Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
Joseph William Namath (; NAY-meth; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college football at Alabama, where he led the team to a national championship title, and was selected by the Jets first overall in the 1965 AFL Draft. During his five AFL seasons, he was a two-time MVP and twice led the league in passing yards while guiding the Jets to victory in one AFL championship and one Super Bowl. Both victories remain the Jets' only championships. Namath joined the NFL with the Jets in 1970 following the AFL–NFL merger, where he was the league's passing yards and touchdowns leader during the 1972 season. He played in New York for seven more seasons, with his final year spent as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
Namath cemented his legacy in 1969 when he boldly 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 that they would enter the merger as equals. Namath received Super Bowl MVP honors in the game while becoming the first quarterback to win both a college national championship and a major professional championship.
Nicknamed "Broadway Joe", Namath became a media icon whose on-field success, fashion sense, lighthearted personality, and sex symbol status attracted mainstream popularity outside of sports. Although his statistics and win–loss record are unimpressive from a contemporary standpoint, Namath remains one of the league's most iconic and popular figures. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.