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| Date | December 26, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Jack Kemp (QB, Buffalo)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 30,361 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, and Charlie Jones[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Radio in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Herb Carneal and George Ratterman | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1965 AFL Championship Game was the American Football League's sixth championship game, played on December 26 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California.[3][4][5]
It matched the Western Division champion San Diego Chargers (9–2–3) and the Eastern Division champion Buffalo Bills (10–3–1) to decide the American Football League (AFL) champion for the 1965 season.
The defending champion Bills entered the game as 6½ point underdogs;[3] the Chargers had won the first regular season meeting on October 10 by a convincing 34–3 score,[6] and tied the Thanksgiving rematch at twenty points each.[7][8]
In favorable 60 °F (16 °C) conditions on the day after Christmas,[3] the Bills shut out the Chargers and repeated as champions, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter, one on a punt return. They added three field goals in the second half to win 23–0.[1][3] Of the ten AFL title games, this was the only shutout: the Chargers had advanced to five of the first six, but won only one, in 1963.
Bills' quarterback Jack Kemp, the league's most valuable player, was named MVP of the game;[1] he and Paul Maguire were among the five ex-Chargers on the Bills' roster that were previously released by San Diego head coach Sid Gillman.[9]
This was the last AFL Championship to end the season; the AFL–NFL merger agreement was made the following June,[10][11] and the first Super Bowl followed the 1966 season.
- ^ a b c "Bills turn solid gold with $100 quarterback". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. December 27, 1965. p. 31.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
1965 NFL-AFL Commentator Crewswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d "Buffalo wins AFL crown". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 27, 1965. p. 2, part 2.
- ^ Markus, Robert (December 27, 1965). "Buffalo wins AFL crown". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
- ^ Shrake, Edwin (January 3, 1966). "The Bills come storming in". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
- ^ "Bills suffer setback". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. October 11, 1965. p. 20.
- ^ "Bills tied, but clinch tie for crown". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. November 26, 1965. p. 2, part 2.
- ^ "Pro football's leaders battled by foes to holiday standoffs". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 26, 1965. p. 2B.
- ^ "'Bills won by clawing, digging' says MVP Kemp". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 27, 1965. p. 5, part 2.
- ^ "How merger will operate". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. June 9, 1966. p. 4, part 2.
- ^ Schramm, Tex (June 20, 1966). "Here's how it happened". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.