Johnny Unitas

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John Constantine Unitas (May 7, 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – September 11, 2002) was a professional American football player in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was the National Football League's most valuable player in 1957, 1959 and 1964.

Contents

1 Early life
2 Professional career
3 Personal Life
4 Sudden death
5 Legacy
6 Trivia
7 External links

Early life

Johnny's father died when he was five years old, and he was raised by his Lithuanian immigrant mother who worked two jobs to support the family. He attended St Justin's High School in Pittsburgh where Unitas played halfback and quarterback. After high school, Unitas looked for an opportunity to play college football. He was passed over by Notre Dame and Indiana. Pitt offered a scholarship, but Unitas failed the entrance exam.

The University of Louisville finally came through with a scholarship, and Unitas left home for Kentucky. He played quarterback for Louisville during his college career.

After college, Unitas was drafted in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL, but was released before the season began. By then he was married with a child and worked construction in Pittsburgh to support his family. On the weekends, he played on a local semipro team called the Bloomfield Rams for $6 a game.

Professional career

In 1956 Unitas joined the Baltimore Colts NFL team under legendary coach Weeb Ewbank. The Colts won the NFL championship under his leadership in 1958, by defeating the New York Giants in sudden death overtime. It was the first overtime game in NFL history, and is often referred to as the "greatest game ever played". The game, nationally televised by NBC, has been credited for sparking the rise in popularity of professional football during the 1960s. Unitas then led the Colts to a repeat championship in 1959.

Later in his career, although he was injured through most of the 1968 season, he came off the bench to play in Super Bowl III, which the Colts lost. This was a desperation move in an attempt to retrieve dominance of the NFL over the upstart AFL—which was the famous game wherein Joe Namath guaranteed a New York Jets win despite the conventional wisdom. He helped put together the Colts' only score, a touchdown late in the game, when it was already out of reach. Despite not being put in the game untill the fourth quarter, he still finished with more passing yards then the team's starter, Earl Morrall. In 1970, Unitas led the Colts to Super Bowl V. He was knocked out of the game in the second quarter, but he did throw a Super Bowl record 75-yard touchdown pass in the game that helped lift the team to victory.

Unitas was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1972, and retired from football in 1974. He finished his 18 NFL seasons with 2,830 of 5,186 completions for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns, with 253 interceptions. He also rushed for 1,777 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground

Unitas set many passing records during his career. He was the first quarterback to throw for more than 40,000 yards, despite playing during an era when NFL teams played shorter seasons of 12 or 14 games (as opposed to the 16 game seasons that are played today). He also threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games between 1956 and 1960, a record that still stands today.

After his playing days were finished, Unitas settled in Baltimore where he raised his family. He and Cal Ripken, Jr. are generally considered the city's foremost sports icons. After Robert Irsay moved the Colts franchise to Indianapolis in 1984, a move reviled to this day in Baltimore as "Bob Irsay's Midnight Ride", Unitas was so outraged that he cut all ties to the relocated team. Other prominent old-time Colts followed his lead. He asked the Pro Football Hall of Fame on numerous occasions (including on Roy Firestone's Up Close) to remove his display unless it was listed as belonging to the Baltimore Colts. The Hall of Fame has never complied with the request. Unitas donated his Colts memorabilia to the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore; it is now on display in the Sports Museum at Camden Yards.

Unitas actively lobbied for another NFL team to come to Baltimore. After the NFL returned to Baltimore as the Ravens for the 1996 season, Unitas and most of the other old-time Colts regarded the Ravens as the true successors of the Baltimore Colts. Unitas was frequently seen on the Ravens' sidelines at home games and received a thunderous ovation every time he was pictured on each of the JumboTrons at M&T Bank Stadium.

In December of 2005, the state of Indiana attempted to raise funds for a new football stadium by issuing an Indianapolis Colts specialty license plate and auctioning off plates whose registrations represented distinctive Colts position-number pairings (e.g. "QB 18" for Peyton Manning). When the state offered Unitas's "QB 19" for bid, the Unitas family sued, eventually getting the offer revoked and receiving an out-of-court settlement.[link]

Personal Life

Unitas was married to his high school sweetheart Dorothy Hoelle on November 20, 1954 by his uncle; they had 5 children. One hour after he divorced Dorothy in Reno on June 26, 1972, Unitas married Sandra Lemon; they had 3 children and stayed together until his death.

Sudden death

He died of a myocardial infarction (heart attack). When Unitas died, many fans of the Baltimore Ravens football team petitioned the renaming of the Ravens' home stadium (owned by the State of Maryland) after Unitas. These requests, however, were unsuccessful since the monetarily-lucrative naming rights had already been leased by the Ravens to the Buffalo, New York based company, M&T Bank. However, a statue of Unitas was erected as the centerpiece of the plaza in front of the main entrance to M&T Bank Stadium, the plaza was officially named "Unitas Plaza", and large banners depicting Unitas in his Baltimore Colts heydey now flank the entrance to the stadium. Many loyal Baltimore football fans now observe the ritual of rubbing the shoe of the statue of Unitas prior to entering the stadium for a Ravens home game. Towson University, in Towson, MD (a suburb of Baltimore) named its football and lacrosse complex in honor of Johnny Unitas after his death. He was a major fundraiser for the university; in addition to his children also attending.

Peyton Manning had four pairs of hightop black shoes made, which he planned to wear in the Colts 15 September game as a tribute to Unitas. But the NFL threatened to slap Manning with a $25,000 fine if he wore the shoes. Further, it declared that only the Baltimore Ravens would have the sole right to honor Unitas with a patch or armband on their uniforms that Sunday.

Toward the end of his life, Unitas brought media attention to the many permanent physical disabilities that he and his fellow players suffered during the early years of football, before padding and other safety features designed to prevent such injuries had been invented. Unitas himself lost almost total use of his right hand, which had become mangled by the end of his playing career, with the middle finger and thumb noticeably disfigured from being repeatedly broken.

Legacy

Unitas was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
Johnny Unitas' #16 is the only number retired by the football program at the University of Louisville.
Unitas Tower, a dormitory at the University of Louisville, is named for Johnny Unitas.
A statue of Johnny Unitas sits in the North end zone of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium at the University of Louisville. It is tradition for each Cardinal player to touch the statue as he enters the field.
A statue of Unitas also stands in front of M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, current home of the Baltimore Ravens.
Since 1987, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award has been awarded to the top senior quarterback of the current year in college football. The award is presented annually in Louisville.
An episode of the TV show The Adventures of Pete & Pete entitled "Space, Geeks & Johnny Unitas", centered around Unitas, the 1958 NFL Championship game and the cosmic connection between him, it and the Alpha Centauri star system.

Trivia

The Philadelphia Daily News wrote an article in 2003 announcing his 70th birthday. Of course, he had been deceased since the previous year. After realizing the mistake, they ran a correction stating: "Johnny Unitas remains dead and did not celebrate his 70th birthday."
He guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode "Homie the Clown" (first aired February 12, 1995).
In The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson" (first aired November 19, 1995), Abe Simpson says "Now, Johnny Unitas...there's a haircut you could set your watch to!" when comparing Joe Namath's hair to Unitas' trademark flattop.
In 2000, Unitas was featured in the movie "Any Given Sunday" as the head coach of the fictional Dallas Knights.



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