Thank you so much for posting this! I was watching this game with utter disbelief as a 15-year-old, and I must say in the ensuing 40 years I have never witnessed such a bizarre and potentially catastrophic end to a sporting event of any kind. And to think that these athletes were the BEST! The Steelers, world champs, up against youngsters who had their entire pro careers ahead of them, in an environment where mother nature had completely taken charge. The total contractual value of the players on the field would be hundreds of millions today! Needless to say, this was the last College All Star game.
Early in this game's history, professional football wasn't as financially lucrative as it later became so many of college's best players of the era didn't go on to the NFL, making the college all stars more athletically competitive with the pro's.
Wow! I too was in my mid teens. I tell today's youth about this game and they hardly believe me. I believe after this game they never played this type of game again. Can you imagine? That year the Steelers would have played this game plus the regular 6 exhibition games for a total of 7 preseason games. I think today's format of less exhibition and more regular season is much better. Stay well fellow old school fan!
I always wanted to see this. I was just out of high school and working at a TV station in Chico, Calif., when word of this game’s outcome crossed the newswire. I always wanted to see what actually happened but it was our competitor in Redding that was carrying the game, and we didn't bother to roll on it. All these years later I finally see it. It was really quite amusing to see. Thank you so much.
Ron Flatter sure Ron. I was just beginning high school and remember when fans would routinely rush the field after World Series games or some situation like this. Never would this happen today and its also amusing that ABC kept the cameras rolling showing different angles from several different cameras. Today the producer would never do that as they don't want to encourage people to behave in that manner.
This game took place while the 1976 Summer Olympics were being held in Montreal (both were in ABC). If my memory serves me correct, ABC ran Olympic coverage from 7:30-9 P.M. EDT, then the first half of this game, then a 15-minute Olympic report at halftime, then back to this game. I seem to recall that after the game was called, ABC went back to the Olympics until 12 Midnight EDT, which would've been the scheduled and of this game. So instead of the originally scheduled one hour and 45 minutes of Olympic coverage that night, I believe ABC wound up carrying almost two hours and 45 minutes of the Olympics that evening.
The 1962 NFL champion Green Bay Packers lost this game in 1963. Even though it was a preseason game, imagine how Vince Lombardi must have felt ..I don't know if that was the only loss by the NFL since it it was inaugurated....those I watched were all boring blowouts.
@@richardrau57521958 game when the All-Stars defeated the 1957 champs, the Detroit Lions. That All-Star team was stacked full of future Pro Football Hall of Famers.
I knew I wasn't nuts and imagining these games. I distinctly remember watching this. No way would the NFL or player agents EVER allow something like this today. Can you imagine blowing out your knee at an all star game before you even join your NFL team?
@@amprosk Not even close to the same. The Senior Bowl, East West Shrine Game, and the NFLPA Bowl is played before college players are even drafted. This College All Star/Pro game was played against the Super Bowl champions after college players were already drafted by NFL teams during training camp. Teams did lose rookies to injuries in those games.
I remember watching this game as an 11 year old, The best thing about this is hearing Frank Giffords voice, He was made for play by play. They never played another college all star game after this, What a way for this one to end.
This is so cool. All I've ever seen of this game was a picture of the college all stars huddled up tightly on the field in the midst of the downpour. I remember watching a nationally televised preseason game on ABC between the bears and chiefs in the mid nineties. I believe it was at soldier field and the game was cancelled as soon as there was lightning in the area, not just over the field. It's amazing alone how a color broadcast becomes seemingly black and white as the storm peaks so quickly. Thanks for posting.
Wasn't that the Packers and Chiefs in KC? I seem to recall that. There was a Hall of Fame game in I think 2000 that was called too, I remember watching that one on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC, but I forget which teams were involved in that.
@@ajk It was the 2003 Hall of Fame Game that was called off by lightning in the third quarter. Kansas City won that night 9-0 and started the regular season with a 9-0 record.
THANK YOU!!!, I was about to say this looks like that scene in i think 1926 Noah's Ark movie, ya kno the one where 4 extras died. (*and almost a young john wayne*)
Thank you for posting this! -- talk about memories - my high school team from North Central Indiana (Lafayette Jefferson) bussed up to attend this game. I was pumped - incoming Freshman, going to see an NFL game. I really remember nothing about the game, other than the Pittsburgh Steelers were involved and we got to see many professional all-stars (Bradshaw, Greene, Ham, Harris, Swann, etc.) and we ended up getting about as wet as a human being could possibly get without jumping into a body of water. Some members of the team went out on the field and slip-slided on the waterlogged Astroturf after everything went crazy. I was (just) 14 at the time and too scared to enter that wild crowd with lightning, sheets of rain, and wind. It was an incredible storm. I don't think we had dried off many hours later when our bus finally pulled back into Lafayette in the wee small hours.
very cool Rodney to hear from someone who was there and what you experienced. I was 14 as well at the time watching the game on TV. Was a lot of fun growing up in the 70's when there wasn't so many rules like today and fans could run out on the field and have some fun.
I remember this game like it was yesterday. It was the most remarkable weather event I ever saw. I was not surprised it was the last game of it's kind.
I WAS AT THIS GAME WITH MY FATHER WHO TOOK OFF EARLY FROM WORK AFTER HE UNEXPECTEDLY RECEIVED SOME TICKETS. SOLDIER FIELD AT THE TIME HAD THESE LONG, YELLOW PLASTIC SEATS THAT WERE UNCOMFORTABLE AS HELL. THE RAIN ON THIS NIGHT WAS SO THICK YOU COULD NOT SEE MORE THAN 2 FEET IN FRONT OF YOU. I DIDN'T REALIZE FRANK DID THE PLAY BY PLAY ON T.V. LONG LIVE THE GIFF! THESE WERE SOME GOOD DAYS MAN. THESE WERE SOME GOOD DAYS.
@@johnmongani5223 Lightning could have struck the players or in the stands and there was no stoppage because of the lightning, which is just insanity to me. I remember seeing on the News a Soccer game i nBrazil or Argentina where lighting struck the players during the game, they were all seriously injured, nobody died though
yes that is true and why in todays games they stop play and evacuate the fans when lightening is a threat. But back then there hadn't been any incidents of anyone being injured from lightening so it wasn't really known to be a problem. I think they started taking precautions when incidents of lightening strikes began to increase on golf courses and figured the same could happen at stadium sporting events.@@24quorthonschuldiner62
I attended a baseball game at Comiskey Park with my father a few days before this game and it rained pretty badly that night, too. Funny, I don't remember this game or the bad rainstorm, but I did see pictures of it some years later. I was amazed at how heavy the rain was-even in pictures of the game you can barely see anything. I was curious to see how it went down. Thanks for posting.
I know I wasn’t imagining these games I remember from childhood. Pro team vs college all stars, .most younger people I’ve talked too never believed me when I said they had these games at one time.
I remember watching this on teevee. They were talking about stopping the series anyway because the games were mismatches and most teams didn't want top draft picks to play for fear of injury.
I remember a Chiefs at Buccaneers game played in 1979 in a heavy rain storm, the water flowing down the aisles looked like a swift waterfall, I believe the final score was Bucs 3, Chiefs 0.
I was a 17 year old at this game with my parents. We are from a town outside of Pittsburgh and had tickets to this game. I remember it as being canceled because of a tornado warnig. My family and I walked thru this storm back to our high rise hotel wondering if the building could withstand a tornado. It seems like a dream now. Especially when all the college all stars are millionaires now.
John - It's strange but I have been thinking about this game recently. I attended this game as a Seaman Recruit while I was in bootcamp. We were at Soldier Field on July 4th to make a 5000 person living flag for the bicentennial. So we were given tickets for this game. It was 39 years ago but I remember how wet I was sitting up in the stands watching the craziness. I was just happy to get out of Great Lakes for a little while. It also interesting that Frank Gifford was the announcer and he just passed away. Thanks for the footage.
Elizabeth Camp Lewis- thanks for the info. That is so cool to hear from someone who was at this game and what they experienced. I always watched them as a teenager on TV. Yep, Frank was an icon back then for all of the primetime games. They're all gone now, Gifford, Dandy Don and Howard.
This video is crazy and also a nice reminder that tearing down the goalposts used to be a common thing for fans to do at the end of a big football game, somehow.
Frank Gifford said in an interview a lot of players back in the old days had jobs, as they didn't have those big contracts. Also, the easier-to-throw Ultra Pebble football wasn't introduced until 1981 (and the night football with two white stripes was even harder to throw), so needless to say the passes weren't too pretty in this or many other games.
R G And it was the final College All Star game ever played. The contest had been consistently one sided in favor of the pro team for years and furthermore, an injury during the course of this essentially meaningless game could put a career in jeopardy - so this storm was perhaps the omen needed to convince those in charge to put an end to this game for good.
It was interesting they brought up Lee Trevino in the broadcast. Golfer Lee Trevino was struck by lightning 3 times, including once while playing in the 1975 Western Open that they referred to. Trevino was a funny guy. His quote about lightning. If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.
I was 16 and can honestly say i was there and one of the kids sliding on the field....though my friend and I waited until we were pretty sure the game was going to be called. I remember looking down on the field and seeing those waves of water sweeping over the field in disbelief. Never seen anything like it since.
This game (NFL champions vs. college all stars) and NFL Runner Up Bowl, played in the late 1960s, were the biggest jokes of games ever played in NFL history. This was fun to watch, though. I haven’t seen this since I watched it live on TV when it was played. What a different time this was. Fans on the field. Tearing down the goal posts (remember that?) No one got hurt. Now, what do you get in the NFL? Showboating by the players and the winning coach gets Gatorade poured over his head. I’ll take these days in NFL over what we have today any time. Glad I got to see football when it was still a game.
I’ve seen worse - I live in Florida and it was called Irma and went without power for a week! That’s a major hurricane folks and wish it on no one. But honestly, this is the only thing I can say that relates - this is pure ridiculous. Take this and add 100mph wind and you get Irma. But honestly, have you ever seen anything like this in a regular thunderstorm? Crazy!!!
The worst I have ever been at was the 1983 Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama. They played the end of the game in a Tornado Watch and the storm actually produced some tornado's about 40 miles east of town that killed a few people. I found a video of the game on youtube and Keith Jackson actually references this 1976 All Star game at the link ruclips.net/video/dhCJ18zzp-c/видео.html
I remember watching this game. I should have knew the Steelers wouldn't three-peat. Their preseason started in a storm and their regular season started with a lose to the Raiders. 1 and 4 to start the season, then 9 regular season wins. Beat the Colts in the playoffs and loss to the Raiders the following week.
Damn! That's all I needed. Jonsing for football, it finally gets here. First, no Howard Cosell? Then we got subjected to the "other" Terry for the Steelers. Lee Grooscup here, it starts pouring and then the "young" people came pouring out on to the field. They tear the goal post down, then about 12 mins later ! signing off and we get Fantasy Island. Booohisssss$$
Awesome to see this. Too bad they couldn't keep playing. The only other time I saw rain like this was in a game between KC and Seattle, back when the Seahawks had Warren Moon. The aftermaths of some tropical storm was going through KC and it was intense. They had to delay that game because of lightning for a few hours.
There was also torrential rain like that in Tampa in the final week of the 1979 season for a game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, a downpour that lasted all day long. In fact, that was such a freak event that the NFL and the local authorities even considered postponing that particular game for public safety reasons, but they didn't, possibly because it was the final week of the season, and also because of the post-season ramifications that game carried for the Bucs.
@daniel anderson I'm not sure what would have happened, but they couldn't have flat-out cancelled the game, because of the playoff implications, since that game was for the NFC Central title for the Buccaneers. Had they lost or tied the Chiefs, the Chicago Bears would have won the division and the Bucs would have been out of the playoffs all together (the Washington Redskins would have gotten the second Wild Card berth).
I remember watching this game as a little kid, the thunderstorm was amazing and awful and I remember the couple that was kissing at the 5:31 mark in that pouring rain.
true Chicago had a lot of fan participation in pro sports but it was happening a lot in the 70's in all of the major sports before leagues got security to keep people in the stands. In the 1976 NBA finals at Boston, fans rushed the court in game 6 and one punched the referee.
This isn't "participating in pro sports", this is a bunch of drunk idiots ruining the game in play. That's not me being "soft" or "PC", that's what it is.
They weren't ruining anything. If you were there, you know the game wasn't about to be resumed regardless -- though I did stay until they turned the lights off.
Robert Goodman I was watching the game...14 and was the Summer before my Freshman year...when the first 2 idiots went running by, leading to a slow trickle before the deluge of fans, there was no way of knowing the game would be called, it was just lucky that the weather finally brought an end to the game....along with the thousands of idiots. There were some great future NFL stars on that All Star team. I loved watching the game just to watch the star Rookies.
To say the scene was wild would be an understatement. First of all, today the game would be called off much earlier than it was. Second, I wonder how many fans were arrested that night.
yes today when lightening storms are in the forecast games are stopped. Doubt many were arrested because security was way lax back in the 70's . Fans ran out on the field all the time at the end of big games. I grew up in Oakland in the 70's and it was so much more relaxing at pro sports events without the Nazi security like it is today. Smoked a lot of weed out in the open at A's, Raider and Warrior games without being hassled by cops.
If this happened today, the game would have been delayed a half an hour after the first sighting of lightning, let alone allow fans to slide around the field. This was a recipe for tragedy really but obviously was before officials put safety as a premium.
By chance do you happen to have the whole game? I would love to see this game. I have been wanting to see this for years along with the 1975 College All Stars vs Steelers. I wish they would have continued to have this game. Unfortunately those days are over now.
Bryce Welch I do have both the 1975 and 76 College All star games. I posted an edited version of the 75 game. here's the link ruclips.net/video/-mxpOUo1euw/видео.html
In those days I would have played football during a Earthquake. I'm a man, don't let the handle fool you but if I wasn't I would have played football in high heels.
Most of them also weren't making the insane amount of money players make today (even third stringers). That being said, I'm surprised the pros agreed to it, but there was probably some additional money involved. These old games are so much more entertaining to watch. No stupid ref reviews every 10 minutes.
When you say okd school rules use this as a prime example of playing in any weather professional athletes ..now they have a doppler and rain and lighting delays for player and fans safety...
The First Responder Bowl cancellation brought me here. The idea of having a pro team play a team of college football all-stars doesn't make for an appealing match-up, though. This was a curbstomp battle, as the final indicates.
Before the NFL decided to integrate the college teams would actually win most of the times. After the NFL got better talent on the field it just turned into this.
Thank you so much for posting this! I was watching this game with utter disbelief as a 15-year-old, and I must say in the ensuing 40 years I have never witnessed such a bizarre and potentially catastrophic end to a sporting event of any kind. And to think that these athletes were the BEST! The Steelers, world champs, up against youngsters who had their entire pro careers ahead of them, in an environment where mother nature had completely taken charge. The total contractual value of the players on the field would be hundreds of millions today! Needless to say, this was the last College All Star game.
Early in this game's history, professional football wasn't as financially lucrative as it later became so many of college's best players of the era didn't go on to the NFL, making the college all stars more athletically competitive with the pro's.
Wow! I too was in my mid teens. I tell today's youth about this game and they hardly believe me. I believe after this game they never played this type of game again. Can you imagine? That year the Steelers would have played this game plus the regular 6 exhibition games for a total of 7 preseason games. I think today's format of less exhibition and more regular season is much better. Stay well fellow old school fan!
I was about the same age, watching the same game. Funny!
I always wanted to see this. I was just out of high school and working at a TV station in Chico, Calif., when word of this game’s outcome crossed the newswire. I always wanted to see what actually happened but it was our competitor in Redding that was carrying the game, and we didn't bother to roll on it. All these years later I finally see it. It was really quite amusing to see. Thank you so much.
Ron Flatter sure Ron. I was just beginning high school and remember when fans would routinely rush the field after World Series games or some situation like this. Never would this happen today and its also amusing that ABC kept the cameras rolling showing different angles from several different cameras. Today the producer would never do that as they don't want to encourage people to behave in that manner.
@@johnmongani5223, the fans were going to do this no matter what.
@@johnmongani5223, a few years later was Disco Demolition Night.
This game took place while the 1976 Summer Olympics were being held in Montreal (both were in ABC).
If my memory serves me correct, ABC ran Olympic coverage from 7:30-9 P.M. EDT, then the first half of this game, then a 15-minute Olympic report at halftime, then back to this game.
I seem to recall that after the game was called, ABC went back to the Olympics until 12 Midnight EDT, which would've been the scheduled and of this game.
So instead of the originally scheduled one hour and 45 minutes of Olympic coverage that night, I believe ABC wound up carrying almost two hours and 45 minutes of the Olympics that evening.
I hope they had nicer weather in Montreal.
I saw the game. Steelers were far superior proving all-star games were a joke. A fitting end. Mother Nature intervened and saved the college kids!
In some other years, the collegians gave the pros a lot of trouble--including the Steelers the year before this.
Dude the nfl won only 2/3 of the time
College all stars won some so your comment is dumb as hell.
The 1962 NFL champion Green Bay Packers lost this game in 1963.
Even though it was a preseason game, imagine how Vince Lombardi must have felt ..I don't know if that was the only loss by the NFL since it it was inaugurated....those I watched were all boring blowouts.
@@richardrau57521958 game when the All-Stars defeated the 1957 champs, the Detroit Lions. That All-Star team was stacked full of future Pro Football Hall of Famers.
I remember watching this the night it happened. The scene was surreal. It still is 41 years later.
I knew I wasn't nuts and imagining these games. I distinctly remember watching this. No way would the NFL or player agents EVER allow something like this today. Can you imagine blowing out your knee at an all star game before you even join your NFL team?
Well they still have the Senior Bowl but that’s not quite the same
@@amprosk Not even close to the same. The Senior Bowl, East West Shrine Game, and the NFLPA Bowl is played before college players are even drafted. This College All Star/Pro game was played against the Super Bowl champions after college players were already drafted by NFL teams during training camp. Teams did lose rookies to injuries in those games.
I remember watching this game as an 11 year old, The best thing about this is hearing Frank Giffords voice, He was made for play by play. They never played another college all star game after this, What a way for this one to end.
Easily by far the straight up nastiest rain game I've ever seen footage of...At 4:30...jeez, just look at that.
People say it looks like something out of a disaster movie, i don't blame em for saying that
Remember this like it was yesterday! First time I've seen it since 1975😮
Nigga said first time I’ve seen it since the year before it ever happened 💀💀😂😂😂
@@Bryan_____ you know what he meant lmao💀
@@Bryan_____ 💀💀💀💀
This is so cool. All I've ever seen of this game was a picture of the college all stars huddled up tightly on the field in the midst of the downpour.
I remember watching a nationally televised preseason game on ABC between the bears and chiefs in the mid nineties. I believe it was at soldier field and the game was cancelled as soon as there was lightning in the area, not just over the field.
It's amazing alone how a color broadcast becomes seemingly black and white as the storm peaks so quickly.
Thanks for posting.
Wasn't that the Packers and Chiefs in KC? I seem to recall that. There was a Hall of Fame game in I think 2000 that was called too, I remember watching that one on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC, but I forget which teams were involved in that.
@@ajk It was the 2003 Hall of Fame Game that was called off by lightning in the third quarter. Kansas City won that night 9-0 and started the regular season with a 9-0 record.
@@drewzuhosky6826 Oh ok, interesting.....thanks for that. :)
I half expect to see Noah's Ark float by. :)
Yeah, I think if you look closely, you can see Dorothy fly by!
THANK YOU!!!, I was about to say this looks like that scene in i think 1926 Noah's Ark movie, ya kno the one where 4 extras died. (*and almost a young john wayne*)
This comment is underrated
Thank you for posting this! -- talk about memories - my high school team from North Central Indiana (Lafayette Jefferson) bussed up to attend this game. I was pumped - incoming Freshman, going to see an NFL game. I really remember nothing about the game, other than the Pittsburgh Steelers were involved and we got to see many professional all-stars (Bradshaw, Greene, Ham, Harris, Swann, etc.) and we ended up getting about as wet as a human being could possibly get without jumping into a body of water. Some members of the team went out on the field and slip-slided on the waterlogged Astroturf after everything went crazy. I was (just) 14 at the time and too scared to enter that wild crowd with lightning, sheets of rain, and wind. It was an incredible storm. I don't think we had dried off many hours later when our bus finally pulled back into Lafayette in the wee small hours.
very cool Rodney to hear from someone who was there and what you experienced. I was 14 as well at the time watching the game on TV. Was a lot of fun growing up in the 70's when there wasn't so many rules like today and fans could run out on the field and have some fun.
This is about as America as you can get and I love it.
Yeah it really is.
What a iconic closing statement…”The other goalpost comes down. Goodnight “.
No one ever took player safety into account back then, thus there were no lightning delays like there are now in collegiate and NFL football.
Yeah... back in those days every single thing was done to inflate the owners' pockets
You are so right about that.
I was 4 or 5 years old when this happened, all i remember is my dad being pissed at the kids ruining the field, glad i found this
Ur 46?!?
I was watching it too...Frank Gifford's last words were "Goodbye from wet and wild soldier field in Chicago"..
Wow!
I remember this game like it was yesterday. It was the most remarkable weather event I ever saw. I was not surprised it was the last game of it's kind.
I think a lot of those folks on the field were at Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey a few years later.
I WAS AT THIS GAME WITH MY FATHER WHO TOOK OFF EARLY FROM WORK AFTER HE UNEXPECTEDLY RECEIVED SOME TICKETS. SOLDIER FIELD AT THE TIME HAD THESE LONG, YELLOW PLASTIC SEATS THAT WERE UNCOMFORTABLE AS HELL. THE RAIN ON THIS NIGHT WAS SO THICK YOU COULD NOT SEE MORE THAN 2 FEET IN FRONT OF YOU. I DIDN'T REALIZE FRANK DID THE PLAY BY PLAY ON T.V. LONG LIVE THE GIFF! THESE WERE SOME GOOD DAYS MAN. THESE WERE SOME GOOD DAYS.
James Griffin cool James. great to hear from someone who experienced the wild weather at this game. Just amazing no one got electrocuted.
Did you run onto the field and slide around?
@@johnmongani5223 Lightning could have struck the players or in the stands and there was no stoppage because of the lightning, which is just insanity to me. I remember seeing on the News a Soccer game i nBrazil or Argentina where lighting struck the players during the game, they were all seriously injured, nobody died though
yes that is true and why in todays games they stop play and evacuate the fans when lightening is a threat. But back then there hadn't been any incidents of anyone being injured from lightening so it wasn't really known to be a problem. I think they started taking precautions when incidents of lightening strikes began to increase on golf courses and figured the same could happen at stadium sporting events.@@24quorthonschuldiner62
I attended a baseball game at Comiskey Park with my father a few days before this game and it rained pretty badly that night, too. Funny, I don't remember this game or the bad rainstorm, but I did see pictures of it some years later. I was amazed at how heavy the rain was-even in pictures of the game you can barely see anything. I was curious to see how it went down. Thanks for posting.
I know I wasn’t imagining these games I remember from childhood. Pro team vs college all stars, .most younger people I’ve talked too never believed me when I said they had these games at one time.
and now the threat of lightning 30 minutes away and the game is delayed.
I remember watching this on teevee. They were talking about stopping the series anyway because the games were mismatches and most teams didn't want top draft picks to play for fear of injury.
was at that game, it was like a giant took a huge pale dipped into the lake and poured it out on to the field
Coaching the All-Stars was none other than Ara Parseghian. It was the last game at any level that he ever coached.
Give these guys credit for trying to play in this crazy weather
I remember a Chiefs at Buccaneers game played in 1979 in a heavy rain storm, the water flowing down the aisles looked like a swift waterfall, I believe the final score was Bucs 3, Chiefs 0.
That game meant something a division title was at stake
@@michaelleroy9281 Not for Kansas City.
From video i saw the chiefs bucs game it wasnt dark
This game its a miracle no one was killed
@@Salvatore1268 yeah I cant believe it either
I was a 17 year old at this game with my parents. We are from a town outside of Pittsburgh and had tickets to this game.
I remember it as being canceled because of a tornado warnig. My family and I walked thru this storm back to our high rise hotel wondering if the building could withstand a tornado.
It seems like a dream now. Especially when all the college all stars are millionaires now.
I was there sliding on that field and was amazed at how far you could go.
Thanks for posting. I’m a amateur NFL historian, yet I never knew about this storm game.
Me too I knew about earlier like the 40s but not current era
I went to that game. Slid on the field. Never seen so much water flooding down the stadium stairs.
John - It's strange but I have been thinking about this game recently. I attended this game as a Seaman Recruit while I was in bootcamp. We were at Soldier Field on July 4th to make a 5000 person living flag for the bicentennial. So we were given tickets for this game. It was 39 years ago but I remember how wet I was sitting up in the stands watching the craziness. I was just happy to get out of Great Lakes for a little while. It also interesting that Frank Gifford was the announcer and he just passed away. Thanks for the footage.
Elizabeth Camp Lewis- thanks for the info. That is so cool to hear from someone who was at this game and what they experienced. I always watched them as a teenager on TV. Yep, Frank was an icon back then for all of the primetime games. They're all gone now, Gifford, Dandy Don and Howard.
This video is crazy and also a nice reminder that tearing down the goalposts used to be a common thing for fans to do at the end of a big football game, somehow.
Now they pour Gatorade over the head of the winning coach.....by the players. Fans aren’t allowed on the field anymore.........in the No Fun League.
@@Steve915 and for good reason to.
This is just nuts! Wow!!!! Never seen anything like it.
Looks like a marriage proposal at 5:26😃
was there and to this day I remember it so well the rain and lighting were CRAZY
Today the first crack of thunder and they got everybody scrambling like a cockroach when the light comes on.
Frank Gifford was a real pro! Got in all their promos right to the end. I would have been outta there!
Frank Gifford said in an interview a lot of players back in the old days had jobs, as they didn't have those big contracts. Also, the easier-to-throw Ultra Pebble football wasn't introduced until 1981 (and the night football with two white stripes was even harder to throw), so needless to say the passes weren't too pretty in this or many other games.
There was a day and night football back then? Interesting.....
This was like the Hall of Fame game in Canton in 1980 Packers vs Chargers scoreless tie
The fans thought it was disco night
Disco Demolition Night three years early
I was there. The aisles were waterfalls.
R G And it was the final College All Star game ever played. The contest had been consistently one sided in favor of the pro team for years and furthermore, an injury during the course of this essentially meaningless game could put a career in jeopardy - so this storm was perhaps the omen needed to convince those in charge to put an end to this game for good.
@@lakemichigan6598 the storm before the calm
@@VianoMusicAcademy Cleverly put - and very true!
It was interesting they brought up Lee Trevino in the broadcast. Golfer Lee Trevino was struck by lightning 3 times, including once while playing in the 1975 Western Open that they referred to. Trevino was a funny guy. His quote about lightning. If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.
lol classic quote.
Thanks for uploading this! Is there any chance you have the full game on this same VHS and could upload it somewhere?
Wow. Looks like they were trying to play in a hurricane.
I saw this game. That's craziest thing I've ever seen. Today if ightning is detected 10 miles away they stop the game.
I was 16 and can honestly say i was there and one of the kids sliding on the field....though my friend and I waited until we were pretty sure the game was going to be called. I remember looking down on the field and seeing those waves of water sweeping over the field in disbelief. Never seen anything like it since.
Wow! If not for the fans, I wonder if the game would've continued on
Wow. Just... wow. The insane part is that they would have continued playing if not for the fans on the field.
Exactly
First NFL game I ever saw cancelled. LOL. I wasn't there but saw it on TV. They did the right thing cancelling it.
This game (NFL champions vs. college all stars) and NFL Runner Up Bowl, played in the late 1960s, were the biggest jokes of games ever played in NFL history. This was fun to watch, though. I haven’t seen this since I watched it live on TV when it was played. What a different time this was. Fans on the field. Tearing down the goal posts (remember that?) No one got hurt. Now, what do you get in the NFL? Showboating by the players and the winning coach gets Gatorade poured over his head. I’ll take these days in NFL over what we have today any time. Glad I got to see football when it was still a game.
Damn the 70s were great
Tommy Reamon played Delma Tuttle in ' North Dallas Forty' and coached Michael Vick in high school.
I’ve seen worse - I live in Florida and it was called Irma and went without power for a week!
That’s a major hurricane folks and wish it on no one. But honestly, this is the only thing I can say that relates - this is pure ridiculous.
Take this and add 100mph wind and you get Irma.
But honestly, have you ever seen anything like this in a regular thunderstorm? Crazy!!!
You have seen games played in worse?
No BS, my buddy (#14 - Jeb Blount/Tulsa) makes an appearance as the College QB!! 😲
I WENT TO A GAME EARLIER THAT MONTH AT COMISKEY PARK.
GAME CALLED BUT PEOPLE DIDN'T LEAVE UNTIL 90 MINS AFTER THE GAME WAS CALLED.
The worst I have ever been at was the 1983 Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama. They played the end of the game in a Tornado Watch and the storm actually produced some tornado's about 40 miles east of town that killed a few people. I found a video of the game on youtube and Keith Jackson actually references this 1976 All Star game at the link ruclips.net/video/dhCJ18zzp-c/видео.html
That was wild! I saw this game,but unfortunately it marked the end of the All- Star game.How sad.....
If the rain comes
They run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead.
If the rain comes
If the rain comes
Awesome Post!!
I wonder if some fans did a tribute to Gene Kelly...
I remember watching this game. I should have knew the Steelers wouldn't three-peat. Their preseason started in a storm and their regular season started with a lose to the Raiders. 1 and 4 to start the season, then 9 regular season wins. Beat the Colts in the playoffs and loss to the Raiders the following week.
Damn! That's all I needed. Jonsing for football, it finally gets here. First, no Howard Cosell? Then we got subjected to the "other" Terry for the Steelers. Lee Grooscup here, it starts pouring and then the "young" people came pouring out on to the field. They tear the goal post down, then about 12 mins later ! signing off and we get Fantasy Island. Booohisssss$$
One of the most remarkable things ive ever seen
Awesome to see this. Too bad they couldn't keep playing. The only other time I saw rain like this was in a game between KC and Seattle, back when the Seahawks had Warren Moon. The aftermaths of some tropical storm was going through KC and it was intense. They had to delay that game because of lightning for a few hours.
There was also torrential rain like that in Tampa in the final week of the 1979 season for a game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, a downpour that lasted all day long. In fact, that was such a freak event that the NFL and the local authorities even considered postponing that particular game for public safety reasons, but they didn't, possibly because it was the final week of the season, and also because of the post-season ramifications that game carried for the Bucs.
@daniel anderson I'm not sure what would have happened, but they couldn't have flat-out cancelled the game, because of the playoff implications, since that game was for the NFC Central title for the Buccaneers. Had they lost or tied the Chiefs, the Chicago Bears would have won the division and the Bucs would have been out of the playoffs all together (the Washington Redskins would have gotten the second Wild Card berth).
I remember watching this game as a little kid, the thunderstorm was amazing and awful and I remember the couple that was kissing at the 5:31 mark in that pouring rain.
Precursor to Disco Demolition night at Comiskey Park three summers later.
true Chicago had a lot of fan participation in pro sports but it was happening a lot in the 70's in all of the major sports before leagues got security to keep people in the stands. In the 1976 NBA finals at Boston, fans rushed the court in game 6 and one punched the referee.
the good ole days of the 1970's when fans could participate in pro sports without anyone getting arrested or injured.
This isn't "participating in pro sports", this is a bunch of drunk idiots ruining the game in play. That's not me being "soft" or "PC", that's what it is.
Collin McNaught awwwww.....you're no fun.
They weren't ruining anything. If you were there, you know the game wasn't about to be resumed regardless -- though I did stay until they turned the lights off.
Robert Goodman I was watching the game...14 and was the Summer before my Freshman year...when the first 2 idiots went running by, leading to a slow trickle before the deluge of fans, there was no way of knowing the game would be called, it was just lucky that the weather finally brought an end to the game....along with the thousands of idiots. There were some great future NFL stars on that All Star team. I loved watching the game just to watch the star Rookies.
Boy oh boy have things changed…
I was there, supervising a group of kids!
Terry Hanratty was still playing in 1976
Awesome👏👏👏but, @ 5:26 - Whaa...?😃😑😁😆😆🍻🏈
😂😂😂😂
It’s raining so hard, you would have to dive into a river to keep from drowning!
Everyday in summertime Florida lol.
1996 Outback Bowl between Penn St and Auburn was a soaker as well.
this is unbelievable this is unbelievable
At least they had enough sense to call the game, back then 🤷
This was the last college all star game ever played
Three years later Chicago would host Disci Destruction night.
Wow. I am taken back by this.
Bet the pros were real excited to play this game
To say the scene was wild would be an understatement. First of all, today the game would be called off much earlier than it was. Second, I wonder how many fans were arrested that night.
yes today when lightening storms are in the forecast games are stopped. Doubt many were arrested because security was way lax back in the 70's . Fans ran out on the field all the time at the end of big games. I grew up in Oakland in the 70's and it was so much more relaxing at pro sports events without the Nazi security like it is today. Smoked a lot of weed out in the open at A's, Raider and Warrior games without being hassled by cops.
How many fans were arrested? NONE! these were the " SUPER 70s"
I so remember watching this as a 7 year old....
How old r u now?
Avon Nabors 51
Frank got all of the commercial considerations done before they pulled the plug on the telecast .
smart move to postpone this game!!!!👍👍👍
They would not have if fans hadn't stormed the field
If this happened today, the game would have been delayed a half an hour after the first sighting of lightning, let alone allow fans to slide around the field. This was a recipe for tragedy really but obviously was before officials put safety as a premium.
...reminiscent of the Bears/Cardinals monsoon of '75, only this was 10 times worse.
Gpg. Love. Awesome play.
By chance do you happen to have the whole game? I would love to see this game. I have been wanting to see this for years along with the 1975 College All Stars vs Steelers. I wish they would have continued to have this game. Unfortunately those days are over now.
Bryce Welch I do have both the 1975 and 76 College All star games. I posted an edited version of the 75 game. here's the link ruclips.net/video/-mxpOUo1euw/видео.html
The prequel to Disco Demolition.
NFL: We don’t stop playing for anything.
Nature: Hold my beer.
In those days I would have played football during a Earthquake.
I'm a man, don't let the handle fool you but if I wasn't I would have played football in high heels.
So these players are not only risking game related injuries in a meaningless game, but death by lightening on top of that.
Most of them also weren't making the insane amount of money players make today (even third stringers). That being said, I'm surprised the pros agreed to it, but there was probably some additional money involved. These old games are so much more entertaining to watch. No stupid ref reviews every 10 minutes.
@Pete Kondolios Wow, Hospital bills must have made bank in the 70s.
Now, they delay a game if someone shines a flashlight in to the sky .... 200 miles away.
yep and if a fan runs on the field today instead of escorting them off the field they electrocute them with a taser.
When you say okd school rules use this as a prime example of playing in any weather professional athletes ..now they have a doppler and rain and lighting delays for player and fans safety...
I have never seen such a dark game on TV.
Wow. Imagine something like this happening today
talking about the rain ended this series... did they not think about moving it to a Dome?
Interestingly enough, this was the last annual NFL College All Star game ever played.
yep pretty amazing that the last game of a long series of many years ended with a game that didn't make it to the end of 4 quarters.
Stunned silence.
The First Responder Bowl cancellation brought me here. The idea of having a pro team play a team of college football all-stars doesn't make for an appealing match-up, though. This was a curbstomp battle, as the final indicates.
Before the NFL decided to integrate the college teams would actually win most of the times. After the NFL got better talent on the field it just turned into this.