Broadway Joe

Joe Namath was football's first real superstar, the first quarterback to move from the playing field to popular culture and to dominate both.

They don't come bigger and, as we've heard so often, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

Joe Namath was crushed by linemen so often in his 13-year career that his knees turned to putty and he turned to alcohol. He is 63 now and he has written a book about his life called "Namath." It is about his football career, mainly. But he talked to correspondent Bob Simon about the flip side of his life, which he hasn't talked about much.

Asked why he did that, Namath says, "Because the doctor one time said, 'If you're gonna have to drink, drink the clear stuff instead of the dark stuff.' So, for medicinal purposes, I went to the clear stuff. That's right."

Namath says he drank "quickly" after a game but never before. His battle with the bottle continued for much of his adult life, until he found an extreme solution: abstinence.

"How many days?" Simon asks.

"A thousand and three," the football legend replied.

But he has an imaginary drinking buddy, "Slick," trying to lure him back to the bar.

"Slick man. Oh, yeah. Slick is there. Slick's whispering to you," Namath tells Simon.

"He's whispering, 'Just one more won't hurt,' huh?" Simon asks.

"He knows that's not enough you know," Namath replies. "You start getting flashes in your head and then fortunately I know that it's no contest. Lifestyle without is far healthier, more fun, more beneficial."

Whatever the pain, the injuries, the medication, Joe Namath was the man with the golden arm, No. 12, the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in one season. He was also a cultural icon. He stepped out of the stereotype with his fur coat and his lama carpet. He was outrageous. Men wanted to be like Joe Namath and women wanted to be with him.

On the DVD that accompanies the book, Namath says: "It seems almost un-American to me for a bachelor not to go around having a drink with a lady now and then."

Now, Joe's retired and living quietly on the Florida coast, a divorced father of two daughters. When he walks today, he carries with him all the injuries of his 13 year career; the knees he walks on are artificial.

He still enjoys the sporting life, but the sports are different now. They are easy on those knees.

"You could chart your career at least on one level through your injuries, huh?" Simon asks.

"Lookin' back, I had a few of them but if you're gonna play that sport, you know, you usually do," he replies.

These days, quarterbacks have it easy compared to what Namath went through. Back then, there were no rules to protect quarterbacks and they were savaged; tackled even after they threw the ball. Namath didn't just injure his knees, he also disjointed vertebrae in his neck, broke bones in his feet and hands, separated his shoulder, broke his cheekbone, suffered numerous concussions — and that's the short list. Now, as a Monday morning quarterback, Joe says he shouldn't have gone on playing so long.

"I went to the Hall of Fame and I saw guys in wheel chairs and stuff that I used to watch on television. And that was real to me. You know, you start thinking about the accumulative injuries over the years. The body just wasn't designed for it. Knowing that now, yeah I'd of quit. It's easy to say, 'I would've quit now,' " Namath says. "But back then, it was my life."

Ironically, Joe told Simon the injury that really wrecked his football career didn't happen on a football field — it happened waterskiing. He showed us where his hamstring muscles had been severed and remain curled up in a ball.

He said that after the accident the Jets team doctor assured him he could keep on playing football, in spite of torn hamstrings.

"He says, 'Your knee's great.' I said, 'Yeah, but doc…my hamstring.' We said, 'What do we do?' He said, 'Well, you need your hamstring to run. You're a quarterback. You don't have to run anyway,' " Namath recalls.

Namath, the son of a steel worker, started playing quarterback in high school in Beaver Falls, Penn. He went to the University of Alabama on a football scholarship, but never graduated. He hurt his knee badly in his senior year, but that didn't stop the New York Jets from offering the rookie the largest three-year contract that had ever been offered any professional athlete. It was worth over $400,000.

And he got that contract without the Jets team doctor even giving him a physical.

"He never even looked at my knee. When I was drafted by the Jets and signed the contract, the deal was done. It wasn't contingent upon a physical. They did things differently in those days," he remembers.

But pro football's success was contingent upon stars and the Jets knew one when they saw one. "Broadway Joe" made the cover of Sports Illustrated. His knee surgery made news before Joe ever played a game. And when he did, he sold out stadiums. Off the field, he sold products and made more money off his endorsements than playing his game.

His most famous and memorable ad was one where Joe covered those famous legs in Beautymist pantyhose and became, perhaps, America's first Metrosexual.

"I thought it was funny and I thought it was a good job and let's go do it," Namath remembers. "When I saw it, my stomach turned, and I didn't look at it again for years.
But it had good impact. Good impact."

His impact on the football field was stupendous, back then. After four seasons with Namath as quarterback, the Jets were on their way to the Super Bowl.

They belonged to the much-maligned AFL, the lowly American Football League. They were 17 point underdogs to the NFL's Baltimore Colts but that didn't stop the modest young man from making a guarantee that would become a legend in football history. He said that the Jets were going to win. He guaranteed it.

"A fella yelled out, 'Hey Namath, we're gonna kick your — you know,' " Namath recalls. "And I just simply said, 'No, no, no. Wait as minute. I got news for you. We're gonna win the game. I guarantee you.'"

Asked if he believed what he said at the time, Namath says, "Well, how would I say it if I didn't believe it?"

During Super Bowl III in Miami on Jan. 12, 1969, the Colts came onto the field looking ferocious but the Jets scored the first touchdown. It was a prelude to one of the great upsets of all time, and Namath was the man.

The New York Jets beat the Baltimore colts, 16-7. It was the first, and still the only time, the team won the Super Bowl.

Namath remembers what it felt like winning the championship. "I can still work up some goose bumps when a thought comes to my mind, a memory comes to my mind. It's wonderful," he says.

Life for Joe Namath in New York City was also wonderful. It was the era of the Beatles, and Joe Namath was up there with them. He didn't have to sing "A Hard Day's Night." He lived it, night after night.

"One article said that you enjoyed blondes, but loved the company of Johnnie Walker Red even more. It's a great line. Is there any truth to it?" Simon asks.

"No, no, no," Namath insists.

"You liked blondes better?" Simon asks.

"Yeah. Yes," he replies.

As he describes in his book, Namath played pro football for 13 seasons, a long time for any quarterback, and an incredibly long time for someone who started out injured. He played for the L.A. Rams his last season and ended up sitting on the bench for most of it.

Asked if he lost passion for playing and football, Namath says: "Yes. Yes. When I knew I couldn't play, when I didn't belong. We were out at practice one day, after I'd been hurt playing against the Bears. And I was standing there and I yawned, and just got, started yawning out here. I caught myself. I said, 'What am I doing? I don't belong here.' "

"Boy, life hurts a lot of times. Life hurts a lot of times," Namath says. "Whether you lose a puppy when you're 8 years old, a girlfriend when you're 15, go through a divorce with the family. You know, life hurts a lot of times."

Joe found himself alone like he never had been. He couldn't sleep, he told Simon. He had chest pains, trouble breathing. He was falling apart and he went back to his old comforter, the bottle.

"And do you think you were dealing with depression at the same time?" Simon asks.

"Absolutely. Absolutely. No doubt about it. Without recognizing it, without admitting to it, you know? It hits ya. And you keep it inside. It's consuming from the moment you lie down at night to the next day," Namath says.

During those dark days, Joe had one memorable moment, one he would like to forget. It was a New York Jets game, honoring Namath as part of the Jets all-time team in December 2003. Joe did a sideline TV interview with Suzy Kolber of ESPN, which was broadcast live on national TV.

Namath says nothing happened during the interview but admits what he said to her was what he was thinking.

"What does it mean to you now when the team is struggling?" Kolber asked Namath.

"I want to kiss you. I could care less about a team struggling," he replied.

"I think I would like to kiss Suzy to this day, but that was the wrong place and very inappropriate to say it at the time. Yes, but I was under the influence and when you get under the influence you may think you have things under control but it's a fact you don't," he says.

Namath says it was that incident that made him stop drinking the last time. "And I'm glad. I hated having to deal with that incident, the family, the friends, you know, the fans. I mean, that really hurt."

That incident shocked Joe into rehab. Today he is on the sidelines with his younger daughter, Olivia, visiting his alma mater, the University of Alabama. Joe is working on the college degree he never got 40 years ago. He is sober. He is healthy. And with his artificial knees he is taking one step at a time.

Asked if he thinks he might want to get married again, Namath says: "Oh, I've thought about companionship, getting married. And you know what? It's a difficult thing to find someone that you want to share the rest of your life with, or even a lot of time with."

"And when this airs, Joe, those calls will start coming in," Simon remarks.

"I hope so," Namath replies. "I'm game."