The Northland Hotel’s cheerful wakeup message beliedwhat had settled in during the night.
“Good morning,” the answering service chirped. “It is16 degrees below zero and the wind is out of the north.Have a nice day.”
Snug in a warm bed in that Green Bay hotel on Sunday,Dec. 31, 1967, Norm Schachter was almost wondering if itwas some kind of bad dream. When Schachter arrived atGreen Bay’s Austin Straubel airport from his Los Angeleshome the previous day for the NFL Championship Gamebetween the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, it wasactually tolerable outside. Temperatures approached 20and Schachter found it comfortable enough to even take ashort walk downtown.
“People knew who you were because it was a smalltown and I had been there before quite a number of times,”Schachter said. “They were yelling, ‘Stay indoors, ref! Getwarm so you can signal touchdowns for Green Baytomorrow!”
It has gone down in NFL lore as “The Ice Bowl,” a gamethat offered both chilling suspense and potentiallyfrostbitten extremities to all involved.
“It was the most exciting game I ever worked,” saidSchachter, who ended his 20-year career in 1976 afterworking Super Bowl X between the Cowboys andPittsburgh Steelers.
The war with the elements began even before Schachterand his crew walked onto the frozen Lambeau Field turf forthe first time that morning. During breakfast, then-supervisor of officials Mark Duncan asked the crew whatkind of gear they had for the cold.
“All we have are the clothes onour backs,” Schachter answered.There was no discussion by NFLrepresentatives that morning ofpostponing the game because of theexcruciatingly cold conditions, sothe show somehow had to go on.Duncan arranged for a Green Baysporting goods store to open for theofficials that Sunday morning and theNFL ran up quite a tab.
“We got extra socks, thermalunderwear and things like that,”Schachter said. “I had regular underwear on and threepairs of stockings and then I put plastic bags over my feet. Ihad a sweatshirt from one of the teams, a turtlenecksweater and then we had on those plastic bags you get fromthe cleaners.
“I looked like I weighed 400 pounds. I figured if I felldown, they would be able to spin me around and I wouldnever get up!”
Despite the layers of clothing alongwith shoes that offered little in the wayof traction to negotiate the frozen turf,Schachter recalls few problems withmobility that afternoon. The cold,however, did eliminate one of anofficial’s most essential tools — thewhistle.
In those days, officials’ whistleswere designed with tiny wooden ballsto produce sound. Schachter realizedhe would be in for problems when,signaling the opening kickoff, he couldonly muster a couple of feeble “tweets”from his whistle.
The last whistle of the game cameseconds later, after the kickoff, whenSchachter heard some epithets comingfrom the direction of umpire JoeConnell, who was frozen to his metalwhistle.
“Half of his lip came off,” Schachtersaid. “He didn’t have any nipple on thething. After that, we just yelled at (theplayers) to stop and go.”
After a relatively uneventful firsthalf ended with the Packers leading 14-10, the officials headed for the much-anticipated warmth of their dressingroom. Schachter remembers littleof those precious few minutes ofcomfort, other than his frozen crewgulping hot cups of coffee.
“I knew my cheeks werefrostbitten,” said Schachter. “If wehadn’t had ear muffs and mittens, Ithink we would have had atremendous problem.”
By the fourth quarter, after beingexposed to temperatures that reachedminus 13 degrees, the extreme discomfortfor coaches, players, fans and officials wasrunning almost neck and neck with the suspenseof that classic game. But everyone just wanted to get home.
During the game’s climatic moments, Schachter spotteda television relay man frantically waving his arms for atimeout. With the final minutes of the game running down,CBS was still short one commercial and Schachter wasforced to prolong everyone’s misery even longer to fit inthat $150,000 spot. After some brief anxiety, he finally gothis chance after an incomplete pass by Packers quarterbackBart Starr.
Bob Skoronski, the Packers’ left tackle, didn’t appreciate that extra minute in the cold.
“I remember Bob rushing me when I called that timeout,” Schachter said. “He was saying, ‘Who called that timeout, Norm?’ and I said, ‘I did.’ He said, ‘What the hell for?’ and I said, ‘Players’ pension fund.’ And then he said, ‘Good call!’”
Vince Lombardi, the Packers’ legendary coach, didn’t agree. He was angered that the television timeout might hinder the Packers, who were trailing, 17-14, at that point.
“Norm, you killed our momentum!” Lombardi screamed. “You shouldn’t have stopped the game. We were on the move. Damn it!”
Lombardi’s concern was shortlived. When play resumed, Starr methodically moved the Packers downfield until they had reached the Cowboys’ one yardline with 16 seconds left. Starr called the Packers’ final timeout and trotted over to confer with Lombardi.
It has long been reported that Starr, not trusting the field’s precarious footing, called a running play in the huddle and then, without his teammates knowing his true intentions, snuck the ball in for the winning touchdown. But Schachter, who followed Starr to the sideline to remind Lombardi that the Packers had just used their final timeout, remembers a different scenario.
“He turned to Starr and said, ‘Let’s go for it. Try a quarterback sneak,’” Schachter said.
It was a challenging call for the Packers and just as challenging for Schachter.
“They had no more timeouts, that play would take some time and if Starr hadn’t made it, the whole Dallas team would have been on top of him,” Schachter said. “And there’s the problem: Do I call a referee’s timeout and unwind the guys or do I let them (the Cowboys) run the clock out?”
Starr made all of that academic when he followed blocks by Jerry Kramer and Ken Bowman to score on a one-yard sneak. The Packers beat the Cowboys, 21-17, for a historic third consecutive NFL championship and the coldest afternoon of Schachter’s career was finally over.
More than 33 years later, that game still gives Schachter shivers, even in the comfort of his Los Angeles home. “When I see a game back East on television and I’m sitting in my house, I kind of rub my cheeks and I think, ‘Those people are sure having a hard time today!’” Schachter said.
Here are some Tips For Working In Cold Weather that you can use yourself.
