Superstars

[JuggernautJ]

I got a chuckle from the NFL.com article in which Brandon Marshall calls OBJ:
" the biggest superstar our game has ever seen in the history of football."
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... rstar-ever

But it got me to thinking who are the NFL's "superstars?"

And by that I mean players who were "Stars" -- celebrities in their own time.
Guys known by the people not interested in football.
Players who became famous for being famous.

The first and perhaps obvious choice (it seems to me) would be Red Grange,
His celebrity legitimized professional football and popularized the NFL.

And Jim Thorpe was world famous before he became the APFA's first president and "star."

The next guy who came to mind was Joe Namath.
For a brief time he was America's sweetheart.

Others I thought of: Frank Gifford, O.J. Simpson, Vince Lombardi, Jim Brown, Rosey Grier.
I suppose I'd have to grudgingly include Deion Sanders on the list.

Guys like Montana, Unitas and maybe even Jerry Rice and Sammy Baugh were probably known of by the majority of Americans but were they really "famous" as celebrities?
I think probably not. Or at most very briefly.

As a broadcaster John Madden comes to mind.
Mainly because, as a co-worker once said, "My wife and millions of women watch Monday Night Football because of Madden. He makes it entertaining and understandable to them."

Who else transcended the sport to become a "Superstar?"

[BD Sullivan]

Anyone who had national endorsement deals would qualify, although that might skew it toward Giants players.

[Rupert Patrick]

Michael Strahan definitely.

Jerry Rice was mentioned but he hasn't been in the public eye that much. I can only think of the Popeye's commercial as his only real TV commercial.

Dan Marino of course. It helps if you also do TV or movies.

[JuggernautJ]

Anyone who had national endorsement deals would qualify, although that might skew it toward Giants players.

I'm thinking of the players (at least) one rung above that.

"The Violent World of Sam Huff" made him famous... but for how long?
Would people recognize him on the street? Did non-football fans know of him?

How about in the 1930's-50's? Before TV was ubiquitous?

[Rupert Patrick]

I would think Tom Brady has invaded the collective unconscious. It also helps if you marry somebody who is pretty famous too. My roommate, who can't stand football and I think she sat thru the first half of the past Super Bowl just for the halftime show before checking out, knows Brady just because of his cheating with the footballs because it made national news.

In some cases, you don't have to be a superstar to be recognized as a Superstar. On the 1985 Bears, William Perry and Jim McMahon were good but not great players, who became nationally famous thru commercial endorsements. To many who didn't follow football at the time (and I talked to a lot of these people), they thought McMahon and Perry were the best players on the team because they were the most famous, and I had to tell them that wasn't true. In the mid 80's, it was hard to get away from either of them as both of them were all over TV doing endorsements or they would show up on talk shows or TV shows or things like MTV. Instead of Walter Payton and Mike Singletary being the national faces of the 1985 Bears, it was McMahon and Perry.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Can’t argue with Thorpe or Grange. I thought of Paul Robeson, but he’s more of an example where the football part is secondary.

[John Grasso]

Bob Waterfield - married to Jane Russell.

[Rupert Patrick]

Anyone who had national endorsement deals would qualify, although that might skew it toward Giants players.

I'm thinking of the players (at least) one rung above that.

"The Violent World of Sam Huff" made him famous... but for how long?
Would people recognize him on the street? Did non-football fans know of him?

How about in the 1930's-50's? Before TV was ubiquitous?

Before then you just had radio and newspapers, and newsreels. But in the era before television, the line between the public and the athlete was much narrower than today. Athletes held regular jobs during the off-season. In many cases, if you lived near the ballpark, and were a serious fan of a pro baseball or football team, some of the players on your local team probably lived in your neighborhood and you knew where they lived and you may have ran across them on the street a few times and it wasn't a big deal. These days, because of the money, and the fame, the line between the public and the athlete is very wide due to security concerns. They live in a much different neighborhood than you do now. When you do get to meet a professional athlete now, it is a big thing.

[JohnH19]

Peyton Manning has been in the public eye with all of his commercials, his legendary guest hosting spot on SNL, and some acting gigs.

[JuggernautJ]

Peyton Manning has been in the public eye with all of his commercials, his legendary guest hosting spot on SNL, and some acting gigs.

But will he be remembered outside of football 20 or 30 years from now?

Byron "Whizzer" White occurred to me.
His fame certainly outlasted his football career.
And his accomplishments even more so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_White
http://www.profootballresearchers.org/a ... 06-675.pdf