“Hey I’ve got news for you. We’re gonna win Sunday. I’ll guarantee you”
Joe Namath; “Broadway Joe”
January 9, 1969

“I’ll tell you what I think of Namath after he plays his first pro game”
Norm Van Brocklin; “The Dutchman”
January 11, 1969

“It ain’t bragging if you can do it”
Dizzy Dean; St Louis Cardinals Pitcher 1930’s

On the evening of January 9, 1969; a few days prior to Super Bowl III between the AFL Champion New York Jets and the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts, the Miami Touchdown Club hosted a dinner at the Miami Villas honoring Joe Namath as professional football’s outstanding player of 1968. Namath had guided the New York Jets to an 11-3 record and the organization’s first ever AFL Championship, a mere one year removed from being the first person in the history of professional football to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a single season. The recognition that Namath received that evening was based on the merits of his gridiron accomplishments.

While Namath was at the podium to speak, a heckler from the audience yelled:

“the Colts are going to kick your ass”

Namath instantly responded to the heckler, “Whoa, wait a minute. You guys have been talking for two weeks now. And I’m tired of hearing it. Hey I’ve got news for you. We’ll win on Sunday. I’ll guarantee you”

The local media response to Namath’s reply to a loud mouthed heckler was instantaneous. The next morning Namath’s guarantee that the 18 point underdog New York Jets would defeat the 13-1 Baltimore Colts in the upcoming Super Bowl was a headline in the Miami Herald, and local reporters hounded the young superstar for a clarification. Namath clarified his perspective by doubling down on his prediction. 

Two days after Namath’s verbal exchange with the heckler at the Miami Villas, and on the very eve of Super Bowl III, Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin was asked his thoughts on the Jets quarterback.  Van Brocklin, a legendary quarterback himself, spoke with the predictable arrogance of the NFL traditionalists of his day when he replied:

“I’ll tell you what I think of Namath after he plays his first pro game”

To my knowledge, Van Brocklin’s derision of the entire AFL hardly merited a media response. The Dutchman as he was known, merely stated with typical disdain and disregard for the American Football League what most NFL people actually thought.  For in the eyes of NFL establishment folk, the AFL was as they had been labeled with snide derision, “The Mickey Mouse League”.

But unlike Van Brocklin, Namath was not trash talking when he made his bold prediction.  Rather, Broadway Joe was asserting an informed prediction. Namath was not the only Jet player that believed that they were going to win against the Colts. He was merely the only one to publicly say so. The fact is that the Jets team had carefully studied tape on the Colts, and they noted flaws in the Colts defensive and offensive tactics that they felt could be exploited and overcome. The New York Jets coaching staff designed a game plan that the Jets players themselves were prepared to implement and execute on the field of play, where all pregame talk is settled once and for all. 

The next day, January 12, 1969; the New York Jets made professional football history by soundly defeating the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts, 16-7. Namath engineered a mere flawless offensive game, behind Matt Snell’s 121 yard rushing and George Sauer’s eight receptions; and the underrated Jets defense dominated the hyped Colt’s offense. In fact, the Colts did not even score until the game was comfortably out of reach late in the 4th quarter. 

As Namath jogged off the field after the one sided contest, he pointed one finger to the sky to confirm that for the first time ever, his New York Jets and the entire AFL were Number One. The photo of that moment captures the iconic nature of what had just transpired in the Orange Bowl. For when the New York Jets became the first AFL team to ever defeat an NFL team in a Championship Game, they won not only on behalf of their faithful fans of the Big Apple but they also won on behalf of each and every AFL fan, player, and league personnel who like Namath, were tired of hearing the arrogant talk of NFL superiority. After January 12, 1969; there was no more NFL superiority.

Long live the memory of Super Bowl III.

Long live the memory of the AFL.