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Hidden tale of the NBC exec responsible for the ‘Heidi Game’

Modal Trigger

Joe Namath runs during the "Heidi Game" in 1968.

If a tree falls in the woods. … Are you kidding? Try this on: Fifty years ago, the end of a game no one saw became the end of a game no one would forget.

In 1982, when I was assigned this column, it came with an unspoken obligation to preserve local New York sports history:

Never forget the “Heidi Game” or the “Heidi Bowl,” Nov. 17, 1968, when NBC bolted from the Jets-Raiders — an intense, often brutal, AFL rivalry — for the start of the movie “Heidi.