Here’s to the guys who were a part of sports history—but no one remembers.
–Harry Steinfeldt, the Cubs third baseman while everyone was saying “Tinkers to Evers to Chance”.
–Buster Mathis, whose broken thumb allowed Joe Frazier to box in the 1964 Olympics, win the gold medal, and eventually become JOE FRAZIER.
–Carl Erskine, who was warming up with Ralph Branca to face Bobby Thomson, but threw a wild curve ball—so they sent out Branca.
–Saints coach Tom Fears, who in 1970 didn’t know what yard marker his team was on, and accidentally sent Tom Dempsey to kick a 63-yard field goal.
And Ted Vactor. Ted who?
Ted was a Pennsylvania native who played well for Nebraska, but who got no NFL offers. So, he played minor league football in Omaha before returning to the East Coast where he played for the Virginia Sailors of the Atlantic Coast Football League…when new Redskins coach Vince Lombardi (or more likely defensive backs coach Don Doll) called…and Ted was signed as a free agent for Lombardi’s last team in 1969. Ted crafted a six-year NFL career (earning him his one and only football card) before becoming a college coach himself, and he was named to the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2000…
…and he was the guy who blocked Garo Yepremian’s field goal in Super Bowl VII, which led to Garo’s “pass attempt” which Mike Bass intercepted for a TD and NFL Films immortality.
He just can’t prove it.
Bill Brundige was first thought to have blocked it, but Ted was closer, and the footage, in true Zapruder fashion, is inconclusive. One angle shows that the ball caromed off a Dolphin lineman’s helmet. And Wikipedia claims both blocked it, as it would.
I wonder what Ted says when that clip inevitably plays on TV in some sports bar—“Hey—see that? I’m there, too! Nothing happens without me…”
And no one mentions him, and no one believes him. God has a crappy sense of humor.
Check out this interview with Ted:
