On Sunday evening, the Super Bowl will once again become (most likely) the most watched American television event of the year. From the commercials, to the endless buildup, to the actual game itself, it’s the annual crowning achievement of a league that generates billions and billions of dollars. Still, why exactly is the Super Bowl called the Super Bowl?
Ask any football expert, and I guarantee you 90 percent will have no idea.
The answer, derived from multiple sources, including History.com, is pretty awesome.
Technically, it all started with a bored chemist, named Norman Stingley. Working at the Bettis Rubber Company, Stingley decided to experiment with the product he was working with all day. Putting an unformed, rubbery substance under 3,500 pounds of pressure, Stingley managed to create an extremely elastic (and compact) product.
No idea where this is going, right? Good, it’s not supposed to be obvious, until you watch this commercial, which signals what Stingley ended up doing with his new creation:
This is where football comes into the story. Before the first ever Championship between the old NFL and AFL (the two leagues who eventually combined to form the modern National Football League in 1970), the organizers needed a name that wasn’t just the standard (and boring) AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
Various ideas were tossed out, each as lame as the next. Finally, Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt (one of the most influential men in American sports in the last half century) spoke up with an idea that popped into his head:
Super Bowl.
And where did that idea come from? The Super Ball, a toy that Hunt’s kids (like millions of kids) were infatuated with. Hunt admitted that he had originally conceived of the idea having heard the name of the bouncy ball that was popularized by the toy company, Wham-O.
The usage of bowl in the name was clearly taken from college games, and when combined, the bourgeoning game had its name. Even still, many of football’s heads of state disliked calling it the Super Bowl, and lobbied in the years after to change it. Nothing worked though, and football was “stuck” with calling it the Super Bowl.
In retrospect, it seems crazy that they considered changing it. It’s as much a part of American lexicon as the 4th of July, or wearing a t-shirt while swimming at a water park.
So think about that before Sunday’s (hopefully) epic matchup of the Seahawks and Broncos. Because before there was Montana, or Brady, or Bradshaw. Before even Namath, or Starr, or Lombardi, there was just a bored chemist, and a bouncing “super” ball.
Images via Spokeo
