A little personal history of Joe Willie
hammer1
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in Sports Talk
Back in the mid 60's there was no reason to watch the AFL. The NFL had a stranglehold monopoly on viewership.
Until the kid from Beaver Falls gimped his way onto the field. At first you'd only watch the last few minutes of a Jets game to watch Broadway Joe pull it off. Then you'd watch the whole game of this arena football circus. But it wasn't arena football when the lady's man who always turned his body sideways after he passed, to fend off any more damage to his frail stature, was playing. He was more entertaining than anyone else I've seen in 55 years.
IMO: He was the biggest reason for the NFL/AFL merger. Without him I don't know if the merger occurs.
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"We got the team brother."
He sure was something alright in his panty hose and Mink coat! And backing up that bold prediction.
Anyone remember his GF, Susie...something? She was on the TV talk show hosted by Joe and a grey haired NY sportswriter.
Namath had swagger.
Namath was of course a factor, but not the biggest reason for the merger.
The biggest reason was capitalization. The AFL had the money to compete with the NFL for star players. Thus were able to put an entertaining product on the field, attracting fans, selling tickets, gathering media coverage, etc.
It also helped that TV sets were becoming more affordable, especially color TV, and as we know football lends itself extremely well as an action game to TV viewing.
Sports fans loved watching quality football, and couldn't get enough of it. So the new league had the resources needed for success, and was in the right place at the right time.
Lamar Hunt had to be the biggest reason for the merger.
Started the AFL after being denied an NFL franchise.
The Chiefs and other AFL teams having the foresight to draft players from small black colleges
played a huge role in the AFL being competitive with the NFL.
Without the AFL being competitive the NFL would have seen no reason for a merger.
The Chiefs drafted Buck Buchanan No. 1 in the 1963 draft, the NFL's New York Giants drafted
him in the 19th round, the 265th overall pick. Buck Buchanan went on to a Hall of Fame career
with the Chiefs, as did Willie Lanier, the first black middle linebacker in pro football who played
college ball at little Morgan State. And then there's Bobby Bell, the Chiefs other Hall of fame linebacker
of that era.
All three of these players were named to the All century team. Joe Namath was not named to that team.
Joe Namath may have had a minor role in the merger with the Jets winning the Super Bowl but certainly
the merger was bound to happen anyway.
Edit- mistake in my post. The league's had already merged by the time the Jets won the Super Bowl.
Fans could care less about AFL defensive players in the 60's. The names you mentioned could not hold Joe Willie's jockstrap back then.
Joe was a legend in the 60's. Everyone wanted to see him play.
AFL KC defensive players. yawn.
A little defensive. I'm just saying Namath wasn't a big reason for the merger, which is true.
Speaking of defense,
the only time the Jets-Chiefs met in the playoffs the Chiefs won 13-6.
Namath was 14-40 passing for 164 yards, no TD's and 3 interceptions for a passer rating of 17.
No need to hold Namath's jockstrap when you can shove it down his throat instead.
Broadway Joe was the man.. One game he threw for 500 yards and 6 TDs...on 15 completions. No one in the history of the NFL threw the ball downfield like he did before Joe came along. It's easy to be misled by stats and passing ratings when you look back at the raw numbers. The passing game was completely different back then and his signing with the AFL instead of the NFL was a big deal. Though the merger was agreed to in principle in 1966, the leagues didn't officially merge until after the 1969 season. The Jets upset victory over the Colts didn't facilitate the merger as much as it legitimized the AFL as a viable competitor instead of the junior circuit. It's a shame he was already on a pair of bad knees when he came out of Alabama.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
^THIS!^
What Google can't teach the kids is the aura of the time. 1960's, it was hell. The war that shouldn't have happened in Vietnam killed 57,000 guys my age. You dreaded the mailman coming with a letter from the draft board. Good chance you be killed or permanently disfigured, or get a chronic illness.
This good looking kid with white shoes burst onto the national spotlight. A breath of fresh air and someone to help forget the war for a few hours.
He appeared on his own national TV show. No player before or since has done that.
For the first time there was a reason to switch to channel 4 and watch an AFL game.
To adult football fans he was a mix of Tom Brady at that time, Elvis and had the draw of the Beatles. He got $10,000 from a shaving company to shave his fu Manchu. $10K in the 60's was a boatload of money. You know how much Buck Buchanan got for shaving? He had to pay Gillete $5 for a razor. lol.
I recall a few times opposing defensive linemen would help him up after they sacked him. They knew he was special. He was the golden ticket.
This kid gave young men, and woman something to look forward to. Like going to a rock concert. He was a superstar.
You can't understand it if you didn't live it.
Verification and confirmation of how special he was!
Joe had one of, if not the best, releases of the football. He seemed to flick the ball with the snap of his wrist so effortlessly.
Joe is seen on TV these days as a pitchman for a Medicare coverage company.
It galls me with some out there who say that Namath shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. They make the same lame argument with Sandy Koufax - lack of necessary lifetime stats.
They are deadheads who don't comprehend sports greatness, and it's not debatable that Joe Namath was a great football player and of course belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Just to be clear, the only thing I was saying was Namath wasn't a key reason for the merger.
I'm sure he was great for the AFL and brought in huge numbers of fans especially playing for a large market team.
Again, I am not a Namath hater although I do think Len Dawson was a better AFL QB.
Just to be clear you have no knowledge of anything related to Namath, except for what you Googled.
You changed your tune when you saw the overwhelming support for Namath.
I'm so tired of you wet behind the ear kids spouting off with no personal experience of what transpired. Get out of here with: "Oh I googled it."
Did you really bring up Buck Buchanan in a Joe Namath thread?
LOL
Ok, Boomer...
This is where someone should point out that Google is your friend. The AFL/NFL agreement was announced June 8, 1966. Joe Namath had played all of one season at that point. He was a great player. I don't see anyone disagreeing with you on that point. I believe the disagreement is with your statement above. He was not the biggest reason that the merger occurred. There's a reason that the AFC Champions raise The Lamar Hunt Trophy, and not the Joe Willie Trophy.
Never once did I change my tune, I said Namath wasn't a key reason for the merger and I stand by it.
Thanks for calling me a kid. I'm 55 and saw Namath play on TV many times, never really impressed.
Of course I was used to watching the Chiefs with the best QB in Dawson, so I guess I was a little jaded
watching inferior QB's play.
Done trolling me now or are you going to the Who will win the Super Bowl thread again to
make fun of my Chiefs pick some more?
Namath wasn't the only reason for the merger, but he was the single MOST important person that got the ball really rolling.
Okay I give up then. Not changing my tune but I realize the hopelessness of my cause in thinking the
person who founded the AFL and made it a huge success may have been a huge factor in the merger.
Put it this way. If Lamar Hunt had never been born, no merger. If Namath had never been born, still a merger.
But no one understands what I write anyway.
Hammer thinks I'm saying Buck Buchanan was better than Joe Namath and he says Namath was better
because he got free razor's from Gillette.
I'll just stop now, I'm done with the subject.
No one understands why you have to make every thread a Kansas City thread.
Stop hijacking threads and start your own KC thread.
No one gives two ---about Len Dawson except the poor schuibs who have to live in that god forsaken country.
Please stop trolling and hijacking this thread.
Another jealous millennial proven wrong by people who actually remember what happened.
LMAO
Your being done is fine, but what you don't understand is that Namath was the key. Of course Lamar Hunt was a key factor as well. They needed each other, but Hunt wasn't going to get it done by signing and promoting defensive lineman.
The "Old Guard" NFL owners poo-pooed the newcomers in the AFL even though some of the AFL had much more money and football brains.
With the signing of Namath the AFL began to rise in popularity and it became obvious that it was going to be a LOT cheaper to merge than it was to battle the AFL for the best players who were now looking seriously at the AFL as an option.
Namath was simply PERFECT as the poster boy. Brash, tons of ability and the kind of celebrity who would thumb his nose at the "establishment". Too bad he had bad knees, he was a tremendous athlete otherwise.
I read "Namath" by Mark Kriegel and found it very enjoyable. If you want a detailed account of the AFL/NFL conflict, this is a great source of information. Great book on Namath that doesn't pull any punches.
You troll, you should've stopped before you opened your piehole and proved your ignorance.
Are you man enough to admit you're wrong?
I didn't think so.