Lenny Moore played running back for the Baltimore Colts from 1956 to 1967. He was a key member of the 1958 team that defeated the New York Giants, 23-17, in overtime to win the NFL championship in The Greatest Game Ever Played. Moore, 75, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975. The seven-time Pro Bowler lives in Randallstown.
Are you amazed how much attention the 1958 championship game still receives?
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The way things happened, we should have blown the Giants away, but we blundered around and then they came back and then we had to come back to tie it. Once we got to the end of regulation, no one knew what was happening. We thought we would just go to the locker room and it’s a tie. Not even the referees knew exactly what to do. Its legend has just grown and grown through the years.
Did you get injured in that game?
I was injured in the second quarter. I did something [to my back] where I had to stop running the ball. What they wanted me in the game for was to [block Giants linebacker] Sam Huff. I went over to [Colts coach] Weeb Ewbank and told him I was hurt. He said ‘They don’t know you’re hurt.’ So, he put me in at flanker basically as a decoy, and that’s when they started going to [receiver Raymond] Berry.
Were you concerned the Giants would win the game after Alan Ameche was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with your team leading, 14-3, in the third quarter?
It didn’t worry us because we knew the play was there and we could get them somewhere down the line. We just had to find out when the timing was right. We made the plays we had to in the fourth quarter and in overtime.
How hard is it to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Colts’ victory in the NFL championship game since so many of your teammates have died?
It’s tough because we want them to be here to share with what we’re experiencing. But we are still here to enjoy this. We have to be there for the ones who are no longer with us. We also have to enjoy every moment of this because we most likely won’t be here for the 75th anniversary.
