Inroduction:-
Born on May 31, 1943, Joseph William Namath is one of the most famous former American football players. Did yoou know? Joe Namath net worth was $25 million during 90s. yes! You heard it right!. This 77- turned actor was a quarterback player who played mainly with the New York jets. Also, He played in the American Football League(AFL) and National Football League(NFL) for 13 seasons. Namath is a retired American footballer with a net worth of $25 million.
The Jets saw Namath in Alabama’s 1965 AFL Draft, where Namath played college football at AFL draft and led his team to a national championship title. Namath was lucky for the Jets’ as he was recognized as the Most Valuable Player(MVP) twice. He also guided his Jets’ team and led them to victory in an AFL championship and One Super Bowl. Moreover, these two mentioned championships were the Jets only won championships till 2019.
In 1970, there was a merger between AFL(American Football league) and NFL(National Football league); that is how Namath became a part of the NFL. During the 1972 season, Namath played for the NFL-AFL league as the leader of the passing yards and touchdowns. However, he spent his final year before retiring, playing for Los Angeles Rams.
Early Life of popular Joe Namath net worth $25 million.
Born and raised in a Lower end neighbourhood of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Namath was very close to his parents. He belongs to a Catholic family of Hungarian descent. His father, Janos “John” Andrew Namath, was a steelworker. His grandfather, Andras “Andrew” Nemeth, was a Hungarian who came to Ellis Island in 1911 on Pannonia. Moreover, His grandfather used to work as a Steelworker in the Pittsburgh area.
Namath did his high school at Beaver Falls High School and was very good at sports. He played football(as a standout quarterback), basketball(as a guard) and Baseball(as an Outfielder). He was famous for dunking in high school basketball. Dunking is a unique basketball shot where a player jumps in the air and controls the ball to score. This type of shot worth two points as the ball directly goes through the basket. This type of shot was not normal that time.
Joe Namath’s Hall of Fame
In 1960, Namath set a record with a 9-0 score and won the WPIAL Class AA championship under Larry Bruno’s coaching at Beaver Falls. Also, Bruno accompanied Namath to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.
After completing his graduation, in 1961, Namath received several offers from Major League Baseball teams, such as Yankees, Indian, Pirates, Reds and Phillies. But, he chose to play football because his mother wanted him to finish his graduation first. Thus, Namath signed up at the University of Alabama but later dropped out to pursue his career as a professional football player. However, he finally completed his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies at the same University(University of Alabama) in 2007 at 64 in 2007.
Namath’s Football Career
Namath suffered a painful knee injury in the fourth game, During his senior year at Alabama. However, he proved himself undefeated during the orange bowl season. As a result, he became the first choice for competing leagues: the NFL and the AFL.
In 1965, during St. Louis Cardinals, the NFL draft selected Namath to play football professionally. During his first meeting with Cardinals, Joe requested a $200,000 salary and the latest luxurious Lincoln Continental, which shocked the whole Cardinal executives. However, the executives agreed to accept all his requests only if he would sign to play with the NFL before the Orange bowl. This decision would have made him “not-eligible” to play in the Orange bowl. Thus, he declined the offer and later, he got the golden opportunity that changed his life. After becoming an undefeated winner during the Orange Bowl, Namath signed up a three-year contract with the Jets. He signed up the contract for a salary of US $427,000, under the supervision of owner Sonny Werblin. Joe Namath gained popularity in 1965, as he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in July. Thus, Sherman Plunkett nicknamed him “Broadway Joe”.
New York Jets
Namath joined the Jets during 1965 and split time with second-year quarterback Mike Taliaferro. He did not win any games for the first six games while he was splitting time. However, when he started playing full time, the Jets gained victory during five of the last eight of a fourteen -game season. Because of this impressive victory during the initial year of his career, people named him “AFL Rookie of the year”. Moreover, he set another record in 1967 when he threw for 4,007 yards during a 14-game season. Later, during 1979, in a 16 game season, Dan Fouts broke this record.
Joe Namath is the best example of the phrase “The Show Must Go On”. Despite an injured knee throughout his career, Joe Namath was an AFL all-star in 1965,1967,1968 and 1979. Later on, when he left football, Namath underwent knee replacement surgery. During his career, Namath underwent four primary knee operations to play football continuously and sometimes, he used to drain his knee halftime to finish off the game.
In 1968, Namath played for the AFL title game, and his performance was incredible. As a result, he won the title of the top professional athlete of the year and was awarded the Hickok belt. In 1972, Namath was an AFC-NFC Pro Bowler, member of the Jets and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985, a very prestigious title.
Super Bowl 3:-
Joe Namath’s career reached its peak as the Jets won the Super Bowl 3 in January 1968 against Baltimore Colts by 16-7. However, his knee injury did not allow him to continue with his career. Thus, In 1977, Namath said Bye-bye to his football career and underwent a knee replacement. However, despite having a bad knee injury, Namath continue to win games with the Jets throughout his career.
Joe Namath Net Worth:-
Joe Namath, a retired football player, a talk show host, a spokesperson and an established actor, has a net worth of $25 million. He signed the rookie contract for over three years with the Jets for $427,000($142,000/year).
This figure is similar to signing the contract of $3.5 million today, which means $1.16 million per year. Later, he signed another contract with the Jets, which was a record-breaker. It was a two-year contract for $900,000( which has the same value as $4.3 million today). Joe Namath net worth lies under the top list of the football players with highest net worth of these times.
Acting Career:-
Namath also set his foot in Hollywood and became a well-known, established actor. In his initial days of acting, he was a host on his talk show “The Joe Namath Show”. This 1969 host show brought him little success and helped him transition into an actor. He appeared on stage and on several talk shows as a guest. He also starred in several movies; for example, in 1970, he played CC Ryder in CC and the company with Ann Margret and William Smith. In 1971, Joe played with Donna Millis on-stage in Picnic; in 1978, he played as Joe Casey in a brief television series The Waverly Wonders.
Further, he appeared as a guest in The Love Boat, Married…with Children, Here’s Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Flip Wilson Show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in, The Dean Martin Show, The Simpsons, The A-Team, ALF, Kate and Allie and The John Larroquette Show.
He also appeared several times in the talk show “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Carson”.Later, he also worked as a “Color Commentator” on NFL broadcasts and 1985’s Monday Night Football. Also, He did Underdogs in 2013, a sports film and a comedy film “The Wedding Ringer” in 2015.
Personal Life:
Joe’s Education and Marriage
When he was 39 years old, Joe met an aspiring actress Deborah Mays, who was 22 years old at that time. They met in a voice acting class and fell instantly in love. Later, in 1984, they tied a knot, and his wife gave birth to two beautiful daughters Jessica (born 1986) and Olivia (born 1991). However, these two love birds struggle to continue their courtship and decide to take a divorce. Thus, the couple took a divorce in 2000.
The main reason for the divorce is Namath’s Alcoholism. Despite his wife’s warnings, he continued to drink and made tantrums which led his happily married life to an end. Though, he was touching new heights in his career parallelly.
Joe’s Alcoholism:
Things got worse when Namath was in the headlines because of an unfortunate incident when he consumed an insane amount of alcohol in daylight and attended an ESPN live game dedicated to the Jets. During his interview on this live game, a female host was interviewing her, and under the influence of alcohol, he stated, “I want to kiss you. I couldn’t care less about the team”, which became breaking news. However, later on, Namath apologized for his behavior and decided to quit alcohol. Also, he joined an alcoholism treatment program and used this incident as a motivation to quit alcohol. Moreover, Joe mentioned that he had embarrassed his family and friends and could not escape this feeling. He said that he had not touched alcohol since.
He became a social-service personality in July 2015, when Namath joined a search for two boys who went missing and offered $100,000 as a reward for the safe return of the boys. However, the search continued for six days when they found a boat with two dead bodies and the search was suspended.
Biography of Joe Namath
Did you know? Inspired by the life events of Joe Namath, Mark Kriegel wrote Namath, which became the best seller (declared by New York times as number 23) in November 2006. With the release of his biography, CBS’ 60 minutes interviewed Namath on November 19, 2006. A documentary was filmed dedicated to Namath’s life and his hometown in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. This documentary represents his town and its ties with him.
Conclusion:
In the end, we had discussed about Joe Namath net worth and his achievements, his early life and career in this article. Moreover, we have discussed about his alcoholism and how he overcame it. I hope this article will help you to gain knowledge about this famous football player turned actor. Good luck and take care!
