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This is part one in FanHouse's nine-part series examining memorable moments and players from past Super Bowl games played in Miami. Coming next: Baltimore Colts wide receiver Jimmy Orr, Super Bowl III.SUPER BOWL II
Date: Jan. 14, 1968
Site: Orange Bowl
Score: Packers 33, Raiders 14 (MVP: Bart Starr)
It wasn't that Vince Lombardi didn't like rookies. He knew they were necessary (necessary evils, that is), but that didn't mean he had to trust them.
Or play them much.
"Lombardi was such a taskmaster when it came to mistakes," recalled former Green Bay tailback Donny Anderson. "And young players made more mistakes than older guys. That was a fact."
Didn't matter how much money they were making, either.
In 1966, the bidding wars between the NFL and AFL were at their peak. Anderson, the seventh overall pick of the draft out of Texas Tech, signed a three-year contract for the most money ever given a NFL player: $600,000.
Anderson was joined in Green Bay by another top-shelf rookie, Jim Grabowski, an Illinois fullback and the AFL's No. 1 overall pick by Miami who opted for more than $300,000 deal with the Packers. Together, they were the league's first real "bonus babies" -- and barely played.
"We played special teams," recalled Anderson, an outstanding punter in his time. "But as rookies, we used to look at each other and wonder if we were ever going to get our opportunity."
They did, serving as role players in Green Bay's march to the first Super Bowl title, a 35-10 drubbing of the Kansas City Chiefs in Los Angeles.
[Trivia: It was Anderson's thigh that leveled Fred "The Hammer" Williamson in that game. The Hammer had vowed to punish Packers with his famous forearm tackle. Instead, he was knocked senseless on one of those Green Bay sweeps and had to be carried off the field.]
In their second seasons, after the Hall of Fame backfield of Paul Hornung and Jimmy Taylor were gone, Anderson and Grabowski became featured players on a team that defeated Dallas in the legendary "Ice Bowl" then faced the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II. Against the Raiders, Anderson carried 14 times for 48 yards and scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter that capped an 82-yard drive and pushed Green Bay in front 23-7.
The Packers won 32-14.
No one knew it then, but the game marked the end of Green Bay's golden era. Lombardi stepped down after the season.
Anderson, now 66, lives in Dallas and manages a foundation, Winners For Life, that helps children go to college. He looks back fondly on the days he not only ran with some of the greatest to ever play the game, but shared equally in their glory.
"When you get down the road, whoever you are, what you accomplished as a team has overwhelming rewards compared to individual achievement," Anderson said. "A lot of Hall of Famers could never have gotten there without their teammates."
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