In particular seasons, Brodie led the NFL in passing yardage, passing touchdowns, fewest sacks, and lowest percentage of passes intercepted. He retired as the third most prolific career passer in NFL history. He was the league MVP in 1970 and a two-time Pro Bowler.[2]
Brodie nearly chose golf for his sporting career, turning professional following completion of his time on the Stanford team and playing in several tournaments on the PGA Tour.[5]
Brodie later said of his first golfing experience:
"You talk about pressure. I was always worried that I wasn't going to make the cut. Fact is there was only one time I was close enough to say I was in competition in the final round. I had to make up my mind. I couldn't be pro in two sports and do justice to either one."[7]
Professional career
A fresh-faced John Brodie ahead of the 1961 season.
Brodie was the third overall selection of the 1957 NFL draft and saw limited action as a rookie with the 49ers in 1957. He got more playing time in 1958 through 1960, sharing time with Y. A. Tittle; he became the starter in 1961 (Tittle was traded to the New York Giants), and continued in that role through 1973.
Brodie was among the leading passers in the league throughout the 1960s. His best statistical year was 1965, when he led the league in passing yardage (3,112 yards) and passing touchdowns (30), leading to his first of two Pro Bowl appearances.
Following his outstanding 1965 season, in which he made about $35,000,[8] Brodie was courted by the Houston Oilers of the rival AFL.[9] Newspaper reports indicated that a contract with the Oilers paying between $650,000 and $1 million had been arranged.[9][10] After the NFL Giants signed kicker Pete Gogolak from the AFL championBills, offers to Brodie and other NFL stars, like Mike Ditka and Roman Gabriel, expedited the merger agreement between the two leagues in June 1966.[11] An improved contract offer from the 49ers moved Brodie to stay put in San Francisco, however, and a multi-year deal paying Brodie $900,000 over several seasons was instead inked.[8][12][13][14]
The 1970 season proved to be particularly stellar for Brodie. During that year, he led the entire NFL with 24 touchdown passes, 223 completions, 2,941 yards, and a passer rating of 93.8.[15] while taking a league low eight sacks during the entire season.[16] Brodie also paced NFL quarterbacks with a league-leading 2.6% of his passes resulting in interception.[16] Brodie's outstanding season was rewarded when he received the 1970 NFL Most Valuable Player Award, and the 49ers had the number one offense by points, and ultimately won their first playoff game in franchise history.[2]
Brodie later in his career with the 49ers circa 1972–73.
When Brodie retired from the NFL at the end of the 1973 season,[14] he ranked third in career passing yards, behind only Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton. He ranked eighth in touchdown passes upon his retirement, and stayed in the top ten for most touchdown passes from 1970 to 1988. On each list, only he and one other player are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Babe Parilli and John Hadl, respectively).[17][18]
After he retired from football, Brodie served as an NFL football and golf analyst for NBC Sports. He spent two seasons (1977 and 1978) as the network's No. 1 NFL analyst, alongside play-by-play man Curt Gowdy, and called Super Bowl XIII in January 1979. Among the other notable NFL games he worked was the Epic in Miami, the January 1982 AFC playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins, with play-by-play man Don Criqui.
He competed as a professional golfer on the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) from 1985 to 1998. Brodie had one win and twelve top-ten finishes, earning a total of $735,000. He had the longest gap between appearances in the U.S. Open — missing the cut in both 1959 and 1981.
Brodie suffered a major stroke in 2000, rendering speech difficult for him.[20]
A football signed by Brodie, gifted to President Gerald Ford.
John married Sue in 1957. They have four daughters and a son, and 12 grandchildren.[5] One of his daughters, Erin, found fame on television in 2003 during the first season of the reality series For Love or Money.[21] Another daughter, Diane, was married until 2011 to former NFL quarterback Chris Chandler. His son-in-law is the renowned dermatologist Dr. Will Kirby.
During the 1969 season, Brodie experienced tendinitis in his throwing arm, which caused him to miss two and a half games.[5] He received cortisone shots in an effort to remedy the problem, without apparent success.[5] In desperation for relief, Brodie was introduced to a representative of the Church of Scientology, who — Brodie insisted at the time — used Dianetics-based techniques to eliminate the tendinitis by the following week.[5] Thus began a connection between Brodie and the church.[5][14][22]
Brodie was for years thereafter one of the leading celebrity endorsers of the Church of Scientology.[14][22][23] This public role was ultimately ended when several of Brodie's friends were expelled or harassed in a power struggle with the Church's hierarchy.[23] While professing continued admiration for the teachings of church founder L. Ron Hubbard, "there were many in the church I felt were treated unfairly," Brodie told the Los Angeles Times in 1990.[23]
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