September 18, 2024 • 10 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we explore the legendary career of Johnny Unitas, the quarterback who transformed the game of football. From his record-breaking performances to his leadership in the historic 1958 NFL Championship Game, discover how Unitas became one of the most iconic figures in NFL history. Learn about his lasting impact on the quarterback position and the sport itself.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On September eighteenth, nineteen sixty six, Johnny Unitas throws four
touchdown passes in a thirty eight twenty three win over
the Minnesota Vikings to pass why a Tittle for the
career touchdown passes record, which is just one of the
mini records he held upon his retirement from the league
(00:23):
and got him known as one of the greatest quarterbacks
to ever play football. Today, we're going to dive into
his background and how he broke this record on Daily
Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:43):
your guide as you daily learn about more sports history
and you become even more of a sports historian. And
today's trivia question is what historic college program did Johnny
Uniteds try out for but was told he was too
skinny and would get killed. Now, Johnny was born in
(01:05):
Pittsburgh in nineteen thirty three, and his father passed away
when he was just five years old, leaving his mom
to really support the family and work two jobs. And
Johnny grew up loving football and played halfback and quarterback
in high school and had a dream of playing for
the legendary school Notre Dame, and actually tried out for
the team but the coach said he was too skinny
(01:27):
and would get murdered on the field. But that doesn't
mean he wasn't good enough to play college football, as
he attended the University of Louisville, where he played quarterback
and had over twenty seven touchdowns in his career. Where
his first start was in the nineteen fifty one season
against Saint Bonifainture, where he threw eleven consecutive passes and
(01:48):
had three touchdowns, leading Louisville to the lead, leading Louisville
to a twenty one to nineteen lead, although they would
end up losing by a field goal. He became Louisville's
new starting quarterback, but the following season, the university actually
deemphasized the sport and cut scholarships and tightened the academic
standards for athletes. Now luckily, Johnny was able to keep
(02:11):
his scholarship, but fifteen other players did not return to
the team, which required the team to actually to have
many players play two ways, and Johnny would play either
safety or linebacker on defense and then come back and
quarterback the offense, as well as return kicks and punts
on special teams, and obviously this made it a struggle
for the Cardinals and they went three and five that year,
(02:34):
where he threw twelve touchdowns, and the following year did
not fare any better as they went one in seven.
In his senior year, Johnny United got hurt and barely
played and the Cardinals went three and six. So because
of this, he wasn't a highly drafted player. It wasn't
until the ninth round in the NFL draft in nineteen
fifty four when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him. However, he
(02:56):
was released by them before the season as they already
had four other quarterbacks and they only had three spots
on their roster, and they didn't even give him a
real chance as he didn't take any snaps in practice
and they just thought he wasn't smart enough to be
a quarterback in the NFL. So Johnny went home and
worked construction to help support his family, and on weekends
he would play quarterback in a semi pro league for
(03:18):
the blooming Field Rams, where he would receive six dollars
a game. Then, in nineteen fifty six, the Colts held
a tryout where him and a few other of his
semi pro teammates went to go try out and they
made the trip all the way to Baltimore, and Johnny
showed everything he had and the Colts liked it, and
he was signed by the Colts and make his debut
(03:40):
in the nineteen fifty seven season. Now, he wasn't the
starter right away. It wasn't until week two that year
when starting quarterback George Shaw broke his leg, where Johnny
got in and threw his first touchdown pass, which was
an interception to the other team. Then he fumbled a
handoff which was recovered by the Bears and they lost
the first game. But in the next game was his
(04:02):
first start against Green Bay, where he actually won. And
he finished that year with nine touchdown passes, including in
the final game, which started his forty seven game streak
of throwing a touchdown pass. And his rookie year, he
had a completion percentage of fifty five point six, so
(04:22):
nothing he did jumped off the page that he was
going to be this great quarterback. But the following season
showed a lot more promise as he passed for over
twenty five hundred yards and twenty four touchdowns, leading the
Colts to a seven to five record, the first winning
season in franchise history, and he received the Jim Thorpe
Award for the NFL's Most Valuable Player. Then he continued
(04:45):
his success next season, throwing nineteen touchdowns and led the
Colts to the NFL Championship and defeated the New York
Giants twenty three to seventeen in a sudden death overtime
game that has become known as the greatest this game
ever played. Following that season, he again won the MVP,
(05:05):
throwing for thirty two touchdowns and led the Colts to
another championship, again beating the New York Giants. But then
nineteen sixties came and the Colts started to decline with
injuries to key players such as Raymond Barry and Lenny Moore,
and in nineteen sixty he ended his streak of consecutive
(05:26):
games with at least one touchdown at forty seven, a
record that would stand for over fifty years until Drew
Brees would break it later in his career. Sutter tumultuous
time the coach, Webb U Banks was replaced by Don Shula,
the youngest coach in NFL history at the time at
thirty three years old, and he would change the fortune
(05:46):
and notice the greatness in his quarterback and lead them
to an eight and six record their first year and
led Johnny Unitis to his highest yard total in his
career at three thousand, four hundred in eighty one, and
he would change the fortune and the team continue to
do better and in nineteen sixty four he would win
the MVP again and lead the team to the NFL Championship,
(06:11):
where they eventually lost to the Cleveland Browns, and he
would continue his success with Don Struda as again in
nineteen sixty seven, he would win the MVP, throwing for
over thirty four hundred yards and twenty touchdowns despite having
Tennis Oubbo that year, and in nineteen sixty eight, Johnny
actually tore a muscle in the preseason in his arm
(06:32):
and spent most of the season rehabbing, but the Colts
had a lot of success and his backup Earl Morrile,
went on to win the MVP that season and led
the team to the third Super Bowl in NFL history.
And despite Earl being the MVP, Johnny Uniteds came off
the bench and it wasn't enough as Joe Namath had
(06:54):
guaranteed the win and the Jets won sixteen to ten
In nineteen seventy, he led them to Super Bowl five,
where he got injured in the second quarter of the game. Luckily,
they had MVP backing him up in Merle Oral, who
led the team to a last second victory sixteen to thirteen,
which proved to be the only Super Bowl victory Johnny
(07:17):
Unitis would have as he was declining with age and
Earl Morle was his backup. He would go on to
split time with him for his remainder of his career
with the Baltimore Colts, but in nineteen seventy three he
would actually be traded to the San Diego Chargers, but
he struggled in his first four games with the team,
throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, and would later be replaced
(07:40):
by a rookie quarterback and an fellow Hall of Famer
in Dan Fouts. He would come back the following year
in nineteen seventy four, as preseason started, he retired, and
at the time he held the NFL record for the
most completions, the most attempts, the most yards, the most
touchdowns all while playing twelve or fourteen games in his
NFL career and why he having the success at the
(08:01):
time when he was passing for more touchdowns than anyone
for every year, and the answer was who was around him.
His tied end John Mackie and his receiver Raymond Barry
really gave him a one to two punch that no
other team had. His best players were his receivers, not
his running back, as everyone else focused on running, and
(08:22):
he was so accurate at completing to these two players
that it was almost as good as running the ball.
And that's why he threw for so many yards in
so many touchdowns. Because he had great supporting cast, he
was a great player as well as Vince Lombardi even
said without Johnny Uniteds they are a bad team, but
with Johnny, they are a great team. And another reason
(08:44):
is Johnny actually called most of his own plays and
as most teams at the time were so focused on
stopping the run and all their other games. As scouting
was very limited at the time because video wasn't around
as much, he could pick apart defenses as they did
not plan to stop the pass as much as they
planned to stop the run, and this led to so
(09:05):
many more touchdowns. This led to him being a unique
player in the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks and led him
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nineteen seventy nine.
After his career, he would go on to be the
color commentator for CBS in the nineteen seventies, and unfortunately,
in October of two thousand and two, he would actually
(09:25):
pass away, and this led to the people of Baltimore
actually signing a petition that the Ravens to rename their
home stadium after Johnny Unitis, and they had over fifty
six thousand signatures, and as the NFL does, they went
with the money, taking naming rights from Mt Bank instead,
as many of Johnny's records stood until the two thousands.
(09:46):
He would go on to have his number retired by
the Colts and currently sits at number seventeen on the
most touchdown passes of all time at two hundred and
nine and is always mentioned in the discussion of great
his quarterbacks in NFL history. I want to thank you
for listening to today's daily sports history. If you like this,
(10:08):
please do us a favor. Follow us on all our socials.
We're on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, threads, YouTube, wherever you like
to socialize. We're there for you to help gain some knowledge.
Where we post videos and pictures about every episode, so
come follow us there and come back tomorrow for more
daily sports history and Today's trivia question is what historic
(10:31):
college and the answer. Today's trivia question is what historic
college program did Johnny Uniteds try out for but was
told he was too skinny and would get killed The
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
On September eighteenth, nineteen sixty six, Johnny Unitas throws four
touchdown passes in a thirty eight twenty three win over
the Minnesota Vikings to pass why a Tittle for the
career touchdown passes record, which is just one of the
mini records he held upon his retirement from the league
(00:23):
and got him known as one of the greatest quarterbacks
to ever play football. Today, we're going to dive into
his background and how he broke this record on Daily
Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:43):
your guide as you daily learn about more sports history
and you become even more of a sports historian. And
today's trivia question is what historic college program did Johnny
Uniteds try out for but was told he was too
skinny and would get killed. Now, Johnny was born in
(01:05):
Pittsburgh in nineteen thirty three, and his father passed away
when he was just five years old, leaving his mom
to really support the family and work two jobs. And
Johnny grew up loving football and played halfback and quarterback
in high school and had a dream of playing for
the legendary school Notre Dame, and actually tried out for
the team but the coach said he was too skinny
(01:27):
and would get murdered on the field. But that doesn't
mean he wasn't good enough to play college football, as
he attended the University of Louisville, where he played quarterback
and had over twenty seven touchdowns in his career. Where
his first start was in the nineteen fifty one season
against Saint Bonifainture, where he threw eleven consecutive passes and
(01:48):
had three touchdowns, leading Louisville to the lead, leading Louisville
to a twenty one to nineteen lead, although they would
end up losing by a field goal. He became Louisville's
new starting quarterback, but the following season, the university actually
deemphasized the sport and cut scholarships and tightened the academic
standards for athletes. Now luckily, Johnny was able to keep
(02:11):
his scholarship, but fifteen other players did not return to
the team, which required the team to actually to have
many players play two ways, and Johnny would play either
safety or linebacker on defense and then come back and
quarterback the offense, as well as return kicks and punts
on special teams, and obviously this made it a struggle
for the Cardinals and they went three and five that year,
(02:34):
where he threw twelve touchdowns, and the following year did
not fare any better as they went one in seven.
In his senior year, Johnny United got hurt and barely
played and the Cardinals went three and six. So because
of this, he wasn't a highly drafted player. It wasn't
until the ninth round in the NFL draft in nineteen
fifty four when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him. However, he
(02:56):
was released by them before the season as they already
had four other quarterbacks and they only had three spots
on their roster, and they didn't even give him a
real chance as he didn't take any snaps in practice
and they just thought he wasn't smart enough to be
a quarterback in the NFL. So Johnny went home and
worked construction to help support his family, and on weekends
he would play quarterback in a semi pro league for
(03:18):
the blooming Field Rams, where he would receive six dollars
a game. Then, in nineteen fifty six, the Colts held
a tryout where him and a few other of his
semi pro teammates went to go try out and they
made the trip all the way to Baltimore, and Johnny
showed everything he had and the Colts liked it, and
he was signed by the Colts and make his debut
(03:40):
in the nineteen fifty seven season. Now, he wasn't the
starter right away. It wasn't until week two that year
when starting quarterback George Shaw broke his leg, where Johnny
got in and threw his first touchdown pass, which was
an interception to the other team. Then he fumbled a
handoff which was recovered by the Bears and they lost
the first game. But in the next game was his
(04:02):
first start against Green Bay, where he actually won. And
he finished that year with nine touchdown passes, including in
the final game, which started his forty seven game streak
of throwing a touchdown pass. And his rookie year, he
had a completion percentage of fifty five point six, so
(04:22):
nothing he did jumped off the page that he was
going to be this great quarterback. But the following season
showed a lot more promise as he passed for over
twenty five hundred yards and twenty four touchdowns, leading the
Colts to a seven to five record, the first winning
season in franchise history, and he received the Jim Thorpe
Award for the NFL's Most Valuable Player. Then he continued
(04:45):
his success next season, throwing nineteen touchdowns and led the
Colts to the NFL Championship and defeated the New York
Giants twenty three to seventeen in a sudden death overtime
game that has become known as the greatest this game
ever played. Following that season, he again won the MVP,
(05:05):
throwing for thirty two touchdowns and led the Colts to
another championship, again beating the New York Giants. But then
nineteen sixties came and the Colts started to decline with
injuries to key players such as Raymond Barry and Lenny Moore,
and in nineteen sixty he ended his streak of consecutive
(05:26):
games with at least one touchdown at forty seven, a
record that would stand for over fifty years until Drew
Brees would break it later in his career. Sutter tumultuous
time the coach, Webb U Banks was replaced by Don Shula,
the youngest coach in NFL history at the time at
thirty three years old, and he would change the fortune
(05:46):
and notice the greatness in his quarterback and lead them
to an eight and six record their first year and
led Johnny Unitis to his highest yard total in his
career at three thousand, four hundred in eighty one, and
he would change the fortune and the team continue to
do better and in nineteen sixty four he would win
the MVP again and lead the team to the NFL Championship,
(06:11):
where they eventually lost to the Cleveland Browns, and he
would continue his success with Don Struda as again in
nineteen sixty seven, he would win the MVP, throwing for
over thirty four hundred yards and twenty touchdowns despite having
Tennis Oubbo that year, and in nineteen sixty eight, Johnny
actually tore a muscle in the preseason in his arm
(06:32):
and spent most of the season rehabbing, but the Colts
had a lot of success and his backup Earl Morrile,
went on to win the MVP that season and led
the team to the third Super Bowl in NFL history.
And despite Earl being the MVP, Johnny Uniteds came off
the bench and it wasn't enough as Joe Namath had
(06:54):
guaranteed the win and the Jets won sixteen to ten
In nineteen seventy, he led them to Super Bowl five,
where he got injured in the second quarter of the game. Luckily,
they had MVP backing him up in Merle Oral, who
led the team to a last second victory sixteen to thirteen,
which proved to be the only Super Bowl victory Johnny
(07:17):
Unitis would have as he was declining with age and
Earl Morle was his backup. He would go on to
split time with him for his remainder of his career
with the Baltimore Colts, but in nineteen seventy three he
would actually be traded to the San Diego Chargers, but
he struggled in his first four games with the team,
throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, and would later be replaced
(07:40):
by a rookie quarterback and an fellow Hall of Famer
in Dan Fouts. He would come back the following year
in nineteen seventy four, as preseason started, he retired, and
at the time he held the NFL record for the
most completions, the most attempts, the most yards, the most
touchdowns all while playing twelve or fourteen games in his
NFL career and why he having the success at the
(08:01):
time when he was passing for more touchdowns than anyone
for every year, and the answer was who was around him.
His tied end John Mackie and his receiver Raymond Barry
really gave him a one to two punch that no
other team had. His best players were his receivers, not
his running back, as everyone else focused on running, and
(08:22):
he was so accurate at completing to these two players
that it was almost as good as running the ball.
And that's why he threw for so many yards in
so many touchdowns. Because he had great supporting cast, he
was a great player as well as Vince Lombardi even
said without Johnny Uniteds they are a bad team, but
with Johnny, they are a great team. And another reason
(08:44):
is Johnny actually called most of his own plays and
as most teams at the time were so focused on
stopping the run and all their other games. As scouting
was very limited at the time because video wasn't around
as much, he could pick apart defenses as they did
not plan to stop the pass as much as they
planned to stop the run, and this led to so
(09:05):
many more touchdowns. This led to him being a unique
player in the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks and led him
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nineteen seventy nine.
After his career, he would go on to be the
color commentator for CBS in the nineteen seventies, and unfortunately,
in October of two thousand and two, he would actually
(09:25):
pass away, and this led to the people of Baltimore
actually signing a petition that the Ravens to rename their
home stadium after Johnny Unitis, and they had over fifty
six thousand signatures, and as the NFL does, they went
with the money, taking naming rights from Mt Bank instead,
as many of Johnny's records stood until the two thousands.
(09:46):
He would go on to have his number retired by
the Colts and currently sits at number seventeen on the
most touchdown passes of all time at two hundred and
nine and is always mentioned in the discussion of great
his quarterbacks in NFL history. I want to thank you
for listening to today's daily sports history. If you like this,
(10:08):
please do us a favor. Follow us on all our socials.
We're on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, threads, YouTube, wherever you like
to socialize. We're there for you to help gain some knowledge.
Where we post videos and pictures about every episode, so
come follow us there and come back tomorrow for more
daily sports history and Today's trivia question is what historic
(10:31):
college and the answer. Today's trivia question is what historic
college program did Johnny Uniteds try out for but was
told he was too skinny and would get killed The
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
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