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From Baltimore to Broadway: Joe, the Jets, and the Super Bowl III Guarantee

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Author Ed Gruver does a superb job of telling a comprehensive, multi-layered story about the New York Jets upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III on Jan. 12, 1969, in his book "From Baltimore to Broadway."

Gruver tells the story from the perspective of both the Jets and the Colts. He captures the atmosphere that surrounded the game that took on new dimensions once Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed that the AFL club would defeat the highly respected Colts of the NFL.

The Colts were favored by 18 points over Jets and they were supremely confident. Forty-nine of 55 national football writers also favored the Colts. The AFL, losers of the first two Super Bowls, was seen as a vastly inferior league to the NFL. Gruver does a good job of chronicling how much the NFL, and many of its fans, disrespected the AFL.

The Colts compiled a 15-1 record in 1968, allowing just 10.3 points per game. Quarterback Earl Morrall, filling in for an injured Johnny Unitas, was voted the league MVP. The Colts blanked the Cleveland Browns, 34-0, in the NFL championship game. They had a chance to be known as one of the NFL's greatest teams. All they had to do was to beat the Jets in the Super Bowl.

Gruver sets up his account of Super Bowl III with chapter profiles of Namath and Unitas as well as a recap of the regular season for the Jets and Colts. He also presents interesting profiles and tidbits about other players.

Namath and Unitas, like their teams, were contrasting figures. Namath was outspoken, flamboyant, cocky and a darling of the media. Unitas was tough, gutsy, courageous and graceful under pressure. Both were extremely talented. Gruver writes that the signing of Namath in 1964, who became the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards (1967), saved the Jets, the AFL and led to a merger of the two warring leagues.

Gruver's 80-page game account of Super Bowl III is an exciting recreation filled with lots of strategy and insight. You can feel the Jets' confidence, the Colts' frustrations mount and the tide turn. Although the Colts were scoreless in the first half, they conceivably could have scored 27 points. Trailing 13-0 with 3:51 left in the third quarter, Unitas, the embattled veteran, entered the game, hoping to save the Colts from one of football's greatest upsets.

This is a great football book for several reasons. Gruver is a knowledgeable football historian who understands and explains the game's strategy; he's a talented writer; he interviewed many of the players involved; and this was no quick, slapdash effort--it was 19 years in the making.

For the first time ever, a balanced look at the most important game in Super Bowl history.Finally gives credit to the Colts as well as the Jets.Current interviews with players and coaches from both teams gives fresh insight into why the Jets were able to pull off pro football's biggest upset.All in all an enjoyable story!!

Ed Gruver is a good, often great, story teller, and that's the strength of this book. Whether giving a brief history of the Jets and the Colts, recounting the 1968 season, or especially the game itself, he leaves the reader enjoying every word and eager for the next paragraph.

But there is a sloppiness to the book that leaves me wondering where the editor was. A small number of examples:

* Namath and Unitas both so frequently have their uniforms described, in unnecessary detail (paraphrasing: "Unitas stepped onto the field wearing his blue jersey with numeral 19, UCLA-style shoulder loops, and shiny white helmet with the familiar Colts horseshoe logo on the side"), that it's like they had a reputation for switching into loungewear midgame and the author wants to refute it. Yes, fine, describe the uniforms - but just once.

* Tom Matte and Matt Snell both went to Ohio State and both wore 41. Why do we need to be told that three or more times?

* Same with Joe Namath's hair and lifestyle.

* Namath is quoted saying "Chicken ain't nothing but a bird, and this ain't nothing but a football game" - without mentioning that it was punter Curley Johnson who popularized the expression on the team.

Although I had known quite a few things about the Jets-Colts Super Bowl, the book has several other great stories and facts that I'd not known. Except there are no footnotes, so I have no idea where Gruver got the information or how factual it is.

The best book I ever read about this game was Dave Anderson's "Countdown to Super Bowl," written in the months after the game, by a reporter who had covered the Jets and traveled with the team all season, and spent the whole two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl embedded with them. "From Broadway to Baltimore" seems to borrow much of its best stuff from this book - with little or no attribution - while not adding enough "rear view mirror" perspective from those who participated in the game to make it as good as Anderson's effort.

Anyone interested in football, the Jets or Colts, the AFL, football in the 1960s will enjoy "From Broadway to Baltimore." But if they are sticklers for good writing and accuracy, they'll also lament how much better it would have been with tighter editing and good sourcing.

This book is outstanding. Since I watched this season and game when I was a teenager, I thought this great story should be told in a great book. This is it. Could be made into a telenovela, like HBO's From the Earth to the Moon. Well done, Ed Gruver. Grand story well told.

Robert Beattie
New York Times bestselling author

This is a superb book. Both the content and writing style are first rate. The detailed research is obvious as the author has brought out many heretofore unknown facts about this historic game. The book is a must read for the avid football fan who will be fascinated by the cerebral aspects and gamesmanship of Superbowl III.