Joseph William Namath (/'neIm@th/ NAY-meth, born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) as well as the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, mostly in the New York Jets. He played in the NCAA football tournament at Alabama and won the national championship in his senior year and was selected by the Jets first overall in the 1965 AFL Draft. He was twice named MVP, twice leading the league in passing yards. He also helped lead the Jets to an AFL championship, and one Super Bowl. Both of these victories are the Jets only championships. After the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970, Namath joined the NFL with the Jets which was the NFL's touchdowns and passing yards leading player in 1972. He was a player in New York for seven more seasons, and his final season as part of the Los Angeles Rams.Namath made his mark in 1969 when he swore that his underdog Jets would be victorious in Super Bowl III before defeating the NFL's Baltimore Colts in one of the most memorable sports upsets of all time. The Super Bowl victory was the first for an AFL franchise, helping dismiss the notion that their teams were not as good as the NFL's, and showing that they were entering the merger as equals. Namath received Super Bowl MVP honors in the game, while also becoming the first quarterback to take home a college national championship and an important professional championship.
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