Super Bowl XXVII : IN THE BEGINNING : Name Had the Right Bounce : Origin: Hunt came up with ‘Super Bowl’ while thinking of his children’s new toy, the Super Ball.

A turn of phrase and . . . Wham-O , a name for pro football’s biggest game is born.

It was the summer of 1966 when a committee of eight met to discuss the logistics of the first championship game between the American Football League and the National Football League on the following Jan. 15.

Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and the AFL’s chief negotiator, wondered aloud if the teams should be given one or two weeks to prepare for the “championship game.�

“Someone asked, ‘Which championship game? The AFL Championship game or the NFL Championship game?’ � Hunt recalled. “I said, ‘I mean the last game, the final game, you know, the super bowl .’ It just came out.�

Hunt believes the words were on the tip of his tongue because of a new toy that was popular with his two oldest children, Lamar Jr., then 9, and Sharron, 8. At the time, both seemed to be constantly playing with a highly compressed, high-bouncing rubber ball manufactured by Wham-O called a Super Ball.

“My wife, Norma, had given the kids these Super Balls, and they loved them,� Hunt said. “If you threw one down hard on the concrete, they would literally bounce over the house. The kids were always playing with them and talking about them, and I guess it was just on my mind.

“The word bowl , of course, has long been associated with football games, and I guess super just seemed like a good adjective at the time. But I could see everyone’s eyes sort of light up a little, and from that point on, we all used it in our discussions for simplicity’s sake because everyone understood we were talking about this final game.

“But we never had a (later) meeting, and I don’t know if there ever really was one, where it was decided that this would be the name.�

The first game was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, but the media had already latched onto the term Super Bowl . As part of the agreement between the leagues, both CBS and NBC televised the first and second games, and the telecasts were promoted as “Super Sunday.�

It wasn’t until the third game, however, that stodgy NFL officials finally broke down and printed the words Super Bowl on the tickets and game program. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and others originally resisted the name because they thought it was undignified and a bit pretentious.

“I think both the league people and the people on the committee thought it was an unsophisticated name,� Hunt said. “But once the media seized it, it took on a life of its own. They wouldn’t call it anything else.�

Hunt, however, can take credit for making a conscious effort to attach Roman numerals to each game. While browsing through a Miami newspaper after the third Super Bowl, he saw a headline that read: “Jets Are Terrific in Super III.�

“I thought that was an inspired idea,� Hunt said. “So I cut it out and mailed it to Pete (Rozelle) with a note that said: ‘Here’s a way to classy up our not-so-classy name.’ �

The next game was billed as Super Bowl IV, and “they gave the first three retroactive Roman numerals,� Hunt said, laughing.

So the name for the NFL’s super-hyped, season-ending game that now means as much to the beer and avocado industries as it does to pro football actually sort of evolved. No brainstorming in a slick ad agency. No marketing experts discussing the merits of countless proposals.

All Lamar Hunt did was follow the bouncing ball.