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1951 Pro Bowl

1951 National–American Pro Bowl
Members of the 1951 American Conference offense.
Top row, from left right: Geri, Motley, Graham and Dudley. Bottom row, from left to right: Pihos, DeRogatis, Barnes, Bednarik, Fischer, Weinmeister and Speedie.
1234 Total
American Conference 77140 28
National Conference 71370 27
DateJanuary 14, 1951
StadiumMemorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
MVPOtto Graham (Cleveland Browns)
Attendance53,676
TV in the United States
Networknot televised

The 1951 Pro Bowl was the National Football League's inaugural Pro Bowl which featured the league's outstanding performers from the 1950 season. The game was played on Sunday, January 14, 1951, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California in front of 53,676 fans. The American Conference squad defeated the National Conference by a score of 28–27.[1][2] The player were selected by a vote of each conferences coaches along with the sports editors of the newspapers in the Los Angeles area, where the game was contested.[3]

The National team was led by the Los Angeles Rams' Joe Stydahar while Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns coached the American stars. The same two coaches had faced each other three weeks earlier in the 1950 NFL Championship Game in which Brown's team had also defeated Stydahar's. Both coaches employed the T formation offense in the Pro Bowl.[4]

Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham was named the game's outstanding player.[5]

  1. ^ "Graham paces Americans to 28–27 win in Pro Bowl". Milwaukee Sentinel. AP. January 15, 1951. p. 3 (Part 2). Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  2. ^ "Browns' Americans win Pro Bowl game, 28–27". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. AP. January 15, 1951. p. 19. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  3. ^ "Pro Bowl names linemen". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. December 14, 1950. p. 50. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  4. ^ "Pro all-stars clash on coast". Pittsburgh Press. January 14, 1951. p. 40. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  5. ^ "The 1951 Pro Bowl". Bolding Sports Research. Archived from the original on May 1, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.