1951 Pro Bowl

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]

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.
American Conference National Conference 28 27 Head coach: Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns) Head coach: Joe Stydahar (Los Angeles Rams)
1 2 3 4 Total American Conference 7 7 14 0 28 National Conference 7 13 7 0 27
Date	January 14, 1951
Stadium	Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
MVP	Otto Graham (Cleveland Browns)
Attendance	53,676
TV in the United States
Network	not televised
← 1942 (Dec) Pro Bowl 1952 →

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]

Rosters

The 31-man Pro Bowl squads consisted of the following players:^[2][6]

Position	American Conference^[3]	National Conference^[7]^[8]
Quarterback	Charlie Conerly^[a] – New York Giants Harry Gilmer – Washington Redskins Otto Graham – Cleveland Browns Jim Hardy – Chicago Cardinals	Frankie Albert – San Francisco 49ers Johnny Lujack – Chicago Bears Norm Van Brocklin – Los Angeles Rams Bob Waterfield – Los Angeles Rams
Halfback	Elmer Angsman – Chicago Cardinals Bill Dudley – Washington Redskins Joe Geri – Pittsburgh Steelers Gene Roberts – New York Giants Otto Schnellbacher – New York Giants Emlen Tunnell – New York Giants	Glenn Davis – Los Angeles Rams Don Doll – Detroit Lions Billy Grimes– Green Bay Packers Woodley Lewis – Los Angeles Rams Spec Sanders – New York Yanks Johnny Strzykalski – San Francisco 49ers Doak Walker – Detroit Lions
Fullback	Tony Adamle – Cleveland Browns Pat Harder – Chicago Cardinals Marion Motley – Cleveland Browns Jerry Shipkey – Pittsburgh Steelers	Dick Hoerner – Los Angeles Rams Zollie Toth – New York Yanks Norm Standlee – San Francisco 49ers
End	John Green – Philadelphia Eagles Pete Pihos – Philadelphia Eagles Ray Poole^[a] – New York Giants Bob Shaw – Chicago Cardinals Mac Speedie – Cleveland Browns Bob Dove^[b] – Chicago Cardinals	Cloyce Box –Detroit Lions Larry Brink – Los Angeles Rams Dan Edwards – New York Yanks Tom Fears – Los Angeles Rams Ed Sprinkle – Chicago Bears
Tackle	Al DeRogatis – New York Giants Lou Groza – Cleveland Browns Paul Lipscomb – Washington Redskins Arnie Weinmeister – New York Giants Al Wistert – Philadelphia Eagles	George Connor – Chicago Bears Fred Davis – Chicago Bears Dick Huffman – Los Angeles Rams Thurman McGraw – Detroit Lions Leo Nomellini – San Francisco 49ers
Guard	Walt Barnes – Philadelphia Eagles Bill Fischer – Chicago Cardinals Weldon Humble – Cleveland Browns Bill Willis – Cleveland Browns	Dick Barwegan – Chicago Bears Ray Bray – Chicago Bears Lou Creekmur – Detroit Lions Visco Grgich – San Francisco 49ers
Center	Chuck Bednarik – Philadelphia Eagles John Cannady – New York Giants Bill Walsh – Pittsburgh Steelers	Ed Neal – Green Bay Packers Clayton Tonnemaker^[a]  – Green Bay Packers Bulldog Turner – Chicago Bears Brad Ecklund^[b] – New York Yanks

Roster Notes:

^a Selected but did not play

^b Replacement selection due to injury or vacancy

Number of selections by team

Note: these numbers include players selected to the team but unable to play as well as replacements for these players, so there are more than 31 players in each conference.

American Team Selections New York Giants 8 Cleveland Browns 7 Chicago Cardinals 6 Philadelphia Eagles 5 Pittsburgh Steelers 3 Washington Redskins 3

National Team Selections Los Angeles Rams 8 Chicago Bears 7 Detroit Lions 5 San Francisco 49ers 5 New York Yanks 4 Green Bay Packers 3 Baltimore Colts 0

References

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. . Bolding Sports Research. Archived from the original on May 1, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
6. "1951 Pro Bowl". Pro-Football-Reference.com. from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
7. "National loop names backs for Pro Bowl". Pittsburgh Press. UP. December 21, 1950. p. 29. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
8. "Bears supply six linemen for Pro Bowl". Pittsburgh Press. UP. December 19, 1950. p. 43. Retrieved January 25, 2012.