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Johnny Unitas
1933–2002 · 69 years
Cut by Pittsburgh, six dollars a game, then the sudden-death championship
His father delivered coal in Pittsburgh and died when Johnny was five. Helen Unitas refused to let relatives split up her four children, kept the coal route running, and cleaned offices four nights a week from 10 pm to 6 am. Notre Dame turned him down at 145 pounds — one account has coach Frank Leahy saying he would get murdered, another has an assistant deciding the fans could not accept a 135-pound quarterback. Louisville took him. Pittsburgh drafted him in the ninth round in 1955 and cut him without a practice snap or a preseason pass. He pocketed the bus fare and hitchhiked home, then played quarterback, safety and punter for the semi-pro Bloomfield Rams at six dollars a game, on an oil-soaked field under the Bloomfield Bridge.
Baltimore's general manager reached him in 1956 with a phone call that cost 80 cents. He borrowed gas money for the tryout, made the roster, and took over when George Shaw broke his leg — his first pass in serious duty was intercepted and run back for a touchdown. On December 28, 1958, the Colts beat the Giants 23-17 at Yankee Stadium on Alan Ameche's plunge, in the first sudden-death overtime the league had played, before a national NBC audience. No single game turned professional football into a mass sport, but that is the one every account starts from.
The touchdown passes ran 47 games deep, from a 1956 season finale to week 11 of 1960, and the record stood 52 years until Drew Brees. What people remember alongside it is a crew cut and black high-top shoes, and a quarterback who was hit as often as the rules allowed. A Bears game in 1963 cost him both knees, eventually replaced. Dallas tore the muscles in his throwing arm in the 1968 preseason, and a five-hour operation in 1997 did not fix it. He lost the use of the middle three fingers of his right hand, signed autographs with his thumb and little finger, could not lift a fork with that hand, and strapped it to a golf club with Velcro. He said so publicly, and asked the league for disability payments. It refused.
San Diego finished it. Traded in 1973, he opened with a 38-0 loss, went 1-3 as a starter, lost the job to the rookie Dan Fouts, and retired in 1974. He died on September 11, 2002, of a heart attack while exercising at a Baltimore rehabilitation center, days after throwing the first pass at the Towson stadium that now carries his name. Nearly 57,000 people signed a petition to name the Ravens' stadium for him — the rights were already sold — so the team built a plaza and a statue at the main gate. His son John Unitas Jr. kept pressing the league on disability benefits for retired players, and Congress took the question up in 2007.
Lifespan
Johnny Unitas's life against the full span of the corpus.
Notable works
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The 1958 NFL Championship, in sudden death
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Beat the Giants 23-17 at Yankee Stadium in the first overtime game the league ever played 1958 -
The 1959 NFL Championship
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A fourth-quarter comeback beat the Giants again, 31-16 1959 -
47 straight games with a touchdown pass
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Built from 1956 to 1960 and unbroken until Drew Brees in 2012 1960 -
The 75-yard touchdown to John Mackey in Super Bowl V
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A Super Bowl record at the time, thrown before a rib injury took him out of the game 1971 -
The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
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Presented each year in Louisville to the top senior quarterback in college football 1987
Life in brief
with age at each point- 1938 aged ~5 His father dies and his mother keeps the coal route running Johnny was five. Helen Unitas also cleaned offices four nights a week, 10 pm to 6 am.
- 1951 aged ~18 Enrolls at Louisville after Notre Dame passes on him He was listed at 145 pounds on his first day of practice.
- 1955 aged ~22 Cut by the Steelers, then paid six dollars a game by the Bloomfield Rams Drafted in the ninth round. Coach Walt Kiesling gave him no practice snaps and no preseason work.
- 1956 aged ~23 Signs with the Baltimore Colts and inherits the job George Shaw broke his leg. Unitas's first pass in serious duty was returned for a touchdown.
- December 28, 1958 aged 25 Beats the Giants 23-17 in the first sudden-death overtime in NFL history Alan Ameche scored the winner. NBC carried the game nationally.
- December 27, 1959 aged 26 Wins a second straight championship, 31-16 over the Giants He was named the league's most valuable player that season.
- January 12, 1969 aged 35 Comes off the bench in Super Bowl III and loses to the Jets Injured most of the year, he watched Earl Morrall take the Colts to 13-1.
- July 25, 1974 aged 41 Retires after a single season in San Diego He had gone 1-3 as a starter and lost the job to the rookie Dan Fouts.
- September 11, 2002 aged 69 Dies of a heart attack in Baltimore at 69 He was exercising at a rehabilitation center. He is buried at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.
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