Postponed

When I moved to Philadelphia in 1963 as a college student, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities of living in a big city, especially regarding spectator sports.  Besides attending Penn football and basketball games, I went to other events.  

One such sporting event was the middleweight (no more than 160 lbs. or 73 kg.) championship fight between Dick Tiger (champion) and Joey Giardello (challenger) scheduled for Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (a one hour bus ride from Philadelphia) on the night of December 7, 1963.

Dick Tiger, born Richard Ihetu in Nigeria on August 14, 1929, won the title by beating Gene Fullmer on October 23, 1962 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.  Joey Giardello, born Carmine Tilelli in Brooklyn on July 16, 1930, spent most of his life in Philadelphia.  On June 24, 1963, he defeated the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson to become the #1 contender.

I also bought a ticket to the 1963 Army-Navy football game at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia (site of Marciano-Walcott fight).  This had been and still is one of the most iconic rivalries in America.  It was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, November 30.  However, because of the JFK assassination eight days earlier, the game was postponed one week, to December 7, the day of the Tiger-Giardello fight.  Could I do both?  Yes!

A year before, I did three sporting events (NBA, NFL and NHL) in two days (Saturday and Sunday) and two cities (Syracuse and New York).  It was the subject of my very first blog post on December 29, 2014, A Weekend in New York.

I got up late that Saturday, December 7, as the football game didn't start until the early afternoon.  I took public transportation to the stadium. 

Navy entered the game with an outstanding record of 8-1 including victories at Michigan and Notre Dame.  They were ranked #2 in the nation.  Army had a very respectable 7-2 record including a victory at Penn State.

My seat was behind one of the end zones at a very low level.  It was so low that if someone walked between me and the playing field, they obstructed my view.  However, as one of 100,000 spectators, I enjoyed the experience of what turned out to be one of the most memorable Army-Navy football games.

Navy, led by the great Roger Staubach (Heisman Trophy winner and future Dallas Cowboy star quarterback), dominated the game and led 21-7 with 10 minutes to play.  However, Navy, clad all in gold, never touched the ball again.  

Army, in black jerseys, received the ensuing kickoff and methodically marched down the field toward my end zone.  With about 6 minutes left Army scored a touchdown and made a two point conversion to cut Navy's lead to 21-15.

In a surprise move (not wanting to give the ball back to Staubach), Army executed a successful onside kick.  Another methodical time consuming march down the field quickly ate up the clock.  On a third down play, Army arrived just two yards from the winning touchdown with 18 seconds to go.  

Army lined up for fourth down, but their quarterback, Rollie Stichway (same initials as his Navy counterpart), out of time outs and fearing his teammates could not hear the snap count because of the extremely loud crowd noise, asked the referee to call an official's time out (which he did twice before).  This time the referee declined and the clock ran out.  Navy won and it all happened right in front of me.  

With little time to spare, I rushed to the station for a bus to Atlantic City.  My seat for the boxing match was at the main level (below the ring) near the back of the auditorium surrounded by a large crowd.  The following year, it would be the site of the Democratic National Convention that nominated LBJ for president.

The Tiger-Giardello fight was a classic match of a puncher (Tiger) versus a boxer (Giardello).  The boxer must use his acumen for the whole fight, not letting his guard down for a second.  The puncher needs only one big punch...if it connects.

That night Giardello fought a superb fight, out boxing Tiger over 15 rounds, never letting him unload a big punch.  I was not surprised when the official decision was announced that there was a new middleweight champion of the world.  Referee Paul Cavalier, the sole judge, scored the fight 8 rounds for Giardello, 5 for Tiger and two even.

I could not relish the moment as I had to rush to the station for the last bus back to Philadelphia.  When I arrived at my dorm room well past midnight, I was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.  I slept soundly, perhaps dreaming of another December 7th in the future.