Al Carmichael doesn’t hog conversations. As he approaches his 82nd birthday, he wonders if anything he has to say is outdated. But when he is among strangers and discovers that some are from Denver, he knows he has a conversation stopper.
“I tell them that I scored the first touchdown for the Denver Broncos,” Carmichael said last week from his home in California. “That usually gets their attention.”
Sure enough, Carmichael’s claim to fame with the Broncos is true.
Carmichael’s 59-yard reception for a touchdown — Frank Tripucka threw the pass — produced the first six points scored in the American Football League.
On Sept. 9, 1960, the Broncos defeated the Boston Patriots 13-10 in Boston. A crowd of 21,597 fans attended the AFL’s first game.
“There wasn’t much news made about it,” Carmichael said. “I was lucky enough to be the one who did it, but I really didn’t think about it being the first touchdown until later in the season.”
Carmichael was listed as a halfback on the Broncos’ first roster but also lined up as a slotback and wingback. The Broncos were 4-9-1 in their inaugural season and Carmichael ranked third on the team in scoring with 42 points. He ran for two touchdowns and had five touchdown receptions. Gene Mingo, a kicker and halfback, led the 1960 Broncos in scoring with 123 points. Wide receiver Lionel Taylor had 72 points (12 touchdown catches).
Carmichael also returned punts and kickoffs, which he did in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers.
When he came to the Broncos, Carmichael was on the downward slope of his football career. He played for the Packers from 1953-58, his performance landing him in the team’s Hall of Fame.
An ankle injury ended his time with the Packers, and he was trying to hook on with Calgary of the Canadian Football League when the AFL beckoned. His path to the Broncos wasn’t free of obstacles.
“Vince Lombardi was our new coach in Green Bay,” Carmichael said. “My ankle was giving me trouble and he let me go, but I felt I still had some football left in me.”
Carmichael’s stay in Canada was short. There were limits on the number of American players allowed on CFL rosters, and Carmichael didn’t look favorably on being put on a “cab squad.”
He hadn’t heard of the AFL and wondered if it was a semipro league. But when a call came from general manager Frank Leahy of the Los Angeles Chargers, Carmichael knew he had to take a look.
Al Davis, the longtime owner of the Oakland Raiders, was a defensive coach on the Chargers staff at the time.
“When I showed up at the team’s offices, I was introduced to Sid Gillman as the team’s coach,” Carmichael said. “I asked what happened to Frank Leahy and they said they didn’t know. He had disappeared.”
Gillman’s idea that Carmichael should walk on and try to make the team sent him looking elsewhere for a job. Next up was general manager Dean Griffing of the Broncos.
“We had negotiated a contract, but when I got it in the mail, it was for less money than we had agreed on,” Carmichael said. “I tore it into little pieces.”
But Broncos coach Frank Fil- chock, who was the Calgary coach when Carmichael tried to play in Canada, told him that he would get the money.
“We trained at the Colorado School of Mines,” Carmichael said. “We had open tryouts. Players were coming and going like it was the Army. You had to wait in line to get taped before practice.”
Back then, pro athletes had off- season jobs. Carmichael earned extra money as a stuntman in movies. He was in a movie starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds.
Carmichael’s door to Hollywood was opened while he was attending the University of Southern California. He scored the touchdown in the 1953 Rose Bowl that helped USC beat Wisconsin 7-0.
Carmichael played two seasons with the Broncos. He calls 1960 and 1961 his most enjoyable years in football. His time with the Broncos gave him a conversation stopper.
Carmichael bio
Born: Nov. 10, 1928, in Boston
High school: Gardena (Calif.)
Colleges: Santa Ana College, USC
Family: Son Chris, daughters Pamela and Stacy
Hobbies: Reading and watching movies
Passion: Studying politics
