How Joe Willie Namath Saved Football from Itself and Changed a Nation Forever 3
Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath each personified an era in Pro Football history.
“I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow…’Cause I Get Better Looking Every Day“…words to live by.
I was a 10-year-old farm boy when Joe Namath signed the biggest contract in pro football history.
The war between the AFL and NFL had reached its apex, and the news of Namath’s choosing the upstart AFL traveled far and wide—even to our local weekly, the little ol’ “Reidsville Review” down in Carolina.
At that point in my life, my knowledge of professional football was gleaned from family gatherings around a huge woodstove on Sundays and an occasional peek at a snowy black and white TV that the men huddled around after church…as long as I was quiet.
Out of those bull sessions, I surmised that Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts were, and always would be, the greatest group of athletes in the history of the game…forever, 1958’s “Greatest Game Ever Played” being the benchmark against all who would challenge their superiority.
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