Frank Thomas

Unitas Notable Sports Figures
Johnny Unitas, throwing pass
spent a year as backup quarterback for San Diego before
retiring.
The Entrepreneur
With his thrifty, hardworking, immigrant background,
Unitas had long had an interest in business, and
after retirement, he launched a second career as an entrepreneur.
First he opened a Baltimore restaurant called
the Golden Arm, then he became involved in Florida
real estate. He served as spokesman for several companies,
including manufacturers, a trucker, and a mortgage
firm called First Fidelity Financial Services. This last involvement
would prove troublesome to Unitas in the
mid-1980s, when the company’s founder was convicted
of fraud, and Unitas himself became the target of a lawsuit
for his endorsement of the company.
Though retired from the NFL, Unitas remained active in
the world of football. Beginning in 1974, he spent five seasons
in the CBS broadcast booth as a commentator, during
which time he gained a reputation—as he had long before
1664
on the field—for candor and plainspokenness. In 1979,
Unitas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In the last decade of his life, Unitas was chairman of
Unitas Management Corporation, a sports management
firm, and worked as vice president of sales for National
Circuits, a computer electronics firm. He was also heavily
involved in providing opportunities for promising
young talents through his Johnny Unitas Golden Arm
Educational Foundation. Just 69 years old, Unitas died
on a heart attack in Baltimore on September 11, 2002.
Calling His Own Plays
The sheer numbers Unitas achieved in his career are
impressive, and in some cases even staggering. His lifetime
completion percentage of over 55%, while extremely
good, is not the greatest ever, but in light of the
vast number of passes this represents—5,186, with
2,830 completions—this in itself is a stunning statistic.
So, too, is the number of yards these passes gained for
the Colts: 40,239, an NFL record at the time.