Broadway Joe Namath, the Beaver Falls bullet, and the Super Bowl III shocker

… he "guaranteed" the win 

As a young boy, Joe Namath grew up far from the glitz and glamour of Broadway. The name "Broadway Joe" did not become fashionable until later, a few years after he led his Beaver Falls teammates to the WPIAL crown in 1960.

But, just eight years after that triumph, Joe reached the highest pinnacle of his football career when he engineered the greatest upset in Super Bowl history, elevating the American Football League to parity with the National Football League and leading to the eventual merger.

That 16-7 win over the Baltimore Colts still ranks as one of the greatest games ever played by an underdog.

Early years rugged

Life was tough in Beaver Falls, a hard-nosed community in Western Pa., located close to the border with Ohio. It was a far cry from the days of the mink coats that Broadway Joe started to wear after he became an icon.

His dad was a steelworker, his mother a homemaker, but they divorced and Joe lived with his mother in the Lower End of Beaver Falls. It was primarily an African-American area, so when Joe eventually played on a segregated Alabama team in the 60s, he experienced culture shock.

Sports filled a void

Like many boys, Joe looked to sports to fill his idle time, and he learned early that he had innate talent. Though just 6-feet, 2-inches tall, he could dunk a basketball.

Many thought that he would become a professional baseball player, and he had numerous offers.

However, after his high school team, coached by Larry Bruno, captured the WPIAL title in 1960 with Namath at QB, there was no doubt in his mind what sport he would follow.

Academics

Namath's Wikipedia page lists scholarship offers from Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame, but he settled on Maryland. However, what prevented him from enrolling at most of these schools was his lack of academic potential, particularly on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT or college boards as they were called then).

He could not come close to qualifying at Notre Dame or Penn State, and that left Bear Bryant and Alabama, which did not have very high entrance standards for athletes at that time. During those years, there were no NCAA regulations regarding individual entrance requirements.

[Today, the NCAA rule is that high school students must have a 2.5 GPA in 13 core subjects and an SAT score of 820. Nevertheless, functional illiterates still manage to be admitted to these schools.]

[Bear himself played at Alabama even though he never earned a high school diploma, according to ESPN Classic.]

Bear and Joe

Joe came in to play for a coach who called himself a "disciplinarian," but he had to relax them quite a bit to keep his star QB eligible. Bear did suspend Namath for the final two games of the 1963 season after his QB admitted to "taking a few sips of beer" over the weekend. He then kept Namath in the basement of his home to shield him from the media firestorm after that suspension, according to ESPN. That, of course, was a violation of NCAA rules, but Bear never worried much about them.

[ESPN also notes that Bryant himself was a heavy drinker who checked himself without much fanfare into a rehab in 1978, but later resumed drinking.]

Bryant eventually called Namath "the greatest athlete I ever coached," and the Beaver Falls bullet led the Crimson Tide to the national title in 1964. Namath was injured twice in that season, his right knee becoming so much of a problem that he could not start the Orange Bowl game against Texas.

However, losing to the Longhorns and seeing their title hopes slipping away, Bryant threw his QB's pro career to the wolves when he inserted Namath into the game. Joe led them to a 21-17 victory, the MVP award, and a national title.

[Namath was tutored by Howard Schellenberger, who later coached at Louisville and and won a national title at the University of Miami.]

By the time that Namath was ready for the pros in 1964, the AFL and NFL were in bidding wars. Namath chose to join the Jets, which gave the AFL immediate credibility because the team gave him a contract worth $427,000, which seems like a pittance today but was a huge sum at that time. The Jets also threw in a Lincoln Continental so that he could leave Tuscaloosa for good, never to return -- until decades later.

Namath had limped through the 1964 season because of cartilage damage in his knee, which required surgery. That did not matter to the pros, but it did shorten his career as he had several knee surgeries after that.

Quickly took control

Namath was AFL Rookie of the Year, and by 1965, he was called Broadway Joe because of his partying and womanizing. It was a name and an image that stuck, though many people loved him.

In its classical Sports Heroes of the Century, ESPN called Namath a "lovable rogue, admired by men and adored by women."

Writer Larry Schwartz describes Namath this way:

"There always seemed to be something magical about Joe Namath, a rebel at a time when the country appreciated one. He was cocky, but in a likable way. The image of the swinging bachelor as much as his rocket-like arm helped make him the most glorified football player of his time."

Man for the 60s

Namath briefly became controversial after he finished his career at Alabama because he was declared 4-F by the Selective Service Board. That was because of his knee, and many people were upset that an athlete could become a professional star while not being qualified to fight in Vietnam.

Tony Kornhiser described him this way for Inside Sports,

"The late '60s and the early '70s were times of compelling social and political upheaval, and Namath, with his antiestablishment shaggy hair, mustache, white shoes and Life-Is-a-Bacchanal philosophy, became a symbol of inevitable, triumphant change. The antihero."

Actually, with all of the upheaval in the U.S. at that time, sports became even more important as a diversion. That was why 1968 was so important and why heroism was important to many in that world.

Career

By 1967 Namath was one of the best, throwing for more than 4,000 yards in a 14-game season, the first time -- and only time -- any QB had done that.

However, it was the next year that he became an NFL Legend.

Super Bowl III and 1968 season

The Jets had stumbled through the '68 season, but still managed an 11-3 record, enough to make the playoffs and reach the AFC title game. Against the Oakland Raiders, Namath led a fourth-quarter comeback that gave them a 27-23 victory and a berth in the Super Bowl opposite the Baltimore Colts.

The Jets immediately became huge underdogs, down by 18 points at one stage. Days before the big game, Namath answered a heckler in the Miami Touchdown Club by saying this, "We're going to win Sunday. I guarantee you."

That statement angered Jets' Coach Weeb Ewbank. According to Newsday, a suburban New York newspaper, "Namath received a scolding from coach Weeb Ewbank, who feared such a bold comment might inspire the Colts, who had a 15-1 record entering the game."

The Jets, however, were confident, "Weeb believed it, too,'' tackle Winston Hill told Newsday about the prediction, "but he wanted to quietly go in and get the trophy.''

18-points served as incentive

What really motivated the Jets was that they were such huge underdogs. Running back Emerson Boozer recalled the anger a few years ago. "We couldn't understand how they could make us 18-point underdogs,' he said. "The coaches and players in the AFL came from the same pool [as their NFL counterparts]. We were champs. We didn't get there by stumbling to it. We won a lot of close games. They didn't understand how good we were on defense, and we had a running game.''

Jets dominated

Joe Willie never threw a touchdown pass in the game despite completing 17-of-28 passes for 206 yards. What the Jets, who were 13-3 entering the game, featured was a strong running game and a defense that the Colts underestimated.

Matt Snell carried the ball 30 times for 121 yards and one touchdown and added 43 yards in receptions. He could easily have been the MVP, but it went to Joe, who engineered four scoring drives for the Jets.

The Jets' defense came up with four interceptions and controlled an offense that had outscored opponents that year by 258 points.

Colts QB Earl Morral had been selected as NFL MVP that year, but Coach Don Shula replaced him in the second half with legend Johnny Unitas, the former Steeler who was a Colts hero. Unitas could not work his magic against the Jets, though he did lead their only scoring drive.

Shula's reputation as a coach who could not win the big one continued. He ended his career with just one Super Bowl win, the undefeated season of 1972.

Colts' defensive coordinator Chuck Noll was not hurt by the loss, being signed by the Steelers a few weeks later to coach their woeful franchise. That was a monumental move by the Steelers, but Chuck could not stop the Jets in Super Bowl III.

The Jets entered that game knowing that they would win, but no one believed them -- until it was all over.

End of career

In 1968, Namath was as good as any QB who had played the game, Unitas included. However, he should have ended his career shortly after that as his knee problems continued. Instead, he attempted to try to play, but was unable to reach that level of greatness again.

Part of his desire to continue to play was so that he could remain in the public eye. He did remain there after he retired with some endorsements and a few acting gigs, but he never was able to find something tangible after football.

He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1985.

Joe returned to Alabama a few years ago to complete requirements for his diploma. He went to college because he promised his mother that he would earn a degree, and while it took more than 40 years to achieve in 2007, he was able to pull it off.

His career cannot be judged by numbers that were skewed by his later years. Still, he will always be viewed as the QB who pulled off the greatest upset in Super Bowl history.