[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 115 (Thursday, September 12, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S8560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY UNITAS

 Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, it is with sadness that I rise 
today to pay tribute to a man who passed away too soon, the Man with 
the Golden Arm, the great Baltimore Colt, Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas. 
He was known to many as the greatest quarterback to ever play in the 
National Football League. Yet to those of us in Baltimore and Maryland, 
he was our own Johnny U. He was the man who put professional football 
on the national map, who embodied the strong spirit of our city and 
State.
  Johnny Unitas was born in Pittsburgh, but he spent most of his life 
in Baltimore. He was as much a part of the fabric of the city as crab 
cakes and Cal Ripken.
  After high school, he wanted to play football in college at the 
University of Notre Dame. Yet the coaches there told him he was too 
small to play football. Johnny wound up playing at the University of 
Louisville, and was drafted in 1955 by his hometown Pittsburgh 
Steelers. The Steelers promptly cut him from the team before the 1955 
season started, telling him that he wasn't smart enough to be a 
quarterback.
  Pittsburgh's loss was Baltimore's gain. The Baltimore Colts signed 
him in 1956, and the rest is history. In 1958, he led the Colts to an 
improbable victory in the NFL Championship Game against the New York 
Giants, a game that is now referred to as ``The Greatest Ever Played.'' 
Unitas engineered the famous 80-yard game-tying drive with less than 2 
minutes to play in regulation, then led the Colts to victory in 
overtime. This was the first overtime game ever played in the NFL. The 
legend of Johnny Unitas was soon born.
  His trademark crew-cut and black high-top cleats were copied by boys 
all over Baltimore, Maryland, and the entire country. Every kid wanted 
to be number 19.
  His toughness was legendary. Many times he played with broken bones, 
through unbearable pain. The words he said to his teammates before 
every game embodied his spirit: ``Talk is cheap, let's go play.''
  His accomplishments are too numerous to mention, but among them are 
these: 3-time Player of the Year; 3- time NFL Champion; first 
quarterback to pass for over 40,000 yards; a touchdown pass in 47 
consecutive games, a feat which is compared to Joe DiMaggio's 56-game 
hitting streak; 10 Pro Bowl selections; Player of the Decade for the 
1960's; Greatest Player in the First 50 Years of the NFL; NFL 75th 
Anniversary Team; and Hall of Fame Inductee, 1979. When he retired in 
1973, Johnny Unitas held 22 NFL records.
  It is not just his accomplishments on the field that endeared him to 
the fans in Baltimore. He was an unassuming superstar, a reluctant 
hero, a regular guy who happened to be a tremendous athlete. He 
understood that a smile or a handshake or an autograph could make a 
fan's day.
  He was generous with charities, too, even as he fell upon difficult 
financial times. He established the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm 
Educational Foundation, and supported various organizations dedicated 
to children's causes, cancer research, and victims of sexual assault 
and domestic violence.
  Johnny Unitas was the underdog who became the greatest quarterback in 
the history of the National Football League. Yet beyond that, he was a 
fine person who will be sorely missed, not only in Baltimore and 
Maryland, but across the country. My thoughts and prayers are with his 
family, his friends, and his many, many fans.

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