Heidi Game

The American Football League game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets played on November 17, 1968 is known in American football folklore as the Heidi Game.

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The game was broadcast on NBC and was the lead-in for the network's new made-for-television movie, an adaptation of the classic children's story Heidi. The game started at 4:00 pm Eastern time, allowing three hours before the scheduled 7:00 pm start time for the movie. The game was a classic shootout punctuated by hard hits, fights and penalties. The first half ended with Oakland leading 14-12. In the second half the teams traded scores several times and Jets safety Jim Hudson was ejected from the game in the third quarter. Finally, New York took the lead at 32-29 when Jim Turner kicked a 26 yard field goal with only 1:05 left on the game clock. The ensuing kickoff was returned by the Raiders to their own 23 yard line and with that NBC went into a commercial break just before 7:00 pm.

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NBC had instructed Dick Cline, NBC's Broadcast Operations Supervisor, to cut to Heidi at 7:00 whether the game was over or not. However, as the game approached its exciting ending, NBC wisely decided to air it to its conclusion and make Heidi wait. Unfortunately, so many viewers were calling the network pleading with them to not cut from the game—or asking if Heidi would air on-time—that the executives could not get through. Cline received no late instructions otherwise, so when the network came back from commercials, Heidi started on schedule.

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While millions of stunned fans found themselves watching a little girl and her grumpy grandfather, the Raiders scored two touchdowns in nine seconds and held on to win, 43-32, in what has been voted by fans as one of the 10 most memorable games in American football history. Daryle Lamonica completed a 20 yard pass to Charlie Smith. Mike D’Amato grabbed Smith's facemask on the play and the 15 yard penalty put the Raiders into Jets territory on the 43 yard line. On the next play Smith caught a pass and ran by D'Amato for a 43-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left. Oakland was then ahead 36-32. On the ensuing kickoff Earl Christy fumbled the ball at the 10 yard line. The ball landed on the two yard line where Raiders special teamer Preston Ridlehuber recovered it and took it in for a touchdown with 33 seconds left in the game.

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The Jets were stunned but the fans were furious. At 7:20, a crawl across the bottom of the screen announced the ending to the game (during a dramatic point in the movie when Heidi's paralyzed cousin Klara fell from her wheelchair and had to summon enough courage to try to walk). So many fans called NBC to complain about missing the fantastic ending (and to make various and sundry threats) that the switchboard was literally blown. When they couldn't get through to NBC they started calling the police and the telephone company. At 8:30 NBC made a public apology and the next morning the fiasco was recounted on the front page of the New York Times. The reaction to the Heidi Game resulted in the AFL, and most other sports leagues, demanding that networks thereafter televise all games to their conclusion.

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NBC bought advertisements in several major newspapers soon after the incident, proclaiming rave reviews for Heidi, along with a quote from Jets quarterback Joe Namath: "I didn't get a chance to see it, but I heard it was great."

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American Football League: The American Football League (AFL) was a professional league of American football that operated from 1960 to 1969. In 1970 the AFL merged operations with the National Football League. All ten AFL franchises became part of the merged league, which retained the NFL name....

Oakland Raiders: The Oakland Raiders are a National Football League team based in Oakland, California. The team was founded in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger....

New York Jets: The New York Jets are a National Football League team that plays its home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but whose offices and training facilities are located in Hempstead, NY on Long Island. The team was founded in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL a...

Heidi Game related Images and Photos (experimental)

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