Johnny_Unitas

Johnny Unitas





Date of birth

May 7, 1933


Place of birth

 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


Date of death

September 11 2002 (aged 69)


Place of death

Baldwin, Maryland


Position(s)

Quarterback


College

Louisville


NFL Draft

1955 / Round 9 / Pick 102


Career highlights


Pro Bowls

1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 
1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967


Awards

1959 UPI MVP
1959 Bert Bell Award
1959 Pro Bowl MVP
1960 Pro Bowl MVP
1963 Pro Bowl MVP
1964 UPI MVP
1964 Bert Bell Award
1964 AP NFL MVP
1967 AP NFL MVP
1967 UPI MVP
1967 Bert Bell Award
1970 Walter Payton Award


Honors

NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time
Team
NFL 1960s All-Decade Team


Retired #s

Baltimore Colts #19
Louisville Cardinals #16


Records

NFL Consecutive Games 
with a Touchdown Pass (47)
Baltimore Colts 
Career Passing Yards (39,768),
Baltimore Colts 
Career Passing TDs (287)


Stats


Statistics


Pro Football Reference
DatabaseFootball


Team(s)


1956-1972
1973

Baltimore Colts
San Diego Chargers


Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1979

John Constantine "Johnny" Unitas (May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was a professional American football player in the 1950s-70s, mostly with the Baltimore Colts. Widely regarded as the greatest professional quarterback of all time, he threw touchdown passes in 47 consecutive games, considered by many to be an "unbreakable" record.
After playing for the University of Louisville, Unitas was signed in 1955 by the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers, but was released before the season started. Later, he played semi-professional football before signing with the Baltimore Colts in 1956. By his retirement in 1974 (playing the last season with the San Diego Chargers), he held career records for attempted passes, completions, yards gained passing, and touchdown passes, among other achievements.

Contents

1 Early life
2 College career
3 Professional career
4 Life After Football
5 Personal life
6 Legacy
7 Career stats
8 References
9 External links
10 Credits



Although most of his marks were later eclipsed, he played in an era when the rules made passing more difficult. Noted for his ability to call plays from the line of scrimmage, Unitas was the Associated Press Player of the Decade (1960s); the NFL's most valuable player in 1959, 1964, and 1967; and was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

Early life
Unitas was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1933. His father died when he was five years old, and he was raised by his Lithuanian immigrant mother who worked two jobs to support the family. His unusual surname was a result of a phonetic transliteration of a common Lithuanian last name Jonaitis.
Attending St Justin's High School in Pittsburgh, Unitas played halfback and quarterback. After high school, he looked for an opportunity to play college football. He was passed over by Notre Dame and Indiana. The Pitt then offered a scholarship, but Unitas failed the entrance exam. The University of Louisville finally came through with a scholarship, and Unitas left home for Kentucky. He played quarterback for Louisville during his college career.

College career
In his four-year career at Louisville, Unitas completed 245 passes for 3,139 yards and 27 touchdowns. It is recorded that the six-foot, one-inch Unitas weighed only 145 pounds on his first day of practice at the University of Louisville.
Unitas’ first start was in the fifth game of the 1951 season against St. Bonaventure. He completed 11 consecutive passes and three touchdowns to give the Cardinals a 21-19 lead. Though Louisville lost the game 22-21 on a disputed field goal, it had found a talented quarterback. As a freshman, Unitas completed 46 of 99 passes for 602 yards and nine touchdowns.
In 1952, the team switched to one-platoon football. Unitas played safety and linebacker on defense, quarterback on offense, and kick/punt returner on special teams. Unitas completed 106 of 198 passes for 1,540 yards and 12 touchdowns in his sophomore year.
The team won their first game in 1953, against Murray State, and lost the rest for a record of 1-7. Yet Unitas still excelled. One of the most memorable games of the season came in a 59-6 loss against Tennessee. Unitas completed nine of 19 passes for 73 yards, rushed nine times for 52 yards, returned six kickoffs for 85 yards, one punt for three yards, and had and an incredible 86 percent of the team's tackles. In his junior year, Unitas completed 49 of 95 passes for 470 yards and three touchdowns.
Unitas was elected captain for the 1954 season, but due to an early injury did not see much playing time. His first start of the season was the third game against Florida State. Of the 34-man team, 21 were freshmen. The 1954 Louisville Cardinals went 3-6, with the last win at home against Morehead State. Unitas was slowed by so many injuries his senior year that he did not lead the team in passing yards. He threw for 527 yards, second to Jim Houser’s 560.

Professional career
After college, Unitas was drafted in the nineteenth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL, but was released before the season began. By then he was married with a child and did construction work in Pittsburgh to support his family. On the weekends, he played on a local semipro team called the Bloomfield Rams for six dollars a game.
In 1956, Unitas joined the Baltimore Colts of the NFL under legendary coach Weeb Ewbank, who appreciated Unitas' potential. The Colts won the NFL championship under Unitas' leadership in 1958 by defeating the New York Giants 23-17 in sudden death overtime. It was the first overtime game in NFL history, and is often referred to as the "greatest game ever played." The game, nationally televised by NBC, has been credited for sparking the rise in popularity of professional football during the 1960s. Unitas then led the Colts to a repeat championship in 1959, beating the Giants again 31-16 in the title game.
Later in his career, although he was injured through most of the 1968 season, Unitas stayed on the bench to play in Super Bowl III, the famous game wherein Joe Namath guaranteed a New York Jets win. Sidelined virtually all season with a lame elbow, Unitas helped put together the Colts' only score, a touchdown late in the game. In 1970, Unitas led the Colts to Super Bowl V. He was knocked out of the game in the second quarter, after throwing a 75-yard touchdown pass (setting a Super Bowl record) that helped lift the team to victory. In 1971, Unitas brought the Colts to the AFC Championship game and lost to Miami 21-0.
Unitas was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1973 and retired from football in 1974. He finished his 17 NFL seasons with 2,830 completions in 5,186 passes for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns, with 253 interceptions. He also rushed for 1,777 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Unitas set many passing records during his career. He was the first quarterback to throw for more than 40,000 yards, despite playing during an era when NFL teams played shorter seasons of 12 or 14 games (as opposed to today's 16-game seasons). He also threw a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games between 1956 and 1960, a record that still stands and is considered by many the Mount Everest-like football equivalent to Joe DiMaggio's 56-game baseball hitting streak.

Life After Football
After his playing days were finished, Unitas settled in Baltimore, where he raised his family while also pursuing a career in broadcasting, doing color commentary for NFL games on CBS in the 1970s. Unitas, Brooks Robinson, and Cal Ripken Jr. are generally considered the city's foremost sports icons.
After Robert Irsay moved the Colts franchise to Indianapolis in 1984, Unitas was so outraged that he cut all ties to the relocated team (though his #19 jersey is still retired by the Colts). Other prominent old-time Colts followed his lead. He asked the Pro Football Hall of Fame on numerous occasions to remove his display unless it was listed as belonging to the "Baltimore" Colts, not the Indianapolis Colts. The Hall of Fame has not complied with the request. Unitas donated his Colts memorabilia to the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore. These items are now on display in the Sports Museum at Camden Yards.
Unitas also actively lobbied for another NFL team to come to Baltimore. After the NFL returned to Baltimore as the Ravens for the 1996 season, Unitas and most of the other old-time Colts regarded the Ravens as the true successors of the Baltimore Colts. Unitas was frequently seen on the Ravens' sidelines at home games and received a thunderous ovation every time he was pictured on each of the JumboTrons at M&T Bank Stadium.
When the NFL celebrated its first 50 years, Unitas was voted the league's best player. Retired Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman said of Unitas, "He was better than me. Better than (Sammy) Baugh. Better than anyone."

Personal life
Unitas was married to his high school sweetheart Dorothy Hoelle on November 20, 1954; they had five children. One hour after he divorced Dorothy in Reno on June 26, 1972, Unitas married Sandra Lemon; they had three children and stayed together until his death.
Toward the end of his life, Unitas brought media attention to the many permanent physical disabilities that he and his fellow players suffered during the early years of football, before padding and other safety features designed to prevent such injuries had been invented. Unitas himself lost near-total use of his right hand, which had become mangled by the end of his playing career, with the middle finger and thumb noticeably disfigured from being repeatedly broken.
On September 11, 2002, Unitas died suddenly while working out at a physical therapy facility in Baldwin, Maryland, of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Legacy
After his death, many fans of the Baltimore Ravens football team petitioned the renaming of the Ravens' home stadium (owned by the State of Maryland) after Unitas. These requests, however, were unsuccessful, since the lucrative naming rights had already been leased by the Ravens to the Buffalo, New York, based company, M&T Bank. However, a statue of Unitas was erected as the centerpiece of the plaza in front of the Stadium and the plaza was officially named "Unitas Plaza." Large banners depicting Unitas in his Baltimore Colts heyday now flank the entrance to the stadium. Many loyal Baltimore football fans observe the ritual of rubbing the shoe of the statue of Unitas prior to entering the stadium for a Ravens home game.

Unitas holds the record for most Pro Bowl appearances (ten) by a quarterback.
He was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
Since 1987, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award has been awarded annually to the top senior quarterback of the current year in college football.
In 1999, he was ranked No. five on "The Sporting News'" list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, behind only Joe Montana among quarterbacks. In 2004 a TSN special feature on the 50 Greatest Quarterbacks ranked Unitas number one and Montana number two.
The football stadium at Towson University was renamed Johnny Unitas Stadium in 2002.
Unitas set the record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 47 games. This record is currently regarded as one of sport's "unbreakable" records.
Career stats

Passing Stats


Year

Team

G

Passing
Att.-Comp.

Yards

Pct.

TD

Int.

Sacks-Lost

Pass
Rating


1956

Baltimore

12

198-110

1,498

.556

9

10

n/a-202

74.0


1957

Baltimore

12

301-172

2,550

.571

24

17

n/a-212

88.0


1958

Baltimore

10

263-136

2,007

.517

19

7

n/a-120

90.0


1959

Baltimore

12

367-193

2,899

.526

32

14

n/a-125

82.6


1960

Baltimore

12

378-190

3,099

.503

25

24

n/a-190

73.7


1961

Baltimore

14

420-229

2,990

.545

16

24

n/a-204

66.1


1962

Baltimore

14

389-222

2,967

.571

23

23

n/a-255

76.5


1963

Baltimore

14

410-237

3,481

.578

20

12

42-298

89.7


1964

Baltimore

14

305-158

2,824

.518

19

6

37-254

96.4


1965

Baltimore

11

282-164

2,530

.582

23

12

29-221

97.4


1966

Baltimore

14

348-195

2,748

.560

22

24

21-146

74.0


1967

Baltimore

14

436-255

3,428

.585

20

16

25-198

83.6


1968

Baltimore

5

32-11

139

.344

2

4

2-15

30.1


1969

Baltimore

13

327-178

2,342

.544

12

20

12-93

64.0


1970

Baltimore

14

321-166

2,213

.517

14

18

19-158

65.1


1971

Baltimore

13

176-92

942

.523

3

9

15-129

52.3


1972

Baltimore

8

157-88

1,111

.561

4

6

14-114

70.8


1973

San Diego

5

76-34

471

.447

3

7

14-96

40.0


Totals

211

5,186-2,830

40,239

.546

290

253

230-3,090

78.2


ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
Bolus, Jim, and Billy Reed. Cardinal Football. Champaign, IL: Sports Masters, Inc., 1999. ISBN 978-1583820483
Callahan, Tom. Johnny U: The Life and times of John Unitas. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1400081400
Lazenby, Roland. Johnny Unitas: The Best There Ever Was. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2002. ISBN 978-1572435469
External links
All links retrieved August 3, 2022.

"Johnny Unitas" Pro Football Hall of Fame
"Johnny Unitas" IMDb

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