Was a Gotham Joe Namath game used as “payment” to New York police officers?

The New York Times front page, November 17, 1972

Electric football was pretty popular in the early 1970’s, but was it “valuable” enough to be used as a bribe…to police officers?

1972 Tudor AFC No. 610 with the Jets and Browns.

The answer is a resounding “Yes.” In a front page New York Times article from November of 1972, two Brooklyn police officers were suspended and asked to retire after soliciting a “gratuity” of two electric football games (also part of the deal was a hair dryer and an electric frying pan).

They weren’t the only officers involved in this type of behavior at New York’s 83rd Precinct (the Tudor factory was not part of the 83rd’s territory). So they probably didn’t see their electric football “request” as a big deal. Considering the extent of the charges brought against the Precinct, the local shopkeepers were probably used to such requests.

But at the end of the day, two policemen gambled their jobs and their careers over an electric football game. Pretty amazing when you think about it…and you have to wonder. Were they Giants’ or Jets’ fans? And was it a Tudor, Coleco, Gotham, or a Munro?

Earl & Roddy