The First AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later known as Super Bowl I and referred to in some contemporary reports as the Supergame, was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.
Coming into this game, there was still considerable animosity between the two rival leagues, and both teams felt pressure to win. The Chiefs posted an 11-2-1 record during the 1966 AFL season, and defeated the Buffalo Bills, 31-7, in 1966 AFL Championship Game. The Packers finished the 1966 NFL season at 12-2, and defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 34-27, in the 1966 NFL Championship Game. Still, many sports writers and fans believed that any team in the older NFL was vastly superior to any club in the upstart AFL, and thus expected that Green Bay would blow out Kansas City.
Here are rare photos of the first Super Bowl taken by Bill Ray, via LIFE.com
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Kansas City's Fletcher Smith, with the Green Bay Packers massed behind him, prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967 |
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The Kansas City Chiefs wait to take the field against the Packers prior to the start of Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967 |
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Green Bay's Jerry Kramer — a tremendous offensive lineman who, for some reason, was never inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — in Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Green Bay's Elijah Pitts eludes Kansas City defenders, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Chiefs linebacker E. J. Holub, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Green Bay wide receiver Max McGee, Super Bowl I, 1967. His line for the game- seven receptions, 138 yards, two TDs |
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Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Green Bay QB and game MVP Bart Starr, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Elijah Pitts (#22) running the Packers' 'power sweep,' Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Tight end Reggie Carolan in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Kansas City defensive lineman Jerry Mays prior to Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Green Bay receiver Carroll Dale hit by the Chiefs' Willie Mitchell, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Quarterback Len Dawson in the Chiefs' locker room, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Green Bay's Jim Taylor (#31), Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Kansas City's injured Fred Williamson carried off the field, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Kansas City head coach Hank Stram, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Jim Taylor tackled by the Chiefs' Sherrill Headrick, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Paul Hornung (#5), a future Hall of Famer who did not play in the game due to injury, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Jim Taylor, Super Bowl I, 1967. Packer lineman at left is the great Fuzzy Thurston |
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On the Kansas City sideline, Super Bowl I, 1967 |
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Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson led from the field at the end of the first Super Bowl, 1967. Williamson broke his arm during the game |
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The Packers' Herb Adderley and Kansas City's tight end Fred Arbanas head to the lockers after Green Bay's 35-10 victory in Super Bowl I, Los Angeles, 1967 |
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Sherrill Headrick, Jerry Mays and other Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl I, 1967 |