He was the first big quarterback and co-founder of the football triumphant march. Johnny Unitas did not let any obstacle stop him on his way to the top of the NFL and even pursued his dream in the sandbox of New Jersey. It’s the story of a man who stood with both feet on the ground – and not only in the greatest game ever told lies to the critics.
Disclaimer: This article was originally published on SPOX on May 18, 2015. Unitas would have turned 85 today, 7 May, but the article has been revised and will be presented again on Unitas’ special day.
It was a cold, uncomfortable December day in New York City. An icy wind howled through the city’s canyons and the ground in the time-honored Yankees Stadium was as hard as concrete due to the frost of the past few days. Six fumbles and an interception in the championship game held there were also the result of the adverse conditions.
Yet just hours after the game ended, it had a distinctive name that is still reverently mentioned every time it comes to the final of the 1958 season: “The greatest game ever played”. The greatest game ever. One name is as inseparable from the game as its title: Johnny Unitas.
As the New York Giants did not yet have their own stadium, they and the Baltimore Colts had to move to Yankees Stadium. It was a time when people considered football a college amateur sport and professional football was still in its infancy. Baseball was the undisputed number one. But that was about to change.
Two and a half minutes were left to play in cold Yankees Stadium, the Giants led 17-14, the ball was on the Colts 14 yard line. Unitas, who wore a four-kilo protector to protect three broken ribs, found his receivers again and again, radiated absolute confidence and led his team to the Red Zone, where the field goal brought the extra time.
It was the first overtime in a championship game and for many spectators a complete novelty, because in college football there was no overtime even in the bowl games. And Unitas wasn’t finished yet: After the Giants had to punt, the Colts, driven by their quarterback and Running Back Alan “The Iron Horse” Ameche, marched 80 yards down the field and won the most dramatic title final to date.
The foundation stone for America’s Game was thus laid and the hero was quickly found. Unitas had led his team to victory as the cool leader, seemingly unimpressed by the scenery or game situation, and provided the scene of the game with a spectacular long pass to Hall of Fame receiver Raymond Berry on the decisive drive. Unitas’ simple explanation: “Nothing is dangerous if you know what you’re doing.”
In a way, this statement could be applied to the whole life of Unitas, born in 1933 into the working class of Pittsburgh. His father Leon died when Johnny was just five years old and left his wife with four children. Unitas’ mother Helen, who had Lithuanian roots just like Leon, worked in two jobs to get the children through.
It was a hard everyday life for the family and sport served as a welcome distraction. Unitas was already dreaming of a football career at the age of twelve, so he couldn’t wait to run for his little Catholic St. Justin’s High School.
Unitas played halfback and defensive end until he finally replaced the injured starting quarterback in his penultimate school year – and he knew exactly what he was doing. The teenager did not give up the starting place and several colleges showed interest. But once again, the path should not run without stumbling blocks and potholes.
Notre Dame considered Unitas too slender, and Indiana also declined with thanks. Pittsburgh finally offered him a scholarship, but Unitas failed the entrance test. So there was almost no alternative when the quarterback finally decided on Louisville. Unitas grabbed his place in the starting line by mid-season, played both quarterback and safety, and put on 20 kilos over the first two years. He also grew several centimetres.
Despite some injuries in the following two years, Unitas, who married his long-time girlfriend Dorothy in the last year of school, ended his college season without a title, but as a school record holder for passing yards and passing TDs. Especially his deep passes were feared by Defensive Coordinators.
The path to the NFL should not really be any easier than four years ago looking for a college. The Pittsburgh Steelers chose Unitas in the 1955 draft, which the twelve teams played in 30 laps, in the ninth round, but the bosses were not really convinced. Internally, there was a growing opinion that Unitas was not intelligent enough to bring a professional open-mindedness to the field. Unitas was fired before he could even have appeared in a preseason game.
“For most of the time, they pretended I wasn’t there,” he later reported, and Art Rooney Jr., part of the long-time Steelers owner family, admitted: “Sometimes the whistle sounded during the throwing exercises before John’s turn. But the family, Unitas already had a child, had to be fed and so he went to Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he earned his money as a forklift driver.
But Unitas never gave up his great passion. He started with the Bloomfield Rams, whose place was so bad that oil and water were distributed on the course before the games to prevent the game from disappearing completely into the dust. “They called it semi-professional football. But it was actually a sandbox where a couple of guys under Bloomfield Bridge took a dive,” Unita grinned years later. The quarterback, who also played Safety and Punter, received six dollars per game.
It turned out to be the right decision, because Unitas’ career in the sandbox did not go unnoticed. The Baltimore Colts invited him to a trial training – and should not let him go for many years. With an unexpectedly strong training Unitas convinced the responsible persons and got a contract at the beginning of 1956.
His simple explanation: “I was always convinced that I could be a professional. I trusted my abilities, you just have to. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?” But when he made his professional debut, he had apparently forgotten his own motto: In the fourth game of the season against the Chicago Bears, starting QB George Shaw broke his leg, Unitas came in.
The first pass was intercepted and carried back to the touchdown, the second snap he messed up the handoff and the Bears grabbed the egg. But the horror start should not be a foretaste. “The most important thing about Unitas was that he was really hungry,” said Colts trainer Weeb Ewbank: “He was a boy who wanted to be successful and waited so long.
Page 1: Unitas’ hard childhood, college and the way to the Colts
Page 2: Man of steel, father time and a fitting description