Happy 80th, Joe Namath
Joe Namath has been called many things over the years. He can now be called octogenarian.
Namath was born 80 years ago today, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He played college football at Alabama, leading the team to the 1964 national championship.
He was the first overall pick in the AFL draft, taken by the Jets, and the 12th overall pick in the NFL draft, selected by the Cardinals. He opted for the upstart league.
In his fourth season, Namath led the Jets to the AFL title and, in one of the biggest upsets in pro football history, a victory in Super Bowl III over the heavily-favored Colts — a win that came after Namath famously guaranteed a win.
Broadway Joe became a crossover star, a pop-culture icon. Along the way, he briefly retired when the NFL ordered him to sell his stake in a bar that was frequented by the mob. (Eventually, Namath sold.)
The Hall of Famer sits 67th on the all-time passing yardage list, with 27,663. He spent 12 years with the Jets and one with the Rams.
As explained in the New York Times article regarding his second, and permanent, retirement, Namath had four knee operations (two per knee) and a torn hamstring that occurred while water skiing.
“That torn hamstring is what kept me from being able to move around the last four or five years, not my knees,” Namath said upon his retirement.
But he was pragmatic about the impact of his knee injuries on his NFL career.
“If I had good knees, might’ve gotten killed in Vietnam instead of playing football,” Namath said.
The Jets have been searching for their next Namath for decades. They think they might have found him in Aaron Rodgers, who is six years older than Namath was when he last played for the Jets.
Happy 80th, Joe Namath originally appeared on Pro Football Talk
