WEBVTT - Super Bowl III with Bob Lederer (10/10) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.200 The game is over and New York the world. You 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:09.360 play to win the gate. He's got as Jet. What's down? 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.480 You're listening to the Official New York Jets podcast, a 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:26.239 Jets three sixty production. What's Up Everybody? Eating Greenberg and 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.840 Eric Allen back in studio for the Official Jets Podcast. 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.000 In this weekend, it's not only Jets colts on Sunday 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.320 I MetLife Stadium, it's also an honoring of the Super 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.960 Bowl three team in nine. It's been fifty years since 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:42.840 that team has took the field and they're gonna be 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.199 basically the halftime performance. They're gonna be honored at MetLife Stadium, 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.519 and what better way be honored throughout the weekend? Greens 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.199 I think the organization has something set up for them 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.680 throughout the weekend. I think the guys are arriving, maybe 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.280 late Friday, maybe bringing in their families a necessary morning. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.720 I believe they'll be here on a day when it's 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.440 closed to the media and things like that. But I 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.480 believe the Super Bowl three team will be here to 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.679 take in walk through, maybe talk to some of the 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.479 current members of two thousand and eighteen Jets. Then there's 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.160 some festivities Saturday afternoon. I know there's a dinner at 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:20.560 MetLife Stadium Saturday night, hosted by Jets fan himself, the Swammy, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:27.319 Chris Berman Swamy. Yeah you young buck Man. No, well 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:29.360 I know he's just Swammy. I didn't know he was hosting. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.160 Oh yeah, so of course I know who the Swallow. Okay, 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.040 So then Sunday morning, actually I think I'm hosting a 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:41.360 breakfast at MetLife Stadium. And then, like you mentioned before, 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.280 the players will be honored at halftime. So everybody, make 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.200 sure you get your beers early, maybe the second quarter 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.000 early time out, or your pepsis, your pop worms, whatever 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.120 things like that, because we'd love to hit everybody in 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.480 their seats. Make sure to go in the two minute warning. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:57.640 Don't go out two minute warning, You're still gonna get 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.840 caught in lines man. Yeah, okay, well everybody does a 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.280 two minute warning. You gotta be before that. Yeah, I 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.280 do that in the press box too. But so ea, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.480 and I talked to Bob Letter, who wrote a book 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.240 that essentially is about everyone except Joe Namath on the 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.359 Super Bowl. A chapter about Joe in there. But as 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.239 you'll soon find out, he's one of the few people 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.720 he wasn't able to talk to right. And the book 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.760 is called Beyond Broadway Joe the Super Bowl Team that 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.240 Changed Football, And so Bob spoke to what he say, 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.120 thirty eight of the forty four members of the team 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.040 excluding Joe, and then five coaches, And there's a chapter 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:40.120 on every player. And if you're a Jets fan that 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.720 watched that Super Bowl and you follow the team growing up, 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.880 you're obviously going to be very in tune and you're 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.280 going to know a lot of a lot of the players. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.200 But there's some fascinating stories from the beginning of the 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:54.520 book to the end of the book. But if you're 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.080 a young Jets fan like myself and I have the 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.880 good fortune of understanding what the Super Bowl meant, not 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:05.840 only from literature and and whatnot, but my grandmother actually 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:08.520 was at the game along with my dad and my uncle. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.680 And I don't think wether, I don't think we've actually 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.880 discussed this. They were at the Orange Bowl. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.480 my grandma, my grandpa, my uncle, my brother were all 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.200 there in nineteen six nine. Did they keep anything from that, 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.320 like a ticket stub or you know that my grandma 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.880 program programs needs to be big. Back in the day, 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.000 I believe there is a program somewhere in my grandmother's house. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.040 I mean, like, you know, not that the audience needs 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.480 to know this, but my grandmother is a hoarder, so 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.520 she has everything from she had a check from the 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.600 nineteen fifties that we recently threw out because obviously it 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.400 is expired. But like she she has a couple of 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:51.080 things and there's a uh, there's a program somewhere, I mean, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.320 we have to find it. And there's a photo of 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.000 polaroid picture uh, and it's uh, you see Broadway Joe 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:00.800 like getting on a bus, and my grandma was just 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.280 like in the front front of the photo. This isn't 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:07.119 in Miami. Yeah, yeah, look at you. Yeah, Broadway Joe's 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.120 So I will say this. Uh. And we didn't get 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.680 into this with Bob, but there was a feeling that season, 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:19.320 if the Jets could beat the Raiders, that they would 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.560 beat the Baltimore Colts. They were confident that they would 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.000 beat the Colts. Now, the Hodgemakers weren't confident. And we 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.240 didn't talk to Bob about the guarantee because it's been 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.320 talked about so many times. But I was in New 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.880 York City recently hosting a Q and A with Joe 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.000 Namath and he said that we're at the Miami Touchdown 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.360 Club and somebody in the back was saying, Hey, you're 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.800 gonna get your butt beat, Joe, You're gonna get your 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.039 butt beat, and he said, no, we're not. No, we're not. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.720 I guarantee it. And that's how that's how it all started. 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.080 And then the next morning you see headlines in the newspaper, 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.120 so you're hosting the Q and A and some guy 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.400 didn't to like, no, no, no, no, that happened at 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.120 the mind, I thought you were saying that some and 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.640 tried to like recreate the moment that would be something 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.640 that would be funny. Maybe some day that will happen, 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.480 but uh uh, that's all. It's not like Nameth one 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.600 out there and he was talking to a medium member 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.000 and was like, oh, yeah, we're gonna win it. But 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:17.919 if you talk to the guys over the years, and 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.120 I've had a great opportunity to do that, they were 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.799 very confident heading into that game. And the thing about 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.120 that game in particular, which was very interesting is the 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.960 Jets down, I mean dominated on the ground and with 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.680 the defense. I think that had five takeaways in all 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.719 sixteen and seven against the Baltimore Colts. But that game 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.880 really changed the football landscape and we were we are 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.480 lucky to be part of an organization that, um, you know, 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:50.560 has that as part of its legacy. And again who 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.120 knows what had what would have happened. Uh, people ultimately 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:58.720 think the merger was happening, but this definitely quicken it 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.320 or made it faster that the merger was definitely going 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.640 to happen. Um, So we never know because the NFL 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.200 dominating those first two Super Bowls. So a couple of 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.360 things here before we roll in this interview with Bob 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.839 Letter is one I think Bob and you and everyone 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.679 and would be happy to know that the Super Bowl 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.480 three is It was actually taught in when I went 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:21.440 to school, so I was part of like an American 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.680 sports history class and very much so we talked about 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.720 Super Bowl three you want to advanced school man, because 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:30.680 it was a real cool We wasn't elective, but it 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.520 was really cool. We didn't have any sports history class. Yeah, 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.840 it was awesome. We learned all about the history. It 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.560 was the history of sports and television and Super Bowl 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.000 three was a big part of that. And just some 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.159 really cool stuff there, Like, for example, I didn't know 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.400 this is that Floyd Little and Suilve. Oh, by the way, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.880 we gotta drop the four four in here. Yeah. So 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.560 Floyd Little actually, right before the a f L NFL merger, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.039 had agreed to sign with the New York Jets, and 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.760 then the two leagues merged and then there was just 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.680 one singular draft. Floyd Little went to the Amber. Bronco's 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.400 arrest is history. The other thing is that I just 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.520 wanted to say about Joan Amath and the Super Bowl 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.360 and the guarantee is just my favorite story is that 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.040 he's like out by the pool like a day before 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:12.960 the game and reporters just like walked up to him 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.200 and had had a conversational interview with him. And could 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.720 you imagine could you just imagine what that would be 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.640 like today if a player were just hanging out by 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.320 the pool the day before a game. First of all, 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.679 screwy on social media would be through the roof. Second 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.080 of all, it just would never happen, No, it when, 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.440 it when. And that was the innocence of everything, because 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.040 back in the day, you could go out and there's 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.280 stories you guys, heaven beers with reporters and you know, 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.880 and there were certain things off limits. Now we live 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.200 in a world where your phone controls everything, so you 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.480 gotta be on point all the time. I think there 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.520 was more freedom back in the day, and it was 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.920 more of a relaxed atmosphere, like you're saying, and isn't 0:07:55.960 --> 0:08:00.440 it something if you look back to that raft. I 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:05.120 believe Joe Namath gets was lockted by the St. Louis 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.320 Cardinals in the NFL and the New York Jets of 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.240 the NFL and something any opts to go to the 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.640 Jets and the rest of the history. But this was 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.240 a great team. Greens about the mine. This is a 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.400 great team, and we get lost in and and that 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.440 over the years. That just thinking it was broadway Joe, 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.760 because if you talk to Joe, he is the first 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.000 person to talk about his running backs, whether it be 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.040 Matt Snow or Emerson Boozer, or offensive linement guys like 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.600 John Schmidt is center up front, or the receivers Donny 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.119 Maynard of course, and George Sower and then that defense 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:47.000 Jerry philbin Um and company. So, uh, the ultimate team 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.559 and they had the ultimate win and maybe in sports history, 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.640 and well, what a perfect segue to roll in this 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.000 interview with Bob Letter, because it is more than just 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.840 Joe Namath. And I think that's why Bob Letter wrote 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.640 this book. As you'll soon here, he said that someone 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:05.600 would said, oh, that's the Joe Namanth Super Bowl, and 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.000 he took it personally and said, because this team was 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.200 great in many more ways than just Joe Namath, even 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.680 though he was a key component to the Jets of success. 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.480 But without further ado, here's our talk with Bob Letter. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.000 All right, now joined by the author of Beyond Broadway, 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.480 Joe the Super Bowl Team that Changed Football, Bob Letter. Bob, 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.320 thanks so much for joining us. Thank you gentlemen for 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.240 inviting me. It's a pleasure. And uh, I hope a 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.000 lot of Jets fans are gonna learn something from our 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.120 conversation today in from the book. I'm sure that they will. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.880 And for fans that don't know about what the book is, 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.160 can you want to explain what it is, how long 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.320 the project took for you to complete, and where you 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:56.360 got the idea to write this book. The project took 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.600 three years. The book is essentially, I guess the best 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.440 way to describe it is the story of the Super 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.079 Bowl Jets team other than Joe Namath, although he's obviously 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.640 essential character in it, and I think he still has 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.120 the second largest chapter in the book. But it's the 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:15.120 first attempt ever made to try to incorporate and tell 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.400 the stories of the other forty four players, UM, and 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:22.920 the five coaches and the pro personnel director who enabled, 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.040 as I say it, Joe Namath to live up to 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.199 his Super Bowl three Guarantee. Bob, there's gonna be a 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:31.880 lot of young people listening to today and they don't 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:39.200 know the enormous um victory that was for not only 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.560 the Jets, but the a f L and the entire 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.800 football world. And your part three of your book is 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:50.880 how Super Bowl three changed everything? How did it change everything? Well, 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:52.640 I don't want to give the whole thing away, but 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:54.120 let me put it. Let me put it to you 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.360 this way. Um. The Jet players, first of all, had 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.160 heard rumors during the two weeks between the a f 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.200 L Championship game where they beat Oakland and earned a 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.640 spot in the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl game itself, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.559 UM that the NFL was not necessarily going to follow 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.720 through and have all the a f L teams come 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:17.960 into the NFL. In fact, a couple of them, and 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.480 they talk about it in the book. Told me that 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:24.320 some of the weaker a FL franchises were seriously being 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.800 considered not being included, and frankly the two weakest AFL 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.240 franchises at the time. And think about this gentleman with 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.040 the Boston Patriots and the Denver Bronco. So imagine Tom 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.439 Brady never having played for the Patriots. Well, maybe he 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.400 would have gotten to the Jets. Who knows um. But 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.199 the other thing that happened is that Pete Rosel, it 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.320 was well known, was looking to incorporate um the ten 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.240 AFL teams or however many they were going to put 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.400 in into the NFL structure, and in other words that Jess, 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.840 we're going to be placed in the Giants vision. The 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.440 Oakland Raiders were going to be in the forty Niners division. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:09.800 Buffalo would have been in a division with Detroit, um, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. UM. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.960 After the Super Bowl game, the a f L owners 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.839 got their backs up and they told the NFL, because 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.360 this was decision making time about the merger that was 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.319 still two weeks two years off from actually being completed, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.400 that they were insistent that the structure of the old 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.880 American Football League be maintained. And so the best way 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.960 to really look at this, and I really thought about 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:38.439 this over this past weekend. Imagine today if the American 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.520 Football Conference was not the American Football Conference but the 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:47.000 American Football League, and the NFC was the National Football 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.760 League and they were literally separate league, still at war 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.160 with each other, and each year vying for the talent 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.440 coming out each year. Imagine for Sam Donald would have 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.880 cost the Jets to try to sign away from an 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.000 NFL team. That it's fascinating to think about when you 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:05.600 put it that way. But I want to know is 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.120 how did you go about writing this book and how 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.040 many players did you speak to? It were as a 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.880 phone interviews? How did you get in contact with the players? 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.920 And did you have a favorite interview? Um? How I 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:23.040 got in touch with the players is a deep guarded secret, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.079 but I will reveal to no one. Um. Um. We 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.800 had a system in place that we put together here 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.680 UM that allowed me to identify where the players were 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.400 and then to connect with them through different various means. 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.840 I talked to thirty eight different people who were part 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.920 of the forty four players other than Joe and the 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:51.240 five coaches, um and and Sonny Werblin's kids, and even 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.040 the children of some of the other owners of the Jets, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.000 As Sonny Werblin had really gone out of the way 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.560 after the sixty seven season, he had been brought out 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.400 by the There's uh And so I was able to 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:09.319 talk to probably um of the players. Several of them 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:14.760 had died, notably George Sowar Jr. In Jim Hudson that 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.240 was actually just a couple of years before I started, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.200 But there had been others who early on had passed away. 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:24.200 Cleave Rush, who was a superb offensive coordinator, had been 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:28.440 the first to pass away in ninety eight or seventy nine. Um, 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.920 Buddy Ryan was not doing well at the time that 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.240 I started the book, But I was able to get 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.720 most everybody else. And I also got the last interviews 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.920 um that people like um Winston Hill ever did, Curtly 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.720 Johnson ever did, etcetera. So it was it was really 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.400 a thrill for me to talk to a lot of 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.080 these guys. Now, what's what's the most interesting interview? Boy, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.160 that's really tough to pick out, but I'll tell you 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:59.160 the first one because it was very very telling about 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.280 the rest of the book. Curly Johnson was the first player, 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.520 UM that I elected the call, and it was just 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.440 by chance. I had no specific reason for starting there. 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.720 Curly lived out in Texas and his wife answers the phone, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.680 and she I told her who I was, and my 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.080 my spiel for everybody was and I'm a Jet fan 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.400 since nineteen sixty three, and I remember the evolution of 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.560 the team from the Titans to the Jets, and even 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.359 more so the evolution and the progress that the players 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.600 made individually between nineteen sixty three when Sonny Werblin and 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.160 we Viewbank took over, and of course at the end 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.400 of the sixty eight and beginning of the sixty nine 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.720 season when the Jets became champions UM. And and she 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.240 listened to me and said, okay, she says, can you 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.160 hold on a second? I said sure. She covered the 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:51.240 microphone on the phone, and I heard her distinctly say, Hey, Curly, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.920 there's a guy on the phone that wants to talk 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.760 to you about the Super Bowl. UM, And I could 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.560 hear Curly, who really couldn't communicate for well at that 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.880 point he had really been struck early on by CTE. 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.640 But he laughed. She laughed even louder. She came back, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.440 and she said, Curly has been waiting forty eight years 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.040 to tell people what happened in his mind, the memories 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.320 he has about that great season, and although nobody else 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:23.680 exactly put it that way, UM, reading between the lines, 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.360 that's what most of the players I talked to really felt. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.680 And the best way I can explain that is that 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:31.800 when the book was done, and everybody in the book 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:34.280 has their own chapter and they've all seen what I've 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.840 written about them. Um. I heard from at least a 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.280 half a dozen who said they can't wait for the 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.200 book to come out because it will give them something 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.280 they can pass on to generations from their family, to 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.560 show what Grandpa, great grandpa, great great grandpa did as 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.320 a football player back in the nineteen sixties. Yeah, and 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:56.320 that's really wonderful. And the Jets are gonna honor more 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:01.280 of thirty those Jets players who were there. January twelfth, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.800 nineteen sixty nine. Down in the Orange Bowl one, the 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.040 Green and White beat the Baltimore Colt sixteen seven UM 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:17.320 and one of the most iconic games in any sport ever. Uh. 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.040 The coach of that team was we view bank. You 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.560 actually were able to dig up some player evaluations. How 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.639 cool was that? And I gotta imagine, Bob and when 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.280 you went into this, you didn't think that, well, there's 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.760 a chance I get some player evaluations from we view back. 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.520 Well remember wildest treams. What actually happened is that some 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.480 of the Jet players, after I had interviewed them, invited 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.240 me to come to New York to meet them, because said, hey, 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.000 you're asking us a lot of questions. There's a bunch 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:46.520 of us that want to look you in the face 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.440 and ask you a bunch of questions. So I did 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.320 travel to New York in January of two thousand and sixteen, 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.720 and I met with guys like Jerry Philman and Ralph 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.440 Baker and Al Atkinson and Larry Grantham and Bake Turner 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.160 and Cornell Gordon and a whole bunch of them, um 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.040 and in and amongst the crowd, I was introduced to 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:08.720 a gentleman named j Palmerans who lives on the island 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.520 and is one of the biggest Jet season ticket holders. 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.160 Um and Jay was introduced to me and I told 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.399 him what the project was and he said, hey, he 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.080 got some time before you go back to Chicago this weekend, 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.399 and I said, sure, followed him to his home that 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.000 Sunday morning, and he told he took me into what 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:30.280 I would best describe as a jet caves filled with uniforms, helmets, shoes, 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:35.520 all sorts of playing paraphernalia from that from that team. 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.720 He's really the ultimate fan of that Super Bowl team. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:42.120 But more importantly and have more interest to me, He 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.600 opened up his shelf and showed me the weeview Bank States, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:51.080 which essentially meant that he had playbooks and personal notes 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.560 and things of that nature, um from from the end 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.240 of his Colts time to the end of his Jets time. 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.080 And he said, here, have fun. I think you're going 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.119 to find a lot of interesting stuff. And he showed 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.840 me a number of items that were there, including, just 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:11.200 as an example, uh uh, the hospital report on Joe 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.960 Amos knees. And one of the great things, AHAs that 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:16.639 comes out of this book is that at the end 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:21.879 of the seventh season UM the Jets ownership and we 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:27.080 were told by Dr Nicholas and a specialist of knees 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.480 and such that Joe probably had two to three years 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.359 of full capability left in him. And then there was 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.360 no guessing that they could make about whether he'd even 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.320 be able to suit up and play evermore. And so, UM, 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.920 they basically said, if you're going to go for a championship, 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:47.480 go for it soon. Well that that summer, as a 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.680 lot of Jet historians no, in trading camp, the Jets 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.720 traded for Bob Talamini to really fortify their offensive line eight, 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.280 and that was to protect Joe and be They brought 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.680 in Babe Perilli, who became the first veteran quarterback to 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.520 back up Joe Namath and be ready really to step 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.800 in if Nameth got hurt or had to leave a 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.560 game or or what for whatever reason. And that, to 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.760 me in retrospect, was the sign that they were going 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:13.479 for it. I felt that way as a kid when 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.399 I was sixteen that year. But I also in looking 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:21.560 back now and being able to read all this information, recognized, um, 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.560 that that we and and Sonny Werblin and the Jets 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.679 ownership had decided. Yet we're going for it now because 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.800 we can see what the doctor reports have to say. 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.520 And that's just one of the things, Um that comes 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.919 out of the book. You mentioned Babelli going through this process, 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.879 and as time has gone on. How difficult is it 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.640 when you've seen some of these guys passed recently. It's 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:49.840 been very hard for me personally because Babe, Larry Grantham, 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.199 Um in particular, were guys that I was talking to 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.000 on a fairly regular basis long after I was done 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.280 interviewing them. I mean, Larry Grantham has really taught me 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:04.600 before he died last year, what professional defenses are all about, 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:07.560 and what you do and what you don't, and especially 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.840 the critical importance of watching film. A lot of the 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.520 other guys I still talk to, you know with with 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.159 some regularity, and I count you know, a handful of 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:22.119 them as really amongst my very best friends, and I 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:26.040 hope to continue that well past this fiftieth anniversary. Have 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.520 you mentioned that you were sixteen at the time when 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:30.879 the Jets won the Super Bowl. I just want to know, 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.439 is has grown up watching this team and rooting for 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.960 this team? And what do you remember about the season 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.200 about the Super Bowl? And did you have a favorite player? 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:46.199 My favorite players were Jerry Selban and Emerson Boozer. And 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.439 that's one of the reasons I wrote the book, is 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.960 that my my interests in those days, although we all 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.280 loved Joe. You couldn't fail to love Joe. His talent 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.760 was just, you know, out of this world. But the 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:01.320 Jets had eleven play who played in the a f 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.760 L All Star Game that year. So there were ten 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.359 other guys, guys like John Elliott and Jerry Philbin and 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.720 Al Atkinson and John Schmidt and Dave Herman and Boozer 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:16.040 himself and Don Maynard and George Sower Jr. Um. These 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:20.880 guys were special talents, um. And so as the youths 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.800 have gone by and the fiftieth anniversary has come to 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.760 be connected almost strictly with Joe Namoth. In fact, that's 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:30.800 what I hear here in Chicago when I tell people 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:33.560 about the book. They said, oh, you're you're writing a 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:37.080