1948 NFL Championship Program Philadelphia Eagles vs Cardinals Birds 1st Champs!

Description: 1948 NFL Championship Program Philadelphia Eagles vs Cardinals Birds 1st Champs! December 19, 1948, 28-page NFL Championship Program. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 at Franklin Field at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Eagles first season in the NFL was 1933, and as a fledgling team, they struggled to have a winning season having to compete with the likes of the more established Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and New York Giants. But with the addition of rookie halfback Steve van Buren in 1944, the Eagles were on their way to becoming a force in the NFL in the last half of the 1940's. In 1948 they won their first ever NFL Championship, during a 3-year consecutive period that they went to the NFL Championship Game - Losing in 1947 to the Chicago Cardinals, defeating the Cardinals in 1948, and beating the Los Angeles Rams in 1949. After beating the Green Bay Packers to win the 1960 NFL Championship Game, Eagles fans would have to wait another 57 years to be Champions again, defeating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in an nail biting offensive slugfest in Super Bowl LII. The 1948 NFL Championship has been called the "Blizzard Bowl" as it was played in a blizzard, with continuous raging wind and driving snow. Eagle Steve Van Buren five-yard touchdown run was the only score of the game and gave the Eagles their first ever NFL Championship. Van Buren lived in the Philly suburbs and his car was trapped in his driveway, He had to use public transportation to get to the game. He caught a bus, trolley and subway. Then he walked six blocks to make it to the stadium. An early morning storm dumped nearly a foot of snow on the Philadelphia area and neither team was certain the game would even be played. Snow at Shibe Park obscured hash marks and yard lines and made first-down measurements almost impossible. Referees used ropes to mark the sidelines. Fans were hired with to shovel the ten-yard lines across the field and could watched the game for free. Players were summoned from the locker room to help workers remove a snow-laden tarp from the field, delaying the game for 30 minutes. Some stories of the game told of players shoveling as well. Hard to imagine that happening today... Eagles and Cardinals players slogged through ankle-deep snow that added pounds to their uniforms. The temperature was around 25 degrees, with near-20-mph winds. Quite a way for the Birds franchise to finally capture their first crown! The program has a full vertical crease on the cover, some small creases on the spine, and some light marks on the cover towards the top as shown. There is a light full vertical crease throughout. There are some marks on the line-up page on the top left and to a lesser extent on the top right on the television player graphics, with indentations at those areas and for a few additional pages after as a result. Most likely from a paper clip or two (could have been some news clippings paper clipped and stored in the center at some point in the past). The binding is tight and secure. There have only been a handful of 1948 NFL Championship programs sold on Ebay over the last two years. Because of the game-day weather conditions, fewer of these programs exist. Most were probably sopping wet by the end of the game. This offered program is a considerably nicer example than any that have sold on Ebay in the last two years. Overall, this is a solid, nice example of this Championship game program. 20.00 shipping in the USA.

Price: 900 USD

Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-11-10T13:02:44.000Z

Shipping Cost: 20 USD