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| Date | January 16, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Jeppesen Stadium, Houston, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| Co-MVPs | Keith Lincoln (San Diego Chargers), Willie Brown (Denver Broncos) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 15,446 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1965 All-Star Game was the AFL's fourth annual season-ending showpiece, which featured the outstanding performers from the 1964 season. A team drawn from the Western Division defeated their Eastern counterparts by a score of 38–14, scoring 21 unanswered points to pull away in the second half. The head coaches, Sid Gillman and Lou Saban, had faced each other in the 1964 AFL Championship game three weeks earlier, when Saban's Buffalo Bills had defeated Gillman's San Diego Chargers. Running back Keith Lincoln had suffered a cracked rib in that game,[2] but recovered to score two long touchdowns and win the offensive MVP award in the All-Star game, as he had done in the previous year's edition. Defensive back Willie Brown of the Denver Broncos won the defensive MVP award.
Originally scheduled to take place in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, the game had to be moved at short notice to Jeppesen Stadium, home of the Houston Oilers. The twenty-one African American players on the All-Star teams encountered numerous instances of racism in New Orleans during the build-up to the game, and voted to stage a boycott, with some white players saying they would join with and also boycott the game. In response, the AFL moved the game.[3][4][5]
The game was televised by ABC, making it the final professional football game televised by the network until the debut of Monday Night Football in 1970.
- ^ "TV Guide". Los Angeles Times. January 10, 1965.
- ^ "Mike Stratton mourns the loss of Keith Lincoln, the recipient of his 'Hit Heard 'Round the World' in 1964 AFL title game". The Athletic.
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