Joseph William Namath (born May 31, 1943) was an American football quarterback for the American Football League's New York Jets in the 1960s. He is best known for predicting his team's unlikely victory in the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game, over Don Shula's NFL Baltimore Colts.

Namath was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and was a star player in football, as well as basketball and baseball, while in high school. When he graduated he received offers from six Major League Baseball teams, but decided instead to avail himself of one of the many offers from college football programs, and attended the University of Alabama, playing under coach Bear Bryant from 1962-65. During this period the Crimson Tide returned to being a national force in college football.

Despite having suffered a serious knee injury in his senior year, Namath was the number-one draft pick in the AFL the year he graduated from Alabama, and signed a contract with the AFL's New York Jets the day after starring in the Orange Bowl. This knee injury, which caused his knees to swell up with fluid and require periodic draining, plagued Namath for the rest of his career. On some occasions, Namath had to have his knee drained at halftime so that he could finish a game. Later in life, long after he left football, he had to have knee replacement surgery on both legs.

In the 1965 college draft, Namath was passed up by the NFL as "too expensive". Signed to the AFL's New York Jets team by Hall of Fame owner Sonny Werblin, Namath was the first pro quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season (1967). He did so in only 14 games, the standard length of the pro football season at the time, a feat which is impressive, even by modern standards. He was a three-time American Football League All-Star, although plagued with knee injuries through much of his career. Still, he produced many exceptional performances, one of which came in the 1968 AFL title game, when he threw three touchdown passes to lead New York to a 27-23 win over the defending American Football League Champion Oakland Raiders. This 1968 season earned him the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. Namath was an AFL All-Star four times, in 1965, 1967, 1968 and 1969; and a Pro Bowler in 1972. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Jets' all-time team, the All-Time All-AFL Team and the American Football League Hall of Fame.

The apex of his career was almost certainly his role in the Jets' win over the Colts in the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game, now referred to as Super Bowl III (but not at that time; the designation of Super Bowls by Roman numerals was yet to come). The Colts were touted as "the greatest football team in history". Former NFL star and coach Norm Van Brocklin ridiculed the AFL before the game, saying "This will be Namath's first professional football game." Writers from NFL cities insisted it would take the AFL several more years to be truly competitive with the NFL. Much of the hype surrounding the game was related to how it would either prove or disprove the proposition that the AFL teams were truly worthy of being allowed to merge with the NFL; the first two such games had resulted in blowout victories for the previous NFL champions, the Green Bay Packers, and the Colts were probably even more favored in most circles of "knowledgable" fans, media figures, and handicappers than the Packers had been.

In the actual game, Namath showed that his success against tough American Football League competition had more than prepared him to take on the NFL. The Colts' vaunted defense was unable to contain the Jets' running or passing game, while their ineffective offense gave up four interceptions to the Jets. Namath was the game's MVP, completing eight passes to George Sauer alone, for 133 yards. Namath acquired legendary status for American Football League fans, as the symbol of their league's legitimacy and the patron saint of underdogs. The game marked a change in eras for professional football, which had long been symbolized by the Colts' Johnny Unitas and his crewcut and high-top, antiquated football shoes; the insertion by Shula of Unitas into the game in the second half after his having missed almost the entire season due to injury smacked of desperation and was in any event "too little too late", but the contrast in styles between the staid, conservative Unitas and the flamboyant, long-haired Namath was almost impossible to miss, and seemed to symbolize a change in American culture than ran far deeper than just football.

After the season, along with Boston Patriots receiver Jim Colclough and NHL star Derek Sanderson, Namath opened a popular Upper East Side saloon in New York City called "Bachelors III," which quickly became frequented by social undesirables. To protect the league's reputation, the NFL Commissioner, Pete Rozelle, ordered Namath to divest himself of his interest in the bar. Namath reacted defiantly, retiring from football during a teary news conference. After missing most of training camp, Namath came out of retirement and reported to the then-World Champion Jets. At the same time, he announced that he was selling his interest in "Bachelors III".

In the twilight of his career Namath was traded by the Jets to the Los Angeles Rams. Namath hope to revitalize his by-then flagging career but by this point his effectiveness as a quarterback was greatly reduced by mobility problems related to his numerous knee injuries and the general ravages of a long period of time playing professional football at such a high level, as well as his "hard and fast" lifestyle; he retired from the Rams after a single season and went on to a minor career as an actor in several movies and starred in a brief 1978 television series, The Waverly Wonders. He was also used as a color analyst on broadcasts of NFL games for a while, including the 1985 season of Monday Night Football, but never seemed to be particularly comfortable, or patricularly talented, in this role.

Namath's nickname was "Broadway Joe"; he is sometimes called "Joe Willie Namath", a characterization popularized by Howard Cosell. He originated the fad of wearing a full-length fur coat on the sidelines, a habit which was adopted by many players after him. He also appeared in television advertisements both during and after his playing career, most notably for shaving cream (in which he was shaved by Farrah Fawcett) and panty hose; they contributed to his becoming something of a pop-culture icon. He has appeared in advertising as recently as 2003.

In December 2003 he gained new notoriety, apparently after partaking of too much celebratory champagne at the Jets' announcement of their all-time team. During live ESPN coverage, he twice stated he wanted to kiss Suzy Kolber, the female interviewer, appearing to all unbiased observers to be under the influence of alcohol. He has since apologized. Later, he publicly admitted to an alcohol problem, and soon entered into an outpatient alcoholism treatment program.

Links

• Other American Football League players