"I always think that if I had had any money and any decent equipment, I would never have taken that picture"
February 5, 2012 | Source: Monroe Gallery of Photography
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, N.Y., December 28, 1958
"There is a picture of Alan Ameche scoring the winning touchdown in what has been referred to as "the greatest game ever played". It was the famous sudden death between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, which coincidentally took place on my 16th birthday, December 28th 1958. When Alan Ameche scored the winning touchdown there were so many Colt's fans, (mainly drunken Colt's fans) on the field that the security had their hands full just making sure that they could keep those people off the field. They weren't worried about someone like me that they had seen every week. So I ended up exactly ten yards in front of Ameche as he scored the winning touchdown. He came right at me and I got that picture, which today, is certainly one of my best-known pictures. I always think that if I had had any money and any decent equipment, I would never have taken that picture because, if I would have had a long lens, a 135mm or a 180mm, I would have tried to fill the frame with Ameche going in for the winning touchdown. Instead I got the wide shot that takes in the whole ambiance of Yankee Stadium that afternoon which is so much better than any picture I would have taken years later when I was an established pro." -- Neil Leifer
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