In a time “when men played football for something less than a living and something more than money,” John Unitas was the ultimate quarterback. Rejected by Notre Dame, discarded by the Pittsburgh Steelers, he started on a Pennsylvania sandlot making six dollars a game and ended as the most commanding presence in the National Football League, calling the critical plays and completing the crucial passes at the moment his sport came of age. Johnny U is the first authoritative biography of Unitas, based on hundreds of hours of interviews with teammates and opponents, coaches, family and friends. The depth of Tom Callahan’s research allows him to present something more than a biography, something approaching an oral history of a bygone sporting era. It was a time when players were paid a pittance and superstars painted houses and tiled floors in the off-season—when ex-soldiers and marines like Gino Marchetti, Art Donovan, and “Big Daddy” Lipscomb fell in behind a special field general in Baltimore. Few took more punishment than Unitas. His refusal to leave the field, even when savagely bloodied by opposing linemen, won his teammates’ respect. His insistence on taking the blame for others’ mistakes inspired their love. His encyclopedic football mind, in which he’d filed every play the Colts had ever run, was a wonder. In the seminal championship game of 1958, when Unitas led the Colts over the Giants in the NFL’s first sudden-death overtime, Sundays changed. John didn’t. As one teammate said, “It was one of the best things about him.”

In their seven years together, quarterback Johnny Unitas and coach Don Shula, kings of the fabled Baltimore Colts of the 1960s, created one of the most successful franchises in sports. Unitas and Shula had a higher winning percentage than Lombardi's Packers, but together they never won the championship. Baltimore lost the big game to the Browns in 1964 and to Joe Namath and the Jets in Super Bowl III--both in stunning upsets. The Colts' near misses in the Shula era were among the most confounding losses any sports franchise ever suffered. Rarely had a team in any league performed so well, over such an extended period, only to come up empty. The two men had a complex relationship stretching back to their time as young teammates competing for their professional lives. Their personal conflict mirrored their tumultuous times. As they elevated the brutal game of football, the world around them clashed about Vietnam, civil rights, and sex. Collision of Wills looks at the complicated relationship between Don Shula, the league's winningest coach of all time, and his star player Johnny Unitas, and how their secret animosity fueled the Colts in an era when their losses were as memorable as their victories.

As "the Golden Arm" of the National Football League, Johnny Unitas became ensconced in history as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. With his record of 47 consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass, his performance in the "Greatest Game Ever Played," ten Pro Bowl appearances, and his steadfast devotion to Baltimore, Unitas earned himself the hushed reverence with which his name is still spoken. Despite his long legacy, there is much to discover about the man himself, such as the NFL's near miss in discovering his talent after a draft flop and Unitas turning to construction work and a semi-pro team. With photos to elaborate on the exciting background given about the football legend, this biography is an entertaining profile that will delight any fan of the sport.

Many have said Johnny Unitas was the best quarterback who ever played the game. No less an authority than Sports Illustrated thinks so. In a 2002 statistical analysis of NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks and active quarterbacks with HOF credentials, Unitas was ranked # I. Johnny U was also the hero of untold millions of youths who spent countless hours in their backyards emulating the stoop-shouldered, rifle-armed legend who wore the familiar 19 on his jersey. Johnny Unitas's story is a classic rags-to-riches tale. The skinny, blue-collar kid who played college ball at a little-known school and failed in a tryout with his hometown pro team was given a second chance by the Baltimore Colts. Two years later he led the team to victory in the 1958 NFL Championship game, a game dubbed the greatest ever played. Unitas played eighteen seasons (and in ten Pro Bowls), retiring in 1973 as the league's all-time leader in passing yards with more than 40,000. His unsurpassed record of forty-seven consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass continues to be mentioned in the same breath as baseball icon Joe DiMaggio's fifty-six-game hitting streak. When Unitas unexpectedly died in September 2002, the sports world mourned the passing of a genuine sports hero. In ""johnny Unitas: Mr. Quarterback, dozens of his friends, neighbors, acquaintances, relatives, fans, and teammates present compelling firsthand memories, insights, and testimonials. Their stories begin with his schoolboy days in Pittsburgh and carry on to his years of toiling in near anonymity at the University of Louisville and his nearly two decades in the NFL and beyond.""

Offering an in-depth look into the private life behind one of the most important athletes of the 20th century, this comprehensive biography of Johnny Unitas explores the man who made the quarterback position the crux of a football team's offense and was an icon to millions of fans across the country. From his upbringing near the Monongahela River and becoming the Golden Arm to his retirement and battle with numerous physical ailments, this book reveals how he was affected by his boss's bets that were as much as $1 million per game and his livid anger at Colts management over his trade to Chargers. It also includes more than 15,000 words of never-before-published commentary directly from Unitas himself about his career, fame, moments of great personal pride, and others he'd rather forget."

Any fan of the Baltimore Colts of my era, any fan of my friend and teammate Johnny Unitas, or, for that matter, any fan of football in general should enjoy Wayne Stewart's book. It contains great stories, statistics, and information on all of the many great quarterbacks who came out of Western Pennsylvania and much more. Raymond Berry NFL Hall of Fame Wide Receiver (Baltimore Colts 1955-67) It's well known that the NFL has been dominated through the years by quarterbacks sown and grown in a relatively small area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania. In America¿s Cradle of Quarterbacks, author Wayne Stewart not only tells us who they are, he digs deep to explain the nature and nurture behind the rich harvest of signal callers (Montana, Unitas, Marino, Namath, Kelly, Blanda, etc.) who have risen from that fertile soil to claim Lombardi Trophies and dominate the gallery of busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Stewart has written a fascinating book that belongs on the shelves of football historians and everyday fans alike. Jeffrey J. Miller Author of Rockin' The Rockpile, Buffalo's Forgotten Champions, and Game Changers

Johnny Unitas is widely considered the finest quarterback ever to play the game. Much has been written about his life, but for the first time, Unitas's son, John, writes about his father and reveals information about his family and father's career that has never before been brought to light. For anyone who holds an interest in either Unitas's life or NFL history, John Unitas Jr.'s revealing and touching biography honoring the life and times of his father is a must-read. It sheds light on the character and convictions of the man who has lived on in NFL history, both on and off the field, offering clues to what made him the man and the player he was.