Joe Namath

Joe Namath

Namath as a rookie with the Jets in 1965
No. 12
Position:	Quarterback
Personal information
Born:	(1943-05-31) May 31, 1943 (age 81) Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school:	Beaver Falls (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania)
College:	Alabama (1961–1964)
NFL draft:	1965 / round: 1 / pick: 12
AFL draft:	1965 / round: 1 / pick: 1
Career history
New York Jets (1965–1976) Los Angeles Rams (1977)
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (III) AFL champion (1968) Super Bowl MVP (III) AFL Championship MVP (1968) AFL Most Valuable Player (1968) NFL Comeback Player of the Year (1974) AFL Rookie of the Year (1965) First-team All-AFL (1968) Second-team All-Pro (1972) 3× Second-team All-AFL (1966, 1967, 1969) Pro Bowl (1972) 4× AFL All-Star (1965, 1967–1969) NFL passing yards leader (1972) 2× AFL passing yards leader (1966, 1967) NFL passing touchdowns leader (1972) George Halas Award (1969) AFL All-Time Team New York Jets Ring of Honor New York Jets No. 12 retired National champion (1964) First-team All-SEC (1964) 2× Second-team All-SEC (1962, 1963)
Career AFL/NFL statistics
Passing attempts: 3,762 Passing completions: 1,886 Completion percentage: 50.1% TD–INT: 173–220 Passing yards: 27,663 Passer rating: 65.5 Stats at Pro Football Reference
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Joseph William Namath (/ˈneɪməθ/; NAY-məth; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the New York Jets. Namath played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he won the national championship as a senior, and was selected by the Jets first overall in the 1965 AFL draft.

During his five AFL seasons, Namath was a two-time MVP and twice led the league in passing yards, while winning one AFL championship and one Super Bowl. Both victories remain the Jets' only championships. Following the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, he joined the NFL with the Jets, where he was the league's passing yards and touchdowns leader during the 1972 season. He played in New York for seven more seasons and spent his final year as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.

Namath cemented his legacy in 1969 when he guaranteed his heavy underdog Jets would win Super Bowl III before defeating the NFL's Baltimore Colts in one of the greatest sports upsets of all time. The Super Bowl victory was the first for an AFL franchise, helping dismiss notions that its teams were inferior to the NFL's and demonstrating they would enter the merger as equals. Namath received Super Bowl MVP honors in the game, while also becoming the first quarterback to win both a college national championship and a major professional championship. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.