The 1951 Pro Bowl was the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

's inaugural

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

which featured the league's outstanding performers from the 1950 season. The game was played on Sunday, January 14, 1951, at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in front of 53,676 fans. The American Conference squad defeated the National Conference by a score of 28–27. The player were selected by a vote of each conferences coaches along with the sports editors of the newspapers in the Los Angeles area, where the game was contested. The National team was led by the Los Angeles Rams'

Joe Stydahar Joseph Lee Stydahar (March 17, 1912 – March 23, 1977), sometimes listed as Joseph Leo Stydahar, and sometimes known by the nickname "Jumbo Joe", was an American professioinall football player and coach. He was inducted into the Pro Football H ...

while

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

coached the American stars. The same two coaches had faced each other three weeks earlier in the 1950 NFL Championship Game in which Brown's team had also defeated Stydahar's. Both coaches employed the

T formation In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarter ...

offense in the Pro Bowl.

quarterback Otto Graham was named the game's outstanding player.

Rosters

The 31-man Pro Bowl squads consisted of the following players: Roster Notes: :Selected but did not play :Replacement selection due to injury or vacancy

Number of selections by team

Note: these numbers include players selected to the team but unable to play as well as replacements for these players, so there are more than 31 players in each conference.

References

{{Pro Bowl Pro Bowl

Sports competitions in Los Angeles National Football League in Los Angeles January 1951 sports events in the United States 1951 in sports in California