Earlier this year one of the true gentlemen of sports, Johnny Unitas, died at the age of 69. Unitas was arguably the greatest quarterback in the history of the game. Unitas was not flamboyant, nor did he have a contract in the millions of dollars when he played in the pros. Unitas was a blue-collar everyman with an incredible work ethic who rose from being a $6-a-game sandlot player to become the best in his chosen profession.
Unitas was born to a working-class family in 1933 during the Depression. Unitas’ father, a coal deliveryman, died when Johnny was 5. His mother worked two jobs to raise four children. Like many who played the game during his time, Unitas missed out on the big money that today’s players earn. Though like most of us he yearned for more, his friends say he was satisfied with his station in life and never developed the sense of superiority and entitlement that is so common among today’s athletes.
On the field Unitas was the general leading his troops. Dubbed the “Golden Arm,” Unitas also had an iron will and uncanny ability to read opposing teams’ defenses. And yes, Unitas called his own plays. Unlike today’s quarterbacks, no coach from a sky suite called in Unitas’ plays. Unitas ran the offense and in fact, in most instances, controlled the tempo of the game.
In his trademark black high-top cleats, Unitas led the Baltimore Colts to titles in 1958 and 1959 and was chosen to five All League teams and won the Player of the Year Award three times. He played in 10 Pro Bowls. He threw at least one touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games, a National Football League record.
But the road to the NFL was not an easy one for Unitas. After high school, Notre Dame thought Unitas was too light. Indiana also passed on him. Pittsburgh offered him a scholarship, but he failed the school’s entrance exam.
Finally, he accepted an offer from Louisville and did well enough to be taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the ninth round of the NFL 1955 draft. The Steelers had four quarterbacks that year, and Unitas rode the bench. He was dropped after never having played a preseason game.
Unitas took a construction job, stayed in Pittsburgh, and played semipro ball for the Bloomfield Rams. The next year Unitas signed with the Baltimore Colts for $7,000. His contract was contingent on him surviving the year, and survive he did, playing 18 spectacular years in the NFL. Unitas was perfect for Baltimore in the late 1950s and ’60s. He owned a bowling alley and later a bar, and was always available to the average guy.
At Unitas’ funeral Cardinal William Keeler said he found “sanctity in a man who threw footballs as if they were missiles, but never lost his human touch. He was the kind of man who would shake the hand of a homeless person and say it was an honor to shake his hand.” That human touch is what endeared Unitas to Baltimore, that and Unitas’ hunger to win.
In 1958 he led the Colts to a 23-17 victory over the New York Giants in sudden-death overtime in an NFL championship game that is still regarded by many as the greatest game ever played.
In 1959 he set an NFL season record of 32 touchdown passes and led the Colts to a 31-16 victory over the Giants in the title game. In ’71 his Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in the Super Bowl. Unitas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
After his days in football were over, he preferred to attend charity events rather than to revel in his past football exploits.
But football had taken its toll on Unitas’ body. He had numerous operations to repair his knees, and his right arm was so injured in a 1968 preseason game against Dallas that in recent years he could not pick up a fork and feed himself with that hand. In 1997 he underwent five hours of surgery on the arm. The condition did not improve. Unitas hoped to receive league-financed disability payments, but he was turned down by the NFL because he received a monthly pension. League officials said they denied the disability payments because Unitas had not filed for disability before the age of 55. That is a sad commentary on a league that Unitas helped bring into the television age. It was his mastery of the game that attracted countless numbers of fans to the sport and television.
It was humanity and lack of ego that endeared him to the fans. Today’s pro athletes would do well to emulate Unitas both on and off the field.