Namath played in an era when anything was allowed regarding tackling the QB. Hit him high, low, in the head, knees. Brady would never have survived. Namath and Unitas were the greatest QBs I ever saw.
I grew up down-the-shore area in NJ. I remember watching Jets games every Sunday after church. I saw him play, be it on television. Boy, was it exciting! He wasn't only Broadway Joe, he was the Original...Joe Cool.
In the summer of 2001, I was with my 10 year old son walking up to the front deck of the Newark Airport Marriot and there was Joe Namath getting a replacement key card for his room. He didn't have his wallet but was laughingly assuring the staff that he was really "Joe Namath". He received his replacement key card and then turned around to leave and saw my son. Joe stopped and asked my son if he played football or other sports. My son and Joe the proceeded into a ten minute conversation about sports and giving it your all. About half way though to make a point Joe mentioned he had even been lucky enough though hard work to play in the Super Bowl. To prove it he took off his Super Bowl ring and gave it to my son to try on. My son eventually gave the ring back thanked Joe for letting him try on the ring and they wished each other well and said good bye. My son and I then walked over to the elevators to go up to our room when my son turned to me and asked "who was that". True story -- amazingly nice guy.
Texas Yankee Hahaha oh my God that's priceless... well I certainly knew who Joe Namath was when I was a little kid because he was the biggest name in football at that time .. that must have blown you away to see him talking to your son.. that is so cool
How cool of Joe bonding with you and your son! Even after not even being recognized by the bellhop. I bet Joe was just as grateful to you too because he had some people to relate to and keep him from going insane haha!!
I remember when Namath & Unitas hooked up and passed for over 1,000 yards in ONE game - and I was upstairs doing a book report. Pops was yelling and carrying on so much, I ha to watch the end of that game... WOW !! Only ONE Joe Willie !!! THE BEST !!! ;D
I love everything about Joe Namath. He's a great guy, down to earth, and the most exciting football player I've ever seen. The only sports bet I ever made was winning 25 cents from my Dad in Joe's Super Bowl. Be well Joe!!
My Dad and older brother were old school, both predicting a big thrashing by the Colts. I was 11 years old and a huge Namath fan. Was a good day for me.
When I was a kid in deep south Texas, Joe Namath was a hero to all of us kids. I remember in 1969 after he won the Super Bowl, I saved my pecan collecting money to buy a pair of white tennis shoes and my mother said I should not have bought then cause they'd get dirty. I didn't care, I wanted to LOOK like Joe Namath. His impact on sports only rivals that of Mr. Mohammad Ali. Sports stars had finally entered into a kid's vocabulary like John Wayne and Sly and Arnold. What a time in sports where it became another way to spend your mad money, going to the games, then to the movies. When the Dallas Cowboys became a team to be reakoned with in 1971, I was hooked forever. I'm 64 and I can still name players like Emerson Boozer and Walt Garrison and Roger the Dodger. I watched Jack Nicolelson and Rod Laver and Even bowler Ed Anthony. We liked watching the best in any sport. THEY were the video games of my time.
An old story around T-Town was Coach Bryant got a Joe a part time/summer job of painting the bleachers at the football stadium. In an interview not long after Joe went to the Jets Coach Bryant remarked that "Joe walked around with a paint brush sticking out of one of his back pockets but he never saw any paint on it."
I was born in 1968 and the first super bowl I watched some of and was old enough to know the game was the one with the Raiders and the Vikings in I believe January of 1976. He was before my time but remember hearing a lot about him, Staubach, Tarkenton, and Stabler before I really even knew and loved the game, but seeing this now I have a great respect for him, even more than Mickey Mantle after watching and learning about him. His brother saying that he never heard Joe say a negative word about ANY of his tem mates or coaches just says a lot about him right there!
The "prediction" was actually Namath blurting out something out of annoyance due to a sports writer's question concerning how big an underdog the Jets were for the Super Bowl. As for the HOF, Namath will say himself that he is at least statistically, one of the lower QBs in The Hall. Having said all of that, Namath was a cultural phenomenon and if nothing else, deserves to be in the HOF for that reason. In 1965, I was 12 years old and a Namath fan. That Christmas I asked for a llama skin rug for my bedroom because I read that Namath had one. (I did not get it.)
When I was just a kid, Joe Namath was a hero for me. One of the greatest things I ever did was collect Joe Namath football cards, especially his rookie card. Years layer I dug those out of my mom's attic, like a gold mine.
I played softball against Joe and his Bachelors 3 bar in Ft Lauderdale, and Joe was as nice a guy as you could ever imagine. All the small time jealous haters on here should meet the man before they run their mouths
I'm 52 yrs old. One of the first books I ever read completely through was joe willie's auto biography. I must have read that book a dozen times or more. Big fan and always loved him. Also a Southeast Alabama boy who grew up watching and loving Bear Bryant and the Tide.
If you're referring to "I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow, "Because I Get Better Looking Every Day," I read that as a teen back in the early '70s. I'm from Montgomery, and my wife is from the Andalusia area.
A release as quick as Marino; threw as hard as Elway and Young; could captain a game as well as Montana and Starr; and had as much fun playing the game as...well, he was at the top of that. If only Joe Willie played with two good knees...
I remember watching Jets games on TV. He'd drop back 10 yards to pass, then get chased back another 10 and have to scramble back another 10 - so he was 30 yards behind scrimmage. A defense mob swarmed him regularly and then the ball come shooting out, always on target!
@@norwood1956 - That alone should make him one of the best ever. Today they have receivers in their helmets, offensive and defensive guys in the booth calling the plays. In Joe's day, the QB ran the team. Today's teams are more polished, but the game lacks something. It's about contracts, drafting, lots of complications.
Always loved Joe's attitude, and new that there was more to him that the media would allow people to know. Great biography! With 3 minutes of commercials each break.
Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana, and Dan Marino, are all HOF QBs and all from Pennsylvania. Namath's pass to Maynard against the Chiefs was a thing of beauty. He streamlined that pass for about 40 yards on a rope. It may be the most beautiful pass I've ever seen.
in santa Monica, CA., in the early 70's , joe hit on my mom at a diner, she declined him but made sure to get his autograph from him for her son , thanx to both .
My cousin was a graduate assitant at Alabama, when Joe Namath was there. Also, his wife was a teaching assistant and had Namath in her class. Both of them said; he stood out, because he didn't go with the crowd like most college kids, but he was also a total team player. Usually at that age, in those days at least, you either went w/ the crowd, or you were a total outcast, but Namath was able to pull off being his own man.
Great biography. Well done. I had always been a big fan of Joe, his life story is very interesting. From his youth, family upbringing, high school, college and pro football and now how he helps people with brain neurological disorders. You have to remember too that his knee injury was very serious and really hampered his ability. If he hadn't gotten injured who knows how great his stats may have been better. Like Winston Hill said...A very special character.
I'm from Aliquippa , which is about 10 miles south of Beaver Falls. All of the people in Beaver County are the same way. A great place to grow up. The decline of the Steel Industry decimated the area and most people my age had to leave for better opportunity. When I hear Joe talk in this documentary, I feel like I'm down the local pub listening to him. I seen him in NYC in around 1995. I shouted out "Hey Beaver County boy" His head popped up from what he was doin. We talked for a few minutes. Felt like I knew him my whole life !!
That's great Mike, I bet it was a great place to grow up before the Steel Industry decline. I live in South Jersey and i knew a couple of people from the Pittsburgh area that settled here in the late '60's early '70's. Very friendly, happy kind of people you like to hang out with. There's a lot of great football players that came out of that area too. I read a few books about Joe when i was younger and he was always my favorite. Not only a great competitive football player but quite a character too. Thanks for replying!
Jet wide receiver, George Sauer, was another interesting character; who left the NFL early, because of its socially regressive policies, and lack of concern for players as people.
Yes he was the most important QB in Football history! He brought the AFL to equal status with the NFL with his attitude and his VICTORY in the 1968 super bowl! That changed everything! It validated the AFL with respect to the merger. It opened the door to big salaries for all the good players in the AFL. He was also the perfect star for the television era! The NFL owes a lot to Joe Willie Namath!! He turned football into big time entertainment. He was so much more than his stats as a quarterback. He was the first big star!
I remember when he was in college, and in the sports page Of the evening journal. Throwing The ball through the moving Tires in a tune up for the bowl Game. About fifty five years Ago. I was 14, and he must've Been 20. So Joe's almost 80 now.
To me Joe Namath is the best Quarterback & he will always be my favorite . He got injured & stayed & played in the games. I have loved Joe since the 1960s & I still love Broadway Joe 🏈💚❤
What I don’t hear anyone ever mentioned about JN is his insightfulness of the situation. Pay attention to the way he answered difficult questions or when he rationalized a circumstance. His IQ and EQ are definitely in a special class.
Alabama for decades would find a diamond-in-the-rough from another region but it wasn't until Bear that Bama became a nationwide recruiting program. And the arrival of Beaver Falls' (PA) best, not only opened the door for the likes of a Derrick Vlasic (1992 Nat Champ starting RB) from Long Island, NY and future-NFL first-rounder CB Minkah Fitzpatrick (NJ) on the ball field but academically, in the 1960's so many students started coming to Tuscaloosa from throughout the north (especially the high-population eastern seaboard states like PA, NY and NJ). Bear Bryant transformed UA in more than just football and Joe was a big part of it. I know a few in my hometown and nearby Birmingham who came from up north to Tuscaloosa and have made a life here in AL and they went to school during or shortly after Namath's era. What a legacy!
It strikes me that Joe Namath is extremely well spoken with excellent pronunciation and mike skills. Glad he didn't but how in the world did he fail to get into the University of Maryland?
Al Michaels is very smooth and says it like it is. I was lucky growing up in Cincinnati Ohio, because I grew up listening to AL Michaels on the Radio Station WLW. I always said that he'll be one of the Best. And same with Chris Collinsworth is another Natural announcer. They make a good team. There's a Game with Greg Cook against Joe Namath that should have been mentioned.
It's probably good that Joe went to college at Alabama where they had strict rules about drinking. Because having grown up in a Steel Mill town outside of Pittsburgh, he was already drinking in the bars as a teenager! It was a "Shot and a Beer" town. There were so many bars in those Mill towns, that if you acted old enough and had money they would serve you! Had he gone to Pitt, Penn State, or WV, he may have drunk himself to death!
