Johnny Unitas

We try to bring you some of Western Pennsylvania's contributions to the game of football. This week our subject is one of the most revered quarterbacks in NFL history, Johnny Unitas and his rags to riches story. Well at least rags to popularity and respect in football.

It is quite ironic that when we look at the history of some of the top players that the NFL has ever seen that we find so much negativity and rejection by so-called experts. Johnny Unitas may just be the standard when it comes from overcoming the nay-sayers to be something special. It all started when Unitas showed up to his local high school coach to try out for the position of quarterback. Coach looked at young Johnny with an inquisitive eye as the lad stood darn near 6 foot tall but had packed only 145 pounds on the lanky frame.

John Unitas was born May 7, 1933 and grew up in a working-class section of Pittsburgh. Growing up in a single parent household as his Lithuanian-born mother Helen raised four children by herself, supporting them by working two jobs because the childrens' father died when Johnny was five. Money was always tight in the household so Johnny, his mother and sublings all learned how to work hard and get by on very little.

Johnny was determined to play football eventhough the coaching staff relegated him to a back up running back and spot duty as an end at St. Justin's, a small Catholic high school in the Steel City. Unitas played these positions with heart, never relinquishing his dream of playing under center. That is until he replaced the injured starting quarterback early in his junior year.  Johnny did well at QB too because as a senior the next year, he drew some interest from colleges. Rejection followed suit again with doubts of Johnny's ability to play football as both Indiana and Notre Dame passed on giving him a scholarship offer feeling he was too light. It really didn't seem like anyone was interested in having him play football for their school on scholarship. His hometown University of Pittsburgh did send an official offer but Johnny had trouble passing the entrance exam. His family was too poor to pay tution so Johnny settled that he would have to enter the working world. 

At long last Johnny caught a break when Louisville University invited the youngster to a tryout for football. Unitas so much impressed the coaches with his slill, talent and determination that a solid offer came from Louisville and Unitas promptly accepted the scholarship. As a freshman he became a starter in the sixth game when oppotunity arose, and he led the Cardinals to four late season victories. The cardinal signal caller made a concerted effort to gain some gerth and gained 40 pounds. These first two college seasons, Unitas threw for 21 touchdowns and also played safety. Injuries and sub-par teams plagued his junior and senior seasons, as he finished his college career with 27 touchdown throws and 3,139 yards passing.

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Unitas in the ninth round of the 1955 NFL Draft.  The Steelers were not very good back then and never gave Johnny U any real credence to make the team as he was labeled the fourth string when they were only keeping three.

“They had four quarterbacks,” Art Rooney Jr. said, according to a 2002 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article. “Jimmy Finks, Ted Marchibroda, a kid named Vic Eaton and Unitas, who was a local hero. By the time they went through the drills, Unitas wouldn’t get a chance to perform. Never got in an exhibition game, either.”

Johnny Unitas told Sports Illustrated in 1957 that; “I passed for three or four touchdowns in scrimmage, and I got away on a couple of 30-yard runs, but they never let me play in exhibitions.” Not all of the Rooney family felt that Johnny was not worthy of a roster spot. Art Rooney Sr's 18-year old sone Tim wrote an 11 page letter begging his father to keep Unitas on the roster. it was all for not though as the Steelers released the young QB.

Dejected Johnny kept his dream alive playing semi-pro sand lot football in the area somemtimes for the meager wage of $6 per game playing for the Bloomfield Rams. In 1956 Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns and the front office of the Baltimore Colts showed intrest in signing the young arm. It was sort of both ends of the spectrum in the NFL, the Browns were the cream of the teams while the Colts couldn't seem to find victory. Baltimore would up getting the rights to Johnny Unitas for 80 cents, the cost of a long distance phone call from Maryland to Pittsburgh and the Colts got their man and on the cheap.

What a great investment of time and energy it was as Unitas went on to set multiple NFL records and was named Most Valuable Player three times in 1959, 1964, and 1967, in addition to receiving 10 Pro Bowl and five first-team All-Pro honors. He helped lead the Colts to four championship titles; three pre-merger era in 1958, 1959, 1968, and one Super Bowl era in Super Bowl V. His first championship victory is regarded as one of the league's greatest games and credited with helping popularize the NFL. Between 1956 and 1960, he set the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass at 47, which held for 52 years. Johnny Unitas was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

The picture in the banner above is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the Football & Basketball Facilities at the Louisville Fairgrounds Baseball Park, contributed by Greenstrat