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Intriguing history for once moribund Falcons franchise
Here’s a time line for the history
of the Atlanta Falcons’ NFL fran
chise:
June 30, 1965: Team awarded
franchise to 41-year-old Rankin
M. Smith, executive vice presi
dent of Life Insurance Company
of Georgia, for $8.5 million.
’’ • Jan. 26, 1966: Norb Hecker,
age 39, named first Falcon coach.
• Nov. 30, 1966: 0-9 Atlanta
beats the New York Giants 27-16
at Yankee Stadium for its first vic-
hFox TV blitz gives
! fans plenty to watch
; By Jimmy Deßutts
' Morris News Service
•
! .. .The Atlanta Falcons may finally
! .get the national respect they des
j perately crave with the annual
• flood of pre-Super Bowl hype.
A two-week blitz of television
cameras and the human crunch of
worldwide press coverage will
make household names of Jamal
Anderson, Jessie Tuggle and
-Chris Chandler.
"That’s what all the hype and
* hoopla is about,” said Fox Sports
'• football analyst John Madden.
1 '"Maybe the two weeks are need-
ed to get to know the two teams,
f .especially for the Falcons. If all
' that hype works then the Atlanta
■ falcons shouldn’t go into the
" -game as an unknown team.”
‘ If all the stories leading up to
- Super Bowl Sunday aren’t
’ enough, Fox has seven hours of
; pre-game programming scheduled
"for today. The Super Bowl XXXI-
H on Fox Kick-Off Show begins
GIRLS from 1C
£• lot of points in the last quarter.”
- Starting mostly freshmen and
sophomores, Jerry Cauley, who is
coaching the Lady Bulldogs while
Steve Barnes is absent, was happy
_?with the intensity of his team, too.
° “This is the best we have played
“ 'hill season,” said Cauley.
“Everyone hustled and no one
gave up. We know we are young,
but we should always give our
; best and that’s what we did. We
r sire improving and that’s what I
'■
e For Central, Darla Smith and
'Ashley Hawkins netted 11 and
j nine points respectively. Emily
Pritchett and Allison Green each
’■ had six and Lauren Samples had
three.
Kristy Geisler, Annie Gilmore
and Erin Mulryan had five each
-for South and Jacquelyn Evans
had four points.
Central took a 1-0 lead, but
Vaughan answered with a field
goal. Samples and Levis scored
two quick field goals for Central,
.. then Thompson had a field goal
for South, but Central still led 5-4.
With 3:22 left in the quarter,
.South took the lead for good and
scored seven consecutive points.
.‘ Vaughan also had a triple and
* Gilmore scored four points. Green
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tory.
• Nov. 30, 1970: The Falcons
make their Monday Night
Football debut with a 20-7 home
loss to the Dolphins.
• Dec. 17, 1972: Dave Hampton
was technically the club’s first
1,000-yard rusher. He reached
1,000 during a game at Kansas
City, but lost 6 yards on the next
play to finish under the milestone
for the season.
• 1977: Falcons defense estab-
at 11 a.m., Kickoff is slated for
6:18 p.m.
Madden said Tuesday that the
ground game will be critical for
both teams. Super Bowl XXXIII
will feature Denver’s Terrell
Davis and Atlanta’s Anderson, the
top two rushers in the NFL this
season.
"I believe it’s very important for
Terrell Davis to do well,” Madden
said. "If you’re the Falcons, you
have to control him. You also
have to play Shannon Sharpe with
a defensive back, he’s a game
breaker.”
The 18-year broadcasting veter
an said the Falcons’ game plan
will be similar to the Broncos’.
However, the play of quarterback
Chris Chandler could be the wild
card for Atlanta.
"It starts with Jamal Anderson,”
he said. "They play-pass so
much. Chris Chandler is a great
play-passer. You have to make a
decision, are you going to guard
against the run and the leave the
also had two points for Central.
At the end of the first quarter,
South led 16-7.
In the second quarter, South
outscored Central just 12-11.
South opened the quarter by scor
ing the first six points. For South
in the quarter, Thompson scored
five points, Vaughan three and
Mulryan and Evans two each.
Hawkins and Pritchett each had
four points for Central and
Daniell had two.
Leading 28-18 at halftime,
South scored twenty points in the
third quarter and held Central to
just 11. Vaughan scored ten points
in the quarter, Geisler and
Thompson scored three and
Mulryan two for the Lady War
Eagles. For the Lady Bulldogs,
Green had four points. Schupp,
Pritchett and Hawkins had two
points in the quarter.
In the final quarter, Smith scored
ten points of the 11 points for the
Lady Bulldogs. South scored 22
points in the quarter including 11
points for Vaughan. Thompson
also had six points for South.
South played Milton on
Saturday and will play at
Cartersville on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Central will host
Region 7-AA leader Pickens
Super Bowl XXXIII / Atlanta Falcons Extra
lishes a record by yielding only
129 points in a 14-game season.
• Nov. 12, 1978: Steve
Bartkowski hits Alfred Jackson on
"Big Ben Right,” a 57-yard pass
play to beat Saints.
• Dec. 24, 1978: The Falcons
win their first playoff game, 14-13
over Philadelphia.
• Dec. 14, 1980: Falcons win
their first NFC West title with a
35-10 rout of the 49ers.
• Jan. 5, 1981: Cowboys score
receivers in single coverage?”
Chandler reminds Madden of
other quarterbacks that bounced
around before finding success.
"Doug Williams with the
Redskins and Jeff Hostetler with
the Giants, they kind of snuck up
on you,” Madden said. "Chris
Chandler is that kind of guy. He’s
something special. If he could just
stay healthy he could be as good
as any quarterback playing.”
Summerall agreed with his
broadcast mate.
"The one guy that surprises us
is how good Chris Chandler is,”
Summerall said. "He’s a better
player than all of us thought he
was.”
Summerall, 68, said he will stick
around at Fox for at least four
more years, including the net
work’s coverage of the 2002
Super Bowl. Summerall, who
began his broadcasting career
with CBS in 1961, has worked 14
Super Bowls on network TV.
An estimated 133.4 million
viewers watched last year’s game,
and today’s telecast will be
beamed to more than 100 coun
tries and military installations
around the world.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this story.
County.
JV girls
In the junior varsity game, South
won 40-18. At the end of the first
quarter, the game was tied at
seven.
In the second quarter, South
outscored Central 14-1 to put the
game out of reach. In the third
quarter, Central scored four points
and South 15 to give South a 36-
12 lead at the end of the quarter.
Central outscored South in the
last quarter, 6-4.
For the Central Lady Bulldogs,
Melissa Self scored four points
and Alison Green, Ashley
Hawkins, Julie Gabriel, Jennifer
Hayes, Kelby Pruitt, Stephanie
Munda and Suzanne Daniell had
two each.
For the South Forsyth team,
Stephanie Hendricks had 13
points and Beth Overby had 12.
Laura Klein had seven and CC
Rettke and Schmeelk had three
each and Melissa Rainey and
Brooke Faile had two each.
The junior varsity teams of
South will play at home against
Lumpkin County on Feb. 5.
The junior varsity team of the
Lady Bulldogs will host Pickens
County on Tuesday.
20 points in the fourth quarter to
nip Falcons 30-27 in playoff
game.
• Aug. 21, 1984: All-time lead
ing rusher William Andrews suf
fers severe knee injury in practice.
• 1988-90: Falcons draft sours as
1988 No. 1 pick Aundray Bruce
plays only two years before being
waived. Three other first-round
picks don’t last more than two
years with team.
• April 1992: Falcons trade
Tagliabue touts return of replay
By Rick Dorsey
Morris News Service
MIAMI NFL commission
er Paul Tagliabue expressed his
confidence about instant replay’s
return for next season, saying the
league is now technologically
advanced enough to have it with
out ruining the pace of NFL
games.
In his annual "State of the
NFL” news conference Friday,
the commissioner dropped few
bombs, except to push for
Lawrence Taylor’s induction into
the Hall of Fame and to say that
San Francisco 49ers suspended
owner Eddie Deßartolo will not
resume duties for the 1999 sea
son.
Many fans and players have
clamored for replay’s return,
especially with the four known
game-ending missed calls that
received endless gobs of atten
tion. After six years with replay,
the league rescinded it in 1991,
claiming the process slowed
game flow and aggravated fans.
When the owners gather in
Phoenix for the league meetings
on March, 24 of the 31 must
approve instant replay for it to
return. Tagliabue is "optimistic”
owners will agree.
"I guess my confidence comes
from the fact that we have been
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, January 31,1999 —I
backup quarterback Brett Favre to
Green Bay for a first-round pick,
which turns out to be Southern
Mississippi running back Tony
Smith.
• Aug. 23, 1992: Falcons play
first game in Geoigia Dome.
• October 11 1992: Deion
Sanders plays at Miami in the
afternoon and at night with base
ball’s Atlanta Braves at
Pittsburgh.
• Dec. 24, 1995: Falcons beat
so close in the past couple of
years to getting replay,”
Tagliabue said to a packed crowd
inside the Hyatt Regency in
Miami. "We have spent a lot of
time in the last year and even
more in the last few months
looking at the technology, digital
recall capability where you don’
have to rerun tape to find plays
quickly and let an official look at
them.”
The criticism of game officials
reached its apex in December
when a line judge signaled
touchdown during Vinny
Testaverde’s game-ending sneak
against Seattle when replays
showed the Jets quarterback
landing a helmet short.
"I think we managed to shoot
ourselves in the foot after that,”
Tagliabue admitted. "There is a
provision in our bylaws which
says 'No one associated with a
team in the league will criticize
the officiating publicly.’ Private
yes, public no. This year, we
jumped on officials in ways that
were unfair.”
Tagliabue fined Buffalo Bills
owner Ralph Wilson $50,000
after Wilson ripped the officials
following a controversial loss at
New England, then fined Detroit
owner William Randolph Ford
$50,000 for coming to Wilson’s
defense.
.',l
49ers to make playoffs, but fgU at
Green Bay in the first round the
next week.
• Jan. 20, 1997: Dan Redyes
becomes the Falcons’ eighth head
coach. n.-,
• Oct. 26, 1997: Falcons owner
Rankin Smith dies of heart com
plications. u 1
• 1998: Falcons finish regular
season 14-2, their best mark ayer,
and advance to Jan. 31 Super
Bowl. 3f * 4
"In some ways (replay) is
going to just create another, plat
form for reviewing again in slow
motion what the officials do,”
Tagliabue said.
"We hold them to an impossi
ble standard of perfection. <lley
come very close to meeting'it,
but I don’t think we need Jo be
wringing our hands abouf the
quality of officiating.” ,<
On Taylor, Tagliabue endorsed
his Hall of Fame candidacy
unequivocally, saying the All-
Pro linebacker deserves his glpry
after 13 years of redefining his
position.
"The Hall of Fame is about
performing on the field,”
Tagliabue said, acknowledging
Taylor’s two drug arrests as
wrong. "I think the public
understands that by making a
judgment about an athlete of
what he did on the field, you ,are
not condoning, you are not
accepting, what he has
the field.”
Ownership groups from
Houston and Los Angeles met
with Tagliabue and the competi
tion committee Thursday* and
Tagliabue called the rape to
become the NFL’s 32nd .fran
chise "a tough competition,”
with the proposed stadiums play
ing as the potential determining
factor. i -.
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