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B ert Bell spent his first day at work in the New Year 1959 chatting on the phone with well-wishers anxious to talk about the fabulous sudden-death game between the Colts and Giants. But later that afternoon, Joe Labrum, his public relations man, came rushing in with some disconcerting news. “Bobby Layne and Ollie Matson didn’t report for practice today,” he told the commissioner. “They’re passing up the Pro Bowl in Los Angeles. They’re playing at the Hula Bowl in Hawaii instead, and UPI is on the phone looking for your reaction.” Bell was livid. Despite his frequent pleas to the owners to help him enforce the clause in the player’s contract that required them to play in the Pro Bowl in Los Angeles if selected, the bigger stars—like Layne, the great Detroit quarterback, and Matson, the outstanding Chicago Cardinals halfback—often chose a trip to Hawaii. The Hula Bowl had been around since 1946, but the game took on added luster early in the 1950s when NFL players were first invited to join the Hawaiian All-Star team to strengthen their chances against a national “college” squad. The commissioner picked up the phone and told the United Press International reporter that he would recommend a “severe penalty” for recalcitrant players when he put the matter on the agenda at the annual league meeting in two weeks. “A lot of ballplayers want to play in the Pro Bowl game because the money means a lot to them,” he said.“But the rich players want to go to the Hula game. They can take their wives with them and it’s like a vacation. Ballplayers expect the owners to live up to the contracts, so they should do the same.” Frank Gifford of the New York Giants was another player who chose the more exotic trip. He lived only about a half a mile from the Coliseum where he had played for USC. He was back in Los Angeles doing some 39. Anxiety over the AFC, the Pension Plan, and the Pro Bowl Anxiety over the AFC, the Pension Plan, and the Pro Bowl • 295 film work, and appearing in another game in his hometown meant absolutely nothing. “I remember talking to Wellington Mara about it,” Gifford explained years later.“I said,‘Look, I’ve got a chance to go play in Hawaii. I can take my wife and I’m going to have a two week vacation.’ And he kinda looked at me and said something to the effect of, ‘Well I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I know what I would have done.’ All I wanted was his blessing, but he couldn’t go against the commissioner. He basically said, ‘Go ahead and enjoy it.’” The night before convening the three-day owners’ meeting at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia, Bell sat down for a private dinner with the three leaders of the Players Association—Billy Howton of the Green Bay Packers, Kyle Rote of the New York Giants, and Bill Pellington of the Baltimore Colts. The players told Bell that their counterparts from every NFL team except the Chicago Bears were planning to remain in the Quaker City for the duration of the owners’ meetings to “clarify the pension issue.” The commissioner could see from the looks in the players’ eyes that they were a fiercely determined group. Although he was still not convinced personally, he decided to take the high road. He quickly invited all of their representatives to attend the sessions when the owners discussed the situation with Bill Dudley, the former Pittsburgh Steelers triple-threat star who was now a successful life insurance entrepreneur branching out into group and benefit plans. When the owners reconvened on January 22—following a long, tedious player draft that went long into the previous night—they heard what the commissioner had to say and immediately agreed to invite the players. In addition to Howton, Rote, and Pellington, Dick Alban of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Joseph Perry of the San Francisco 49ers, Bobby Walston of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Ron Waller of the Los Angeles Rams were welcomed into the meetings. Dudley made a compelling presentation. It was so impressive that Bell reversed his position afterward and described himself as “open-minded” on the issue. “After listening to Dudley, I am for one perfectly willing to study the plan, listen to some other insurance people, and investigate this thing...

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