Inspired by Halloween – the 1967 Sears exclusive Tudor NFL No. 613 model with the Cardinals and the Bears.
On Halloween night in 1966 the Cardinals hosted the Bears in the newly opened Busch Stadium. The game was nationally televised, and the Cardinals prevailed over the Bears 24 -17. The significance of this game was that it happened on a Monday night.
The game was an important and calculated part of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s campaign to convince the major television networks that regularly scheduled Monday night NFL football games could draw viewers and be profitable. (Thanks to Rozelle’s efforts, this “crazy idea” became a reality in 1970 with ABC’s Monday Night Football.)
For 1967, Tudor Director of Product Development and Electric Football-designer extraordinaire Lee Payne recreated the Cardinals-Bears Monday night Halloween game in the form of the Sears’ NFL 613 model. It’s still one of the most striking games that Tudor ever made. And it’s not only a part of Electric Football history, it’s part of NFL history too. History that was made long ago on a Halloween night.
Page 64 from Full Color Electric Football
We capture all of that history in our book The Unforgettable Buzz:The History of Electric Football and Tudor Games. We also capture the Tudor NFL No. 613 model, in color, in our Full Color Electric Football book.
Earl & Roddy