Johnny U: The Life and Times of Johnny Unitas

A transitional hero

The title is "Johnny U the life and times of Johnny Unitas" and while the life is a pretty good sports bio, it is the "times" that's really interesting. Unitas as a player is probably the one most responsible for the transition of pro football from a Sunday afternoon alternative TV program to the national pastime it is now. He quarterbacked his team, a great cast of characters,in the "greatest game ever played" in 1958 and catipulted the game, it's interest, crowds and player's salaries to the big time. Through it all, Unitas, on a personal level seemed unaffected. He handled championships, fame, declining skills and even being bankrupt as simply part of life. Today's stars owe Johnny U for their fame, and salaries. Too bad many of them don't have the loyalty and integrity he possesed.

A reviewer

I was excited when I heard there was going to be a new biography on Johnny Unitas. After reading many great sport-related books in the last few years (Mariness' 'When Pride Still Mattered,' Kriegel's 'Namath,' Barra's 'The Last Coach,' and everything by Halberstam), I just knew that Unitas was getting his due. Sadly, that is not the case. In a very abbreviated profile, most attention is paid to the '58 NFL championship game, and Super Bowl III. Who hasn't heard, read, or seen everything there is concerning these 2 games? Nothing new reported here. So much more could've been shared about the years between and after these events. There's little mention of Unitas' two other MVP seasons--1964 & 1967. Also, more should have been revealed about Unitas' demise in Baltimore. And, there is very little about Johnny's post-football life other than the fact that his kids thought he was a great dad. There's nothing about his business ventures, and, most importantly, his relationship with the NFL regarding veterans benefits. The author mailed it in on this one, and did not give 'The Greatest' his best effort.

A reviewer

Johnny U: The Life and Times of Johnny Unitas is a nonfiction biography of the great Johnny Unitas, one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. Published in 2006, the book covers every year that he spent in the NFL, which team he played for, and his overall life on and off the field. Tom Callahan narrates the book with the voice that kind of provides the reader with the sense that Tom was right along the side of Johnny from his childhood to his years in college all the ways till his years in the NFL, where he signed with the Baltimore Colts in 1956 and from then on just was worshiped for his greatness on the grid iron. According to Tom Johnny¿s life was not always filled with cheer and excitement, he also went through a lot of hardship to get to that point in his life when he became the leader of the 1958 and 1959 Superbowl winning champion Baltimore Colts, and just a few years later inducted into the Hall of Fame for throwing 40,239 yards in only 19 season with the Colts. My personal view on this biography is that Tom Callahan does an awesome job of portraying the life and times of Johnny Unitas to any child or student who either is doing a report or just wants to know the history of the NFL from what it was to what it is now, to show them that back than it was not just all about the money players back than were more than egotists because they were millionaires, the players back than would actually stop every now and than and sign an autograph or do an interview.

Mr. Halbertsam where are you?

Mr. Halberstam where are you? When my third grade teacher at St. Stephen¿s Catholic School, Sister Katherine asked our class to draw a picture of the Holy Trinity, I remember drawing a kind of fuzzy picture of what I thought God must¿ve looked like (i.e. long hair, white long flowing robes). Directly to God¿s right was my image of Jesus and to God¿s left was No. 19 in a blue and white Baltimore Colts uniform, wearing black high-top shoes and a crew cut. Sister Kate was somewhat taken aback with my portrait of God¿s family even though I explained to her that while Johnny may not have converted water to wine he had surely worked a bunch of miracles for the Baltimore Colts. I also explained to her that Johnny Unitas worked on Sundays and also had a following that was as loyal to him as ¿well, Jesus¿ disciples. To no avail, I flunked this assignment but chalked it up to the fact that the TV in the nun¿s convent must not have worked as surely Sister Katherine had not ever truly witnessed the miracles of the Colts quarterback on any given autumn Sunday afternoon. Growing up in the late Fifties and Sixties, Johnny Unitas was one of my boyhood heroes. I did not worship Johnny alone, however. He was the idol of legions of most other red-blooded American males in the late fifties days when the NFL had just taken over the ownership of Sunday afternoons---- or at least TV viewing at 1:00 on Sundays. No. 19 was what most of us aspired to be... the best quarterback who had ever lived, winner of the Greatest Game ever played, and the owner of the hearts and minds of the city of Baltimore and the undisputed leader of their NFL team, the Colts. He also got to ¿hang out¿ with Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Big Daddy Lipscomb, et al. and oh yeah, Johnny Unitas called his own plays. Whether they admit or not, any Baby Boomer who threw a football in the late fifties or sixties was, in their mind¿s eye, trying to emulate Johnny Unitas. (If a baby boomer ever tells you they were emulating someone else, when they dropped back to throw a pass in a Thanksgiving afternoon touch football game they are either lying, drunk, or just plain daft). Anyway, I¿ve read Johnny U: The Life and Times of Johnny Unitas twice now. The first time, I read it was Christmas weekend after seeing a brief snippet about it in Sports Illustrated. I was unaware of its publication and was mildly horrified that I had not purchased it when it first came out back in August. I immediately went out and used one of those ubiquitous gift cards to purchase it after seeing former NFL great and dance contest winner, Emmit Smith pointing to it on page 41 of the SI with Vince Young on the cover. The first time, I read it in one sitting. I learned a few things that I didn¿t already know. I learned, for instance that ---Dorothy, John¿s first wife was boorish, the antithesis of her husband and was not liked very much by the wives of the other Colts. --- John Mackey, the first truly great tight end, had according, to No.19, did not have very good hands for catching the ball even though he is credited with being the NFL¿s first really great tight end. ----Despite the immense popularity of the Colts, the African-American players such as Jim Parker, Lenny Moore, etc, still could not eat in Maryland restaurants in the early sixties. Segregation was still alive and well in pre- civil rights America ----Jim Parker, the great offensive lineman, today languishes in a nursing home. The second time through took longer than one sitting. Read it over two or three days. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Didn¿t learn much that was new. Tom Callahan gives a good effort, I suppose but somehow the book falls short---at least in my estimation. Unitas was an American icon ---right up there with the likes of JFK, Michael Jordan, Ali, Martin King, and a few other great American notables. After having read Halberstam¿s books on

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