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Greatest Sports Thrill xxxxxx 079 Johnny Unitas
00:14:41
Greatest Sports Thrill xxxxxx 079 Johnny Unitas
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- [00:01]
A
This is Johnny Unitis of the Baltimore Colts. In a few moments, I'll tell you about my greatest sports thrill.
- [00:20]
B
This is Harry Wismer. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of the nation's outstanding football players and an event our special guest, Johnny Unitas considers his greatest sports thrill. And Johnny himself is here to tell us all about it. But first, here is Bill Reddick with a message of interest from your United States Air Force.
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C
A professional golfer must master many skills in order to use every club in the bag correctly. Air Force flying officers, masters of the skies, also are proficient in many skills. You see, Air Force pilots and navigators are thoroughly and expensively trained in subjects such as aircraft engineering, navigation and airborne electronics. These men are also taught to command the respect of those around them and to operate the most advanced aircraft with the utmost precision and skill. In this technically demanding age, the Air Force must maintain high standards. The Air Force pilots and navigators of today are the world's finest dedicated professional men of the skies. So, young men, if you are between the ages of 19 and 26 and a half and a high school graduate, see your local Air Force recruiter about aviation cadet training. Wear the silver wings of leadership. Become a U.S. air Force pilot or navigator. And now back to Harry Wismer.
- [01:42]
B
Around the National Football League, where great quarterbacks are so commonplace that a fellow must be a superstar to attract a any special attention. They are saying that Johnny Unitis, brilliant signal caller of the world champion Baltimore Colts, is ready to become one of the enduring stars of the game. Johnny Unitis is the young man who has been chiefly responsible for turning the Baltimore Colts from a chronic also ran into a championship 11 in the national Football League. Physically, Unitis is typical of the good quarterbacks in pro football. Sturdily built in, he stands 6 foot 1, weighs 190 pounds. He is strong and quick and when necessary runs with the ball himself. He is a sound football player. In 1957, Johnny Unitas led the league in the most important statistical department. 24 touchdown passes thrown in, attempting 301 passes, tops in the league. He completed 172 for a 57.1 percentage. That ranked him third in the league behind Tommy O' Connell of the Cleveland Browns and Eddie LeBaron of the Washington Redskins. His passes gained 2,550 yards or a mile and a half, another league leading accomplishment. For all this, he was chosen pro football's most valuable player. In view of his tremendous accomplishments in the toughest football league in the country. It is difficult to understand why, and as recently as 1955, Johnny Unitas was a player nobody wanted. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had made unitis their number nine draft choice in 1955, took him to training camp on the strength of his fine college football career at Louisville. Johnny was released, however, without even getting into an exhibition game. The Cleveland Browns turned thumbs down on him too. Finally, he went back to Pittsburgh. He worked that fall with a tiling company and later with a pile driving gang. Once a week he played sandlot football at Pittsburgh for $6 per game. This was just a way of staying in shape until he could get another crack at the big leagues. Unlikely as it seemed, that's exactly the way it turned out. Dan Kellett, the Baltimore Colts general manager, was going over some old draft list. One afternoon in February of 1956. He noticed Johnny Unitis name on one of them and recalled Unitis had been high up on Pittsburgh's list when he was a senior at Louisville. He had heard from someplace about Unitis playing sandlot ball. So he called him. The call cost Kellett 80 cents. Johnny was invited to come for a tryout. The Colts watched Unitis throw in a special one day spring workout that May and were impressed. Later on when he showed his full ability in training camp, they were sold. They offered him $1,000 more than Pittsburgh had offered if he made the team with the Steelers the year before. Johnny hadn't survived long enough to draw a single paycheck. Needless to say, the Colts never regretted it. Johnny Unitis has paid them back a hundred fold, mainly because of Johnny Unitis. The Colts came within one game of a title playoff in 1957 with a 75 record, the first winning season in in Baltimore's National Football League history. Unitis picked up in 1958, where he left off in 1957. That year he had thrown at least one touchdown pass in each of his team's dozen regular season games. That total, added to his four final scoring games in 1956, gave him an unbroken string of 16 straight scoring games. Cecil Isbel of Green Bay held the record of 23 consecutive games for touchdowns via the aerial route. United started the 1958 campaign by passing for a touchdown in a 28 to 15 opening day victory over Detroit. He threw four touchdown passes in a 51:38 conquest of the Chicago Bears before the home folks in Baltimore. The Colts went on to win their first six games and United hurled at least one scoring pass and each of them extend his streak to 21 straight touchdown. Passing games. Johnny Unaitis assault on Isbel's record was postponed when Johnny was injured in the game of November 2nd with Green Bay in which the Colts buried the packers under a 56 to nothing score. The fine field general was knocked down after completing a pass in the second quarter. Unitis was carried off the field and taken to the hospital where his injury was diagnosed and as a couple of cracked ribs. Johnny Unitis was not in uniform when the Colts faced the New York Giants before 71,000 fans at Yankee Stadium the following Sunday. New York won a thriller 24 to 21 to hand the Colts their first loss of the 1958 season. There were many who felt the result might have been different had Unitis been in there pitching that pigskin for Baltimore. When Johnny Unitas did return to action, he he continued right where he left off and broke Cecil Isbell's record with 25 consecutive games in which he had thrown touchdown passes. The Baltimore Colts won the Western division title in 1958 with a record of nine wins and three losses. Johnny Unaitis was the fifth best passer in the league completing 136 out of 263 attempts, good for 2007 yards and throwing 19 touchdown passes. And most important of all, he did get a chance to play against the New York Giants. On December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York, the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants faced each other for the championship for the National Football League in the first sudden death playoff in the league's history. The Colts defeated the Giants by a score of 23 to 17 on the good right arm of young Johnny Yonitis. His quarterbacking was masterful and his passing never more accurate on a Sunday afternoon that'll live forever in Baltimore sports history. Johnny Unitis completed 26 of 40 passes, good for 349 yards and a new championship record. From the looks of things, Johnny Unitis reputation is going to grow and grow because he figures to be around a a long, long time. Now, before you meet our special guest Johnny Unitis in person in an interview from Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and hear about his greatest sports thrill. Here is a message of interest to all young men with an eye to the future.
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C
On any clear day, chances are you can look skyward and trace the thin white trails left by the jets of the United States Air Force. You may not be able to hear or see these silver birds, but but you can be sure they are up there. Guided by the sure skilled hands of an Air Force pilot. These men are a special breed Selected for space age leadership and trained and retrained in such specialized fields as engineering, navigation and airborne electronics. This is indeed a challenging, vital career with a limitless future for a young man who can make the grade. How about you? If you're between 19 and 26 and a half and a high school graduate, you may be eligible for enrollment as an aviation cadet. Visit your local Air Force recruiter. He'll give you a complete rundown on physical and scholastic qualifications. You'll also learn in detail about the training programs and the excellent pay and privileges that can be yours as an Air Force pilot. And now back to Harry Wismer.
- [09:22]
B
Johnny Unitis, what was your greatest sports thrill?
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A
My greatest sports thrill, Harry, was just winning the championship game in New York against the New York Giants.
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B
Johnny, you were turned loose by the Pittsburgh Steelers when you came out of college. What was the big factor that made you determined to play pro football?
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A
Well, I think actually the continuation of me playing ball after I was dropped from the Pittsburgh Steelers helped me a great deal as far as keeping in condition everything was concerned. I had my mind made up to go on with professional football the next year anywhere that I could.
- [09:59]
B
Johnny, you have the utmost confidence in your defensive unit. How long do you think you hold the ball before you let it go to an eligible receiver?
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A
Well, I don't think I hold the ball any more than three seconds at the most. Sometimes, of course, you get an occasional chance where you get to hold the ball at least four seconds. And of course, the longer you hold the ball, the more apt you are to be able to complete the pass because it gives your ends more time to get open.
- [10:27]
B
Johnny, how important is your center to a throwing quarterback like yourself?
- [10:31]
A
Well, the offensive center is very, very important. He has to get the ball to the quarterback. Actually that's his main objective, is to get the ball to the quarterback so that the play can continue on and with a center who is big and has a high split. By that I mean is a tall center and where the quarterback doesn't have to break his stance too much to get underneath him. It's very good to have a man like this.
- [10:57]
B
Do you recall your first game with the Baltimore Colts?
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A
Yes, I do. I can't forget that one since it was a very, very bad one. It was the fourth or fifth ball game of the 56 season Baltimore was playing Chicago Bears. In Chicago, George Shaw, our number one quarterback, was hurt, had a cartilage torn in his knee by one of the Bear tackles. And the Coach Eubank, having no one else but me around sent me in and immediately I fumbled about three times in which they recovered and went in to score. And I threw a couple pass interceptions which they scored on. So it's pretty hard to forget a bad ball game like that.
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B
Johnny, how many different calls do you give when calling for a play?
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A
Well, calling for a play in the huddle, I just give actually the formation and a play number and then we break out into the line of scrimmage.
- [11:54]
B
Then what happens if you have to check off?
- [11:57]
A
If checking off is necessary, I would holler a secret number or a code which everyone knows. All the boys on the line, they know in the backs, of course. And by saying that, say, take for instance a number like 22 is a live number or the code, anytime that the offensive team heard that number, they would know automatically that the play in the huddle was canceled. Then the next number which was called by me would designate the play. After that I would call the type of defense that the defensive team is in and then we would go on with our play.
- [12:36]
B
Johnny, what would you say was the turning point in the game with the New York Giants that helped the Colts win the world's championship?
- [12:43]
A
Well, I think the play that hurt the Giants the most and probably helped us was actually a flare pass to Alan Ameche. It was on a third and 10 or 12 situation. The linebacker didn't drop off the left end Raymond Barry and Allen was out there by himself and unable to catch the pass and pick up the needed yardage that kept us alive, took us down probably to around the 45 yard line and kept us alive with the ball.
- [13:11]
B
Johnny, why did you take so many chances to score a touchdown in the championship sudden death playoff when a field goal within the 15 yard line would have ended the game and with less chance of losing the ball by a fumble?
- [13:24]
A
I don't consider what we did taking chances. As long as you give the ball to your best ball carriers, your most sure ball carriers, there's not too much of a chance on fumbling. And your ball carriers in that situation has to hold on the ball. If he loses it, we possibility of losing the ball game. And we have the ball game right there in our grasp. So as far as that goes, we were within their 15, 20 yard line and we knew that they weren't going to stop us from that close.
- [13:53]
B
Thank you very much. Johnny Unitis of the Baltimore Colts, one of pro football's outstanding players.
- [14:07]
C
Greatest sports thrills with top personalities in the world of sports is narrated by Harry Wismer, directed by Gene Kirby. Written by Arthur Susskind, Jr. And presented by the United States Air Force in cooperation with this station. This is Bill Reddick speaking. The preceding was transcribed.