In 1963, the Patriots didn't stand a chance

By: JAY PARIS - Staff Writer
Chargers won their only championship with an explosive rout of Boston 44 years ago | Sunday, January 20, 2008 8:09 AM PST ∞

Boston wasn't worth a hill of beans in the 1963 American Football League championship game

As John Hadl was talking, he was fiddling with his finger ---- the one with a certain hunk of jewelry around it.

"I got the ring on right now and I'm looking at it,'' Hadl, the former Chargers quarterback, said recently. "I don't wear it a lot, but it's a great way to start a conversation.''

There has been plenty of talk about the Chargers heading toward a Boston massacre on Sunday in New England. The undefeated Patriots await, and oddsmakers figure that they are two touchdowns better than the Chargers in the AFC title game.

But the Patriots didn't always have the upper hand. And Hadl's finger presents proof positive.

"It was a great day from the standpoint of winning the game, of course,'' Hadl said, giving the ring another tug. "We really had a hot day on offense.''

Hadl's bling comes from the 1963 AFL championship game at Balboa Stadium. The Chargers won their only league title over the Patriots, while solidifying their kinship with pro sports-hungry San Diego sports fans. And it came by a lopsided score that the current Patriots would appreciate: Chargers 51, Boston Patriots 10.

"It was great for the city; that is one of the things I remember most,'' said Hadl, 67, the director of major fundraising at the University of Kansas.

What made the triumph under legendary coach Sid Gillman special was that the Chargers had lost the two previous AFL title games to the Houston Oilers. But the Patriots made a grave defensive mistake, and it cost them.

"They were a real blitz team and they used to blitz on nearly every down,'' said Hadl, who shared quarterback duties with Tobin Rote. "That was their theory, and quarterbacks love that blitz because you've got one-on-one coverage on the outside.''

That, and pitches to running backs Keith Lincoln and Paul Lowe, made the Patriots vulnerable.

"We had good balance in our running game,'' Hadl said. "I used to have to watch the carries between them because if one guy was getting more, the other would raise hell.''

Lincoln lifted his game against the Patriots and ---- in about a minute, man ---- Boston was trailing. After Rote's 2-yard run gave the Chargers a 7-0 lead, Lincoln scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 67-yard run.

It was a hint of what was to come, as Lincoln had a game few could have imagined. He accounted for 357 of the Chargers' 610 yards ---- 214 rushing, 123 (with a TD) receiving and even 20 passing.

"I give a lot of credit to Sid and the coaching staff because we played them two other times that season and we came out and gave them a different look,'' said Lincoln, 69, who's retired.

Gillman often put his skill players in motion that day, and the Patriots were dazed.

"We hadn't shown them much of that, if at all, and it froze the linebackers half a step,'' Lincoln said. "That gave me an opportunity to break some of those long ones. We mixed it up from what they were used to, and that was one of the keys."

Hadl said Lincoln is modest.

"They really couldn't tackle him,'' said Hadl, who threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Lincoln. "He was a great receiver, great back, just a great athlete. We were utilizing him, and he just had one of those great overall days where he was making people miss.''

The score was 21-7 after one quarter, 31-10 at halftime. While the often-overlooked Chargers defense blanked the Patriots in the second half, the offense kept its foot on the pedal, racking up 20 more points.

"Yep, 51-10,'' said George Pernicano, a Chargers minority owner then and now. "And we're going to get them again on Sunday. You just wait and see.''

The Chargers have longed for another league title since that day. They reached two more AFL championship games, losing to the Buffalo Bills on both occasions. After the NFL-AFL merger, the Chargers advanced to Super Bowl XXIX, only to get thumped by the San Francisco 49ers.

But they will always have Jan. 5, 1964, when 30,127 fans crammed into cozy Balboa Stadium to embrace the notion of being world champions. Never mind that the Bears, the NFL's top team, claimed the same title.

"We put 'world champions' on the ring and believed it,'' former Chargers executive Al LoCasale once said. "Billy Wade was the quarterback of the Bears, the NFL champs, and Sid said: 'I coached Billy. There is no way a Billy Wade-led ballclub can score more than 14 points on us and we can't be held under 14 by anybody. We have better talent than they do. We're the best football team.' "

Hadl can't guarantee that the Chargers would have defeated the Bears. But, he added, the Chargers wouldn't have been outclassed.

"I think it would have been very competitive,'' Hadl said. "In those days, the difference in the leagues was the defenses. But we had a really good defense with Ernie Ladd, Earl Faison ---- we had good linebackers and good depth.''

Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka played on that '63 Bears team.

"If the Chargers would have played us, they would have gone up against one of the best defenses that ever played in the league,'' Ditka once said. "They talk about the '85 Bears defense; the '63 defense was awfully good.

"The Chargers had a lot of firepower. It would have been a hell of a game.''

The Chargers played one those games against the Patriots.

"It was a great day for us and San Diego,'' Hadl said. "Just a beautiful day in the old stadium.''

Hadl hopes the Chargers pummel the Patriots on Sunday. If they are to, the guy wearing Hadl's old No. 21, LaDainian Tomlinson, likely will need to play well.

"I tell everyone,'' Hadl said, "I just let him use (the number) on game day.''

Lincoln said there was nothing like game days in San Diego. The Chargers felt at home at Balboa Stadium, as roughly 20 of them put their sweat and elbow grease into it without suiting up.

"When we came down there in 1961, the guys constructed and built the upper deck,'' said Paul Maguire, 68, a former Chargers punter and linebacker. "I worked in the same ditch and dug the same hole as Ernie Ladd, and I assure you he didn't do much work.''

But the magic of the AFL was always in play ---- especially in 1963, when the Chargers were kings of it.

"It really was special,'' Lincoln said. "That was part of the charm of the whole thing. People were really involved with the players. The franchise was involved in the community and did a lot of things trying to promote the franchise.''

That scenario has a nice, well, ring to it.

"I've been wearing mine around,'' Lincoln said of his AFL title memento.

"I still have mine,'' said Maguire, an ESPN analyst. "The stone in it is blue ---- I think it's a piece of glass. And the diamond was probably some kind of chip off something ---- it probably cost $10. But to us, to get it, it was unbelievable. Just unbelievable.''

Contact staff writer Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.

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