Bob Lederer - Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl TEAM That Changed Football

Contents

Dedicated to all 56 players, coaches,

and owners of the 196869 Super Bowl

New York Jets

We didnt have team chemistry because we

were winning... We won because of the

intangibles that come from team chemistry.

Jim Richards

Special Teams

Super Bowl Jets

To my wife, Linda,

who supported and encouraged me to

realize my dream of writing this book about

my favorite boyhood team,

My children,

who gave me the inspiration for this book,

My associate and friend, Chris Clow,

who helped me find my heroes,

Jay Pomerantz,

whose graciousness helped me tell

a more complete story,

and

Jo Anne Nathan,

who caught every spelling and

grammatical mistake

Contents

T o be honest with you, even though most of the players from the Super Bowl team were with the Jets in 1967, I dont think we believed we deserved to be champions that year.

We put it all together as a team in 1968. We understood what it took to win, and we had to be lucky with injuries. Also key was developing personal connections, not only on the field but off the field as well. Tuesday was always an offensive day at practice, Wednesday was defensive day, and up until 1968 after practice everyone would go their own way. But in 1968, we got to know each other and started to come together as a family. Guys started to care about other guyswhat they thought, how they practiced. We didnt look at criticism from other guys as an attack. I think we each realized that if we didnt get it done on the field, it didnt matter what the coaches told us in meeting rooms.

As I recall, the driving forces behind this unity on the offensive side were Winston Hill, Pete Lammons, Dave Herman, Curley Johnson, and myself. Twenty-five to thirty of usthe defensive guys, tooheaded to a local meeting place away from Shea Stadium, like a pizza joint, particularly one called the Captains Cabin. The owners set us up with all the pizzas we needed for a couple of hours. It was there that we put the pieces together.

Of course, the big offensive guy was Joe Namath. Sonny Werblin made him a superstar before his stats backed it up. Coach Weeb Ewbank had tried to get across to Joe to stop the partying and drinking while the rest of us were trying to build something. Then he was elected offensive captain before the 1968 season, and after two five-interception games Walt Michaels told him to let the defense and our running game win games for us. Joe agreed that he had to settle down and he focused himself on what was necessary for us to win. At that point, he became the polished quarterback we all knew he could become.

Babe Parilli was probably the best possible backup for Namath. He had experience and maturity. Even at thirty-eight, he could still throw the ball, and he had a strong mental approach.

Emerson Boozer (we called him Booz or Boozer) was a great running talent when he came out of college, and I was glad to make the case for him to join us. Bill Mathis was one of the nicest guys in the world and a teammate who worked great alongside me or Boozer. Billy Joe was a heck of a running back who ran with a high-knee-action running style, like Boozer. Billy and I became friends and worked together, and he took some of the fullback load off me. I never got to know Lee White, our other backup fullback, very well. He was a big, quiet guy, our first draft pick in 1968, and its too bad he got hurt in our first game. Smo (Mark Smolinski) and Curley Johnson got to the Jets a few years before me and were key leaders on special teams.

Pete Lammons was a fun guy who always had a smilethe tight end we needed to block, catch the ball, and run. George Sauer Jr. didnt say much, but he brought an unbelievable work ethic; he worked on his hands and his routes. Don Maynard, immensely talented and our only deep threat, followed Georges lead and became a polished receiver and great route runner. Bake Turner didnt have a whole lot of talent or speed, but he made use of what he had and was a great third receiving option.

Clive Rush was a great teacher, had the right kind of demeanor and Joes ear. He was a helluva offensive coordinator and play caller. We didnt have a radio in our helmets, so Namath had to learn the game plan each week and make the play calls. Sometimes Clive would shuttle in plays. I think he was a little more pass orientedwho wouldnt have been with a talent like Joe Namath? But emphasizing the passing game was true of the whole American Football League.

Joe Spencer, our offensive line coach, was a huge but docile guy. The linemen liked him a lot. He was responsible for one of the biggest acquisitions, Bob Talamini, who put our offense over the top. He was my man: tough, ornery, and, boy, he had a winning attitude.

Our offensive line was special. Dave Herman didnt have the most ability in the world, but he worked his butt off and would fight you to the death. Randy Rasmussen, a soft-spoken guy, had calves as big as my thighs; he was one of the strongest guys ever from the waist down. Winston Hill, our best offensive lineman, was a big, fun-loving guy, a teddy bear, who dominated the line of scrimmage. He called me Nate, though I never figured out why. John Schmitt was one of the few players from a small school (Hofstra) who made it in the pros. Mild-mannered Jeff Richardson was ready to step in anywhere if any of our linemen got hurt.

Jim Turner, if you got to know him, had a sense of humor. When it came to kicking, no moment was too big for Jim. We knew in the crunch that he would put it through the uprights.

Shea Stadium had its critics because of the wind and field conditions, including having to run from grass to dirt and back, but it was our home and those much-talked-about problems gave us a psychological home-field advantage.

What a season it was!

Matt Snell

Jersey City, NJ

February 2018

I n the 196768 season, we had gotten so close to the playoffs. Missed it by a half game! It was incredibly disappointing when we heard in San Diego before our final game against the Chargers that Houston had clinched the Eastern Division with their win the night before.

So, all summer long we looked at the coming season as the year we would get into the playoffs. Entering the season, I felt we had the nucleus of a great team. We had a great offense and a great defense. The Super Bowl? I dont think we thought about it until toward the end of the season. Truthfully, for us, beating the Oakland Raiders for the AFL Championship was almost as momentous as beating the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl.

The two best teams in the AFL had been Kansas City and Oakland, and they presented important but different obstacles that year. Our first game of the regular season, beating the Chiefs in Kansas City, was our way of showing that we belonged in the upper echelon of the AFL. It was a big win that catapulted us with some confidence going forward, and that made a difference when we had some dramatic losses that year that werent supposed to happen.

The Raiders were our big rival, a good team, but they also had a reputation as a dirty team. On offense, they held more than any other team in the league, and their players chop-blocked, crack-back-blocked, and leg-whipped. These moves were legal, but ended the careers of many players. We ended up facing the Raiders twice that year, first in the so-called Heidi Game, so named because NBC preempted our game in Oakland before it was over because the game ran long. At 7 P.M. eastern time, NBC switched to a scheduled made-for-TV movie,