PanthersPens62
Paul & Stanley
Had it not been summertime, you would have sworn it was about the Philadelphia Flyers, the Broad Street Bullies, and not the opening gambit to William Oscar Johnson’s story about a 10-day trial in which the Raiders’ George Atkinson sued Steelers coach Chuck Noll for slander.In the 1975 AFC Championship, George Atkinson had knocked Lynn Swann out of the game.
The $2 million dispute stemmed from Atkinson’s vicious blow away from the play late in the first half of the 1976 season opener that rendered unsuspecting Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann ineffective for the second half with a concussion.
Noll referred to Atkinson as “a criminal element” that should be banished from the NFL. Atkinson pressed charges. The trial was so outrageous that John Grisham couldn’t have dreamed it up.