Pro Football Special
First episode: September, 1964
Last episode: 1965
Seen weekends in syndication
The Show
Yet another obscurity on the man's resume, Bill hosted this weekly interview program featuring NFL players and coaches during the 1964 season. On each program, Bill and New York Giants coach Allie Sherman were joined by a panel who would review highlights of football games and discuss strategy and other subjects. Sportscaster Marty Glickman, who had previously called Army football games with Bill in 1956, worked behind the scenes as associate producer.
In 1964, professional football on television was already a weekend staple, but not nearly the behemoth it would eventually become. Keep in mind that this was still three years before the first Super Bowl, and even a season before NFL Films started recording and preserving everything in sight. This appears to have been a syndicated show provided to local stations to plug holes in their weekend lineups. It also appears that stations weren't even bound to air the show each week, using it on an as-needed basis.
For sure, the title of the series was Pro Football Special, but researching it comprehensively is a bit tricky because local newspapers and TV Guide listings were oddly wishy-washy about the title. It was sometimes listed as NFL Special and Pro Football Discussion, and there may have been other titles.
Video
At least one episode survives...take a look for yourself.
Episode Guide
We've found episode listings for exactly 13 unique panels, and since TV shows in that era typically operated on 13 week increments, we suspect this is the entire series. (We don't know that for sure, though.) Because it was a syndicated show, we can't begin to guess the order in which they were taped.