Norm Van Brocklin drops back, corks his arm behind his ear and whizzes a pass to Hall of Fame receiver Elroy Hirsch. It’s the third quarter of the Rams’ 1951 season opener against the New York Yanks. The football fires out of Van Brocklin’s hand toward the right side of the field and barely lands in Hirsch’s grasp at the 15-yard line before a Yanks defender can cut in front of the pass. As Hirsch turns upfield and runs in for a score, with the wobbly running style that earned him the nickname “Crazy Legs,” camera flashes go off from photographers standing in the end zone, capturing footage of an evening that would go down in history but largely be lost to newspaper archives and old film tapes.
For the quarterback with sharp blue eyes and an arm as explosive as his temper, that score marked one of the five touchdowns and 26 of the 554 yards he threw for on Friday, Sept. 28, 1951, a single-game NFL passing record that stands to this day. As of Monday, his record has stood for 75 years.
