These days, Joe Namath boldly predicts he will be first on line at the early-bird buffet.

As the New York Jets prepare for a shot at only the second Super Bowl appearance in their tortured history, I looked up the first-ever appearance of the name “Joe Namath” in Sports Illustrated. Joe Willie is, of course, the most famous Jet ever and is still one of the best-known sports figures in America. During his playing days, he was the most outspoken athlete this side of Muhammad Ali. He predicted the underdog Jets would win Super Bowl 3 and then quarterbacked them to victory. He parlayed the subsequent fame into everything from pantyhose commercials to sitcoms. Most of it was godawful, but he smiled his way through it the way only a legend can.

The first mention of Namath in SI occurred on September 23, 1963 when the Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, QB was a sophomore for Coach Bear Bryant at Alabama. Even then he wasn’t exactly lacking in confidence. Here is an excerpt:

“Namath already is the only Yankee on the Alabama team. He came to Tuscaloosa from Beaver Falls, Pa., for two unshakable reasons: he ‘wanted to play football in the South’ and he wanted to play football for Bear Bryant. Known in high school as the ‘Hungarian Howitzer,’ he had offers of football scholarships from 52 colleges, and a Chicago Cubs baseball scout was talking in terms of a ‘$50,000 bonus.’ Once in the South, the talented Namath told Alabama reporters as a freshman that it was ‘nice’ that Bryant had varsity quarterback Jack Hurlbut coming back because ‘I might get hurt.’

The following spring, true to his word, he won the starting job, and one day as he huddled with his cast of upperclassmen he piped: ‘Fellows, this is an option play. But I think old Joe’s going to run with it. Let’s see some blocking. Coach Bryant don’t want to get me hurt.'”