Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas

This book emphasizes the emotional impact of Johnny Unitas, and his place in the history of football. It skips a lot of his post-Colts career, his family, and his life after football. If you're looking for all of that (as many reviewers seem to be) you may not be enthralled by it as I was. A few lessons: 1. This guy was TOUGH--physically and mentally. I have a hard time elaborating on this. He's my hero in this regard. There's no current analogy. There was no "in the grasp" rule then. Maybe Bradshaw, if you can imagine an unassuming version of Terry. 2. Johnny U kept a certain small distance from his teammates. He felt that was important to the quarterbacking role. Nothing extreme--he hung out with them. He was a quiet sort of guy anyway, so this played to the nature of his personality perhaps. 3. Unitas was an artist at play-calling. He and his receivers would save plays for key parts of the game--set up the defenders early and snare them later on. This is a far cry from today's more regimented and more corporate game. 4. He back-pedaled after taking the snap, surveying the field of play and watching the defense unfold. Why doesn't anybody do that anymore? I hasten to say that I HATED this guy as a kid. I was a Giants fan. And the famous championship game was blacked out in the NY area. My dad was a big fan, too, but for some reason we were in the City that day, catching snippets of the thing on cab radios. Strangely I must say that if I found one flaw with the book it was the treatment of that game, which seemed just a little bland. Callahan's style may not be to everyone's taste. He has a way of saying a lot with a few words, and you have to pay attention. He came to my attention as the sports writer for Time Magazine in the early eighties, but I haven't read anything of his since.

His father died when he was five, leaving behind a hard-pressed family and a coal-delivery business. After school, Johnny helped out --- like, before he was ten years old, shoveling three tons of coal into a customer's basement while it was raining. But then, Johnny Unitas dedicated himself to everything he did. Comic books: he could read them for hours. Later, he fell in love with the sports fiction of John Tunis. And, of course, he had infinite time to dream about playing football for Notre Dame. Notre Dame wasn't interested. Louisville was. Notre Dame's mistake. In a game that Louisville lost in a 59-6 rout, Unitas completed 9 of 16 passes, returned 6 kickoffs, made 86% of Louisville's tackles (he played offense and defense), and ran 22 yards for his team's only touchdown. When it was over, he got a huge ovation. No one saw how, in the locker room, he could not raise his arms and his uniform shirt had to be cut off him. If you didn't get goose bumps just then, stay with me. You will. In Johnny Unitas, we are talking about a genuine hero --- and not just because he is regarded, almost universally, as the greatest football player of the first half of the twentieth century. Unitas is thrilling to read about, and to think about, because his struggle took place in the open, in real time, with the outcome uncertain and physical pain guaranteed. Unitas never complained. He never made apologies. He had a job to do, and it was his responsibility to get it done. In a time when college football was a big deal and the pros were a bunch of rowdies who earned $5,000 or $6,000, he did that job so well that, like Michael Jordan, he made sport into art. He didn't know about wasted moves. A dancer: watch him drop back to pass. A magician: see him spin and feint. And, above all, a kind of performance artist: the embodiment of leadership. The final score of his first game as quarterback of the Baltimore Colts was a 58-27 loss. The mood on the team bus was sour. Except for Johnny Unitas, who sat with a sportswriter and coolly relived the game, explaining everything that went wrong and suggesting how he would fix it. That was confidence, not bragging --- at the end of the season, he had the best stats for a rookie quarterback in the history of the NFL. The following season, his streak began: He threw 122 touchdown passes in 47 consecutive games. (The previous record: 22 consecutive games.) Any modern quarterback would have needed a new helmet --- to accommodate his swelled head --- early in that streak. Not Unitas. When a teammate bought a house, he helped him lay the kitchen linoleum. In the huddle, before calling a play, he would ask, "Do you need anything? How can I help? What can I do?" Team first. That was Unitas. To sportswriters, after a game, he described everyone's goofs as his mistakes. He played hurt; he had a Terminator's tolerance for pain. Of course his teammates loved him. "Playing with Johnny Unitas," one said, "was like being in the hudd

First of all I am biased: I attended 95% of the Baltimore Colts games that JU played in (Section 32 Upper row 27) - I was a teenager and a fanatic Colts fan - Callahan captures just about everything I remember from 45 years ago. This book should be read by everyone under 50 who believe that Elway, Montana, Marino and Manning were the best QBs ever - if they read this book they'll know what we Colts fans (that's Baltimore not Indy) have known since 1958 - that Unitas was the best ever and Unitas We Stand!

Although I no longer follow professional football the names of the players of the 1950's and 1960's are very familiar to me. Yes, this is a book that has several anecdotes about men who played for the Colts during the time period when number 19 led the team that eventually had several Hall of Fame players. Author Tom Callahan provides insight into John's relationship with his first wife Dorothy, Don Shula, and others in addition to Lenny Moore's frustration in not being able to establish a friendship with Unitas. I have always felt a good biography about John Unitas was overdue, and I appreciated having the many anecdotes in the book to enable me to get to know many of his teammates such as Alan Ameche, Gion Marchetti, Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Jim Parker, Art Donovan, John Mackey, Tom Matte, and several others. You don't need to be a football fan to enjoy the book, but at least in my case, being familiar with the many players who made up the Baltimore Colts during this time period helped a lot. This book should be a keeper in your library.

Terrell Owens is not the first pro football star to have questions about an autobiography. When asked about the glaring errors - his father's name is incorrect, for example - in his 1960s autobiography, John Unitas told a reporter that he never read the book, let alone wrote it. Such gems on Unitas, arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history, is found in the outstanding biography by Tom Callahan. Portions of the book were recently excerpted in Sports Illustrated. Callahan mixes past interviews and material on Unitas with interviews from teammates, opponents, family and friends to present a complete picture of the era of sports and culture. Particularly interesting are comments by ESPN college analyst Lee Corso concerning Unitas the college player and one whose recommendation carried as much weight off the field as in the huddle. Callahan uniquely covers the landmark 1958 championship game between the Colts and Giants by using a play-by-play summary with comments from participants. An interesting chapter covers the time Unitas spent with the San Diego Chargers; when illegal drugs and steroids began to replace beer and mixed drinks as tools for players to relax and bond. It was an end of an era in so many ways. There are plenty of books chronicling pro football that hit the bookshelves in September, but Johnny U should be your first "draft pick."