HOW MOH RECIPIENT & WWII FIGHTER ACE JOE FOSS HELPED CREATE THE SUPER BOWL

By Allison Kirschbaum

Joe Foss had an undeniably huge influence over the birth of the Super Bowl. That same year, in 2003, when they sent out his prescient letter, Foss, a Medal of Honor recipient, died at the age of eighty-seven.

Shortly, the Texans relocated and became what we know them today as the league's most talked-about and successful team of this decade – the Kansas City Chiefs.

How Foss Started the Game

Consider the start of Super Bowl history to be late 1963, when former South Dakota governor and then American Football League commissioner Joe Foss sent a letter to National Football League commissioner Rozelle.

Foss wrote, "The overriding fact is the establishment of a World Series of professional football is necessary for the progress of our game if we're to be true sportsmen and not merely businessmen in sports."

Rozelle disagreed, understanding the contest that Foss envisioned would pit the upstart AFL against the NFL, suggesting to the public that the two leagues were somewhat equal. But it was suspected that Rozelle knew he couldn't say “no” for many more seasons.

For starters, Joe Foss was an intimidating opponent, a look-you-in-the-eye South Dakota sportsman as likely to be found hunting west of Sioux Falls as sitting in his New York office. Sportswriters coast to coast loved Foss. Rozelle, by contrast, was more like a businessman in sports.

To sign a TV contract with a network that understands a football game can stand on its own merits. Americans are football savvy and don't need hours of pre-game analysis and reminders to stay tuned for clever commercials should the big game fall flat.

They're also media savvy and can see that everything that distracts from the game is supported by more commercials, the work of "merely businessmen in sports," to use Joe Foss' words.

A Hero’s Impact Beyond the Battlefield

When the U.S. joined World War II, Joe Foss took to the air. He was the executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 121 of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, which became a force to be reckoned with during the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific.

Guadalcanal was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Japanese, who had occupied the island up until August 1942, when Allied troops overwhelmed and ousted them. The Japanese tried several times to retake the island via land, air, and sea.

From October 9 to November 19, 1942, “Ace of Aces” was credited with shooting down 23 Japanese airplanes and seriously damaging several others. He also led escort missions during that time that covered reconnaissance, bombing, photographic, and surface aircraft.
January 15, 1943, Foss shot down three more enemy aircraft, bringing his total to 26 in 44 days, a record that was unsurpassed during World War II.
January 25, 1943, Foss led several Marine and Army aircrews into action against an enemy that outnumbered them.

Foss was elected as a South Dakota state representative in 1948 and served for five years in that position. He then became the state’s governor from 1955 to 1959. Joe Foss also served as the commissioner of the early American Football League and was a key figure in the initiation of the Super Bowl. He was also once the National Rifle Association’s president.

How a Firefighter Ace Helped Change Football

Foss had the kind of dignity that usually made people listen to him. Besides being one of the WW2 fighter aces whose fighter squadron shot down 135 Japanese planes during four months in World War II, and the former two-term governor of South Dakota, and had run for Congress.

In that respect, Foss was trying to beat Rozelle at his own game by writing the letter. It wasn't supposed to be a confidential communication between two rivals.

"Joe's intent was to get publicity and be cocky," says Joe Horrigan of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

"He was saying, 'We'll meet you anytime, anywhere.’” Joe Foss might not have conceived the idea.

The AFL's brash oil-rich president, Lamar Hunt, fresh off moving his Texas team to Kansas City and eager to one-up the NFL, was a genius at promotion and publicity stunts. "It has all the hallmarks of a Lamar Hunt effort," Horrigan says. But the letter reflected Foss' statesmanlike tone.

"The NFL could have said, 'See, we told you so' and, like a heavyweight champ, avoided a rematch."

And if the Bills had triumphed? The winning coach on Sunday might have been hoisting the Lou Saban Trophy in Super Bowl XLVIII.

The Super Bowl’s Hero

Joe Foss became a Naval Aviator and was commissioned a second lieutenant. At age 26, he was considered too old to be a fighter pilot and was initially assigned to flying reconnaissance.

He kept requesting combat; however, and eventually, the Marines let him transfer to a fighting squadron. He became the squadron’s executive officer and was shipped with his mates to the Pacific island of Guadalcanal in 1942.

In three months of the battle for Guadalcanal, he and his boys of the Cactus Air Force shot down 72 Japanese Zeroes. Foss downed 26 of them. That matched the record held by America’s top World War I “Ace of Aces.”

Every year, during the Super Bowl, many elderly people think of Joe Foss. Joe was the man who suggested that the winners of the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL) play each other for the championship. Joe was the commissioner of the AFL. He then influenced the military to join the Super Bowl.

Joe Foss, a Medal of Honor recipient as Marine Corps flying aces of World War II, helped bring us the Super Bowl.

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