The Game Before the Money: Oral History of Pro and College Football

Roger Zatkoff starred at linebacker for the University of Michigan in the early 1950s. He went on to star in the NFL for the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. He won the NFL Championship with the 1957 Lions.

Hear Roger share stories of playing for Michigan under iconic coach Bennie Oosterbaan and winning the 1957 NFL Championship with the Detroit Lions. He takes us into the locker room during the famous halftime scenario of the 1957 West Division Playoff against the San Francisco 49ers – a game that the Lions set a record for the largest playoff comeback in NFL history that stood for over 30 years. You will also learn what it was like to play for the Green Bay Packers in the days before Lambeau Field was built.

Zatkoff also goes behind-the-scenes to describe a trade that sent him from the Packers to the Browns, then the Rams, and ultimately the Lions. The story involves Bert Bell, then commissioner of the NFL,, future commissioner Pete Rozelle, and Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown.

The Game before the Money Podcast comes out each Tuesday. The show is hosted and produced by Jackson Michael, author of the book The Game before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL, writer/director of the documentary We Were the Oilers: The Luv Ya Blue Era!, and host/producer of The Texas Sports Hall of Fame Podcast.