Today's Tidbit... Playing For Extra Time In Portland

The New York Giants spent their 1955 training camp on the Willamette College campus in Salem, Oregon, and played a late August exhibition game against the Los Angeles Rams at Portland's Multnomah Stadium. The game was the brainchild of Harry Glickman, a local promoter interested in selling as many tickets as possible to the event. Rather than relying solely on the game to provide the draw, he petitioned and received permission from the NFL to employ two innovations during the game.

The first innovation was to number the yard lines from 0 to 100 rather than from 0 to 50, as was the norm. The renumbering idea had been around since at least the mid-1940s, but this game is the only instance I know in which the idea saw game use. Unfortunately, I could not find an image of the field that day.

The second innovation was that the teams would play a "sudden death" overtime period if they played to a tie after 60 minutes. Discussion of the innovations was part of many articles previewing the event.

('Giant, Rams In 'Sudden Death' Contest Tonight,' San Francisco Examiner, August 28, 1955.)