This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/30/2011
1960-62 New York Giants 1 3/4" celluloid pinback with gold football charm & ribbon. Celluloid covering in very good condition with surface wear. Reverse in excellent condition. Some flaking of the gold foil on the football charm. Rare 3-year style pinback button.
Historical Moments:
1960: Led by Lamar Hunt and 7 other owners a new football league is formed to rival the NFL. The new league called the American Football League includes the New York Titans owned Harry Wismer. The Titans who name legendary QB "Slingin" Sammy Baugh play their home games at the ancient crumbling Polo Grounds are widely viewed as a semi-pro team in a semi-pro league. The AFL is initially loaded with NFL castoffs, and those college players viewed as not good enough for the 40-year old NFL. The first player signed by the Titans is Don Maynard a former flanker from Texas-Western, who was passed up by the NFL, and was playing in Canada. Maynard would go on to have a solid 13-year career, and would go on to the Hall of Fame On September 11th the Titans took their field for the first time ever at a rain soaked Polo Grounds against the Buffalo Bills. A disappointing crowd of only 10,200 showed up to watch the Titans win 27-3. Attendance would not improve as the Titans, and AFL played in front of empty stadiums all season in the league's inaugural season. The Titans would end up going 7-7 finishing in 2nd place.
1961: The Titans continue to toil at .500 posting a 7-7 record for the second straight season as the AFL struggles for creditability against the NFL and the Jets struggle to get noticed with the NFL's New York Giants going to the NFL Championship Game for the 4th time in 6 years.
1962: Through their first 3 seasons the Titans continued to struggle around .500, Sammy Baugh was replaced as coach while fans continued to stay away. Things got so bad that owner Harry Wisner would have fans move down close to the field to give the illusion on TV more fans were at the game. However, it was far from the case as they only drew 36,151 over 7 home games. Things would get worse when Wisner was unable to make payroll forcing the AFL to take over the team's finances in November. With all the financial distractions the Titans would mange to only finish 5-9, and finish in Last Place.