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“It was such a weird game, such a sloppy game,” recalled Ray Didinger, the sportswriter covering the first of thirty-four consecutive Super Bowls.

What was going through my mind was, given the way this game has played out, I’m expecting a low snap, I’m expecting Morrall to drop the ball, or I’m expecting O’Brien—who’s this rookie, who had been anything but consistent all year—he’s gonna miss.

I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. I should have turned it over to the other side and said, “Everything has gone the opposite of what we expected it to go today; nothing’s gone right. So O’Brien should miss this kick. But given the nature of the day it’s been, I guess he’s gonna make it!”

While his teammates prayed on the sidelines, O’Brien readied for the kick. Quarterback Earl Morrall gave him a final set of instructions—“Keep your head down and kick it straight”—then knelt at the thirty-two-yard line, O’Brien three yards directly behind him. Veteran Tom Goode fired the snap back to Morrall, who spotted the ball. O’Brien, his chin strap inexplicably unsnapped, leaned into the hold and swiped through the ball. The perfectly straight kick sailed directly through the uprights. As soon as he kicked the ball, O’Brien knew it was good. The rookie repeatedly jumped up and down, then ran toward the Colts’ sideline to rejoice with his teammates.

The Cowboys would have one last-second chance to score, but a desperation Craig Morton pass was intercepted, and shortly after, the Colts returned to the Orange Bowl locker room to celebrate.

“I remember Cornelius Johnson, offensive guard, number 61, he was just kinda bent over on a stool, actually crying,” Jack Maitland said.

He finally looked up in the air like he was praying and said, “Finally got the f-ing ring.”

But it was like the ring meant so much to a lot of those guys because many of them retired after that season. That was kinda their swan song. It was obviously a lot of joy and elation, but it was a tremendous amount of relief, it was kinda a sigh of relief. I don’t remember popping champagne corks or anything like that. It wasn’t a crazy celebration. The veterans, they finally made amends for that debacle two years prior. The rookies were obviously pretty ecstatic. For us, it wasn’t a big deal: our rookie year we win the Super Bowl, no big deal. The longer you’re around it, you realize how tough it is.

For the Colts’ greener players—those who hadn’t suffered through the Super Bowl III debacle—the victory was more enjoyable than poignant, especially for the Super Bowl hero, Jim O’Brien.

During the regular season, Ernie Accorsi had approached two of the lesser-known Colts players to represent the team at a series of charitable events. The gig paid a few hundred dollars per appearance. One of those players who Accorsi hired was Jim O’Brien.

“He wasn’t any star at that point; he was a reserve receiver and a placekicker, not a famous placekicker by any means,” Accorsi said.

When Accorsi walked into the winners’ locker room after Super Bowl V, he quickly learned a replacement for O’Brien would be needed.

“After the game, they did not have press conferences with big tables and big rooms like they do now,” Accorsi continued. “Everybody was in the locker room. It was a small locker room, and, obviously, everyone had surrounded [O’Brien]. They usually came to your locker. He wasn’t at his locker; he was in the middle of the room, surrounded. And he spotted me, and he said, ‘Ernie, I quit, I quit the job!’”

A couple hundred dollars for local charity events gave way to the national spotlight. With the headline “Jim O’Brien’s Super Kick,” a photo of the game-winning play appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, although O’Brien was barely visible in the image. Following a celebratory team vacation to the Bahamas, on Sunday he flew to New York City and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. A month later, he was traveling across the country, promoting candy: