The Super Bowl grew out of modest Los Angeles beginnings

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pete Rozelle never liked the name that was half-jokingly suggested by Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt for the first annual game between the champions of the NFL and the AFL. Hunt agreed, telling the NFL commissioner they could surely think of something better to call it than the Super Bowl. Reporters, fans and many other football people were already calling it the Super Bowl, much to Rozelle’s consternation. Two years later, the sport gave in and adopted the name officially for the event that was already growing into the sociocultural behemoth it is today. But the first Super Bowl had a fraction of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds this weeklong celebration of football, fandom and consumerism.