkinson MLB

87

Pete Lammons TE

60

Larry Grantham RLB

12

Joe Namath * QB

24

John Sample LCB

31

Bill Mathis LH

48

Cornell Gordon RCB

41

Matt Snell FB

22

Jim Hudson LS

13

Don Maynard * FLK

46

Bill Baird RS
* Pro Football Hall of Fame selection

SCORING

Oakland

7

7

8

21

43

New York Jets

6

6

7

13

32

NYJ

--

FG Turner 44
NYJ

--

FG Turner 18
Oak

--

Wells 9 pass from Lamonica (Blanda kick)
Oak

--

Cannon 43 pass from Lamonica (Blanda kick)
NYJ

--

Namath 1 run (no PAT)
NYJ

--

Mathis 4 run (Turner kick)
Oak

--

Smith 3 run (Dixon extra point pass from Lamonica)
NYJ

--

Maynard 50 pass from Namath (Turner kick)
NYJ

--

FG Turner 12
Oak

--

Biletnikoff 22 pass from Lamonica (Blanda kick)
NYJ

--

FG Turner 26
Oak

--

Smith 43 pass from Lamonica (Blanda kick)
Oak

--

Ridlehuber recovers fumble 2 run (Blanda kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING -- New York Jets -- Snell, 21 for 46; Mathis, 4 for 23, 1 TD; Joe, 2 for 9; Boozer, 4 for -11; Namath, 1 for 1, 1 TD. Oakland -- Dixon, 14 for 75; Banaszak, 7 for 18; Smith, 10 for 53, 1 TD. PASSING -- New York Jets -- Namath, 19 for 37 for 381, 1 TD. Oakland -- Lamonica, 21 for 34 for 311, 4 TD. RECEIVING -- New York Jets -- Maynard, 10 for 228, 1 TD; Sauer, 2 for 37; Lammons, 6 for 95; Mathis, 1 for 21. Oakland -- Wells, 2 for 22, 1 TD; Biletnikoff, 7 for 120, 1 TD; Cannon, 3 for 87, 1 TD; Dixon, 3 for 6; Banaszak, 2 for 0; Smith, 4 for 76, 1 TD.

 

TEAM STATISTICS

Oak

NYJ

First Downs

21

18

Rushing

5

3

Passing

13

13

By Penalty

3

2

Total Yardage

437

413

Net rushing yardage

146

68

Net passing yardage

291

345

Passes att. – comp. – had int.

34-21-2

37-19-0

Attendance – 53,318