The 1966 East-West Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

was played on January 22, 1966 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...

 in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 in front of 60,124. The coach of the Eastern Conference, Blanton Collier

Blanton Collier

Blanton Long Collier was an American football coach who led the University of Kentucky and the Cleveland Browns...

 of the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

, used the domination of the west that year as a rallying cry for the eastern team as they prepared to take the field against the West coached by Vince Lombardi

Vince Lombardi

Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...

 of the Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

. During the 1965 season, it had become clear to Americans that the western half of the US was football-superior. Western teams had won the NFL championship, the Playoff Bowl

Playoff Bowl

The Playoff Bowl was a post-season game for third place in the NFL, played ten times following the -69 seasons. Bell was a co-founder of the Philadelphia Eagles as well as a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers during much of the 1940s...

, college football’s East-West game and the Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl Game

The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

. In fact, the West had won 15 of 16 pro games played with the East that season. Coach Lombardi felt he was unfairly at a disadvantage in the game because the NFL denied him a last minute appeal to use his own quarterback, Bart Starr

Bart Starr

Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

, in this game. Starr had previously been scratched due to injury, but had recovered enough and was ready to play. Dale Meinert

Dale Meinert

Dale Meinert is a former professional American football player. He played ten seasons in the National Football League for the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals. Previously he played three seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League...

, was awarded lineman of the game. Jim Brown

Jim Brown

James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...

 was awarded back of the game for the third time in his career. He carried 21 times for 65 yards. One story line of the game, the anticipated match-up between Brown and rookie Gayle Sayers of the Bears never materialized because Lombardi surprisingly only handed the ball to Sayers’ on only one offensive play, a 15 yard carry.