LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Johnny Unitas: Baltimore Colts
built 264 days ago
"Johnny Unitas was Baltimore - guts and grit. Nobody thought he could be a professional football player, much less the best quarterback who ever played the game. He believed that he and every member of his team were the best, and they went out on the field again and again and proved it," Baltimore's mayor, Martin O'Malley, told the Baltimore Sun.
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On September 11, 2002, Unitas died suddenly of a myocardial infarction (heart attack) while working out at a physical therapy facility in Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. After his death, many fans of the Baltimore Ravens football team petitioned the renaming of the Ravens' home stadium (owned by the State of Maryland) after Unitas. These requests... were unsuccessful since the lucrative naming rights had already been leased by the Ravens to the Buffalo, New York, based company, M&T Bank. However, a statue of Unitas was erected as the centerpiece of the plaza in front of the Stadium and the plaza was officially named "Unitas Plaza". Large banners depicting Unitas in his Baltimore Colts heyday now flank the entrance to the stadium. Many loyal Baltimore football fans observe the ritual of rubbing the shoe of the statue of Unitas prior to entering the stadium for Baltimore Ravens home games. Towson University, in Towson, Maryland, just north of Baltimore, named its football and lacrosse complex in honor of Unitas after his death in 2002.
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Even before Unitas retired, he already had business interests. After retirement, he went into the restaurant business. He had a restaurant in Baltimore called The Golden Arm, which he sold in 1988. Unitas had business interests in central Florida as well, including a restaurant and real estate. Unitas ... worked as a representative for several manufacturing companies and was a trucking company's spokesman. He did not forget football, nor did the game for get him.
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After being hurt most of the 1968 season, Unitas returned and led the Colts on their only scoring drive in historic Super Bowl III, a 16-7 loss to the New York Jets. Two years later, in the Colts' 16-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V, he threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to John Mackey before suffering an injury late in the first half.
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Unitas had been working out at a physical therapy centre in the Baltimore suburb when he suffered a heart attack. A spokeswoman for the St. Joseph Medical Center said that although doctors and nurses at the scene tried to resuscitate him, they were unsuccessful. He was 69-years-old.
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Peyton Manning had four pairs of hightop black shoes made, which he planned to wear as a tribute to Unitas. But the NFL threatened to hit Manning with a $25,000 fine if he wore the shoes. Further, it declared that only the Baltimore Ravens would have the sole right to honor Unitas with a patch or armband on their uniforms that Sunday.
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