John Brodie

John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a Senior PGA Tour professional golfer and was a television broadcaster for both sports.<ref name=wms85>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 Template:Nfly and a two-time Pro Bowler.<ref name=tsc70>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life

Born in Menlo Park, California, Brodie grew up in the Montclair district of Oakland and attended Montclair Grammar (later Elementary) School. He was a standout athlete at Oakland Technical High School and graduated in 1953.

College career

Brodie played college football across the San Francisco Bay at Stanford University,<ref name=jbdciex>Template:Cite news</ref> where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. In his senior season of 1956,<ref name=vadvnv56>Template:Cite news</ref> Brodie was a consensus All-American and played on the Stanford golf team,<ref name=Jordan17>Gregg Jordan, "John Jumps Over to Candlestick," Petersen's 11th Pro Football 1971 Annual. Los Angeles, CA: Petersen Publishing Co., 1971; pg. 17.</ref> which kept him out of spring football drills.<ref name=jblito>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name=Jordan17 />

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."<ref>Quoted in Jordan, "John Jumps Over to Candlestick," pg. 17.</ref>

Professional career

File:Brodie-John-1961.jpg

A fresh-faced John Brodie ahead of the 1961 season.

Football career

Brodie was the third overall selection of the 1957 NFL draft and saw limited action as a rookie with the 49ers in 1957.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref name=brproap>Template:Cite news</ref> Brodie was courted by the Houston Oilers of the rival AFL.<ref name=Jordan15>Jordan, "John Jumps Over to Candlestick," pg. 15.</ref> Newspaper reports indicated that a contract with the Oilers paying between $650,000 and $1 million had been arranged.<ref name=Jordan15 /><ref name=ofjbs>Template:Cite news</ref> After the NFL Giants signed kicker Pete Gogolak from the AFL champion Bills, offers to Brodie and other NFL stars, like Mike Ditka and Roman Gabriel, expedited the merger agreement between the two leagues in June Template:Nfly.<ref name=pshdcpr>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=brproap/><ref>Jordan, "John Jumps Over to Candlestick," pp. 15-16.</ref><ref name=diismut>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=bwsbb>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>"Official NFL Statistics for the 1970 Season," Petersen's 11th Pro Football 1971 Annual. Los Angeles, CA: Petersen Publishing Co., 1971; pg. 86.</ref> while taking a league low eight sacks during the entire season.<ref name=Jordan14>Jordan, "John Jumps Over to Candlestick," pg. 14.</ref> Brodie also paced NFL quarterbacks with a league-leading 2.6% of his passes resulting in interception.<ref name=Jordan14 /> 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.<ref name=tsc70/>

File:San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos 1985-11-11 (ticket) (crop).jpg

Brodie later in his career with the 49ers circa 1972–73.

When Brodie retired from the NFL at the end of the 1973 season,<ref name=bwsbb/> 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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2004, Brodie was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.

Golf career

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.<ref name=KTVU>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} KTVU-TV, KTVU.com/, March 20, 2010.</ref>

In 2006, Brodie's number 12 jersey was brought out of retirement and worn by Trent Dilfer, backup quarterback for the 49ers. Dilfer, a close personal friend of Brodie, hoped to bring attention to Brodie's bid for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

NFL career statistics

Legend
	Led the league
Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	Games			Passing									Rushing					Sacks
		Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
1957	SFO	5	1	1-0	11	21	52.4	160	7.6	28	2	3	69.6	2	0	0.0	0	0	-	-
1958	SFO	12	6	3-3	103	172	59.9	1,224	7.1	61	6	13	61.8	11	-12	-1.1	6	1	-	-
1959	SFO	12	2	1-1	30	64	46.9	354	5.5	34	2	7	35.0	5	6	1.2	6	0	-	-
1960	SFO	11	8	4-4	103	207	49.8	1,111	5.4	65	6	9	57.5	18	171	9.5	30	1	13	189
1961	SFO	14	14	7-6-1	155	283	54.8	2,588	9.1	70	14	12	84.7	28	90	3.2	29	2	19	141
1962	SFO	14	13	6-7	175	304	57.6	2,272	7.5	80	18	16	79.0	37	258	7.0	21	4	33	349
1963	SFO	3	3	0-3	30	61	49.2	367	6.0	44	3	4	57.2	7	63	9.0	24	0	1	5
1964	SFO	14	12	3-9	193	392	49.2	2,498	6.4	83	14	16	64.6	27	135	5.0	38	2	17	178
1965	SFO	13	13	7-5-1	242	391	61.9	3,112	8.0	59	30	16	95.3	15	60	4.0	13	1	14	101
1966	SFO	14	13	5-6-2	232	427	54.3	2,810	6.6	65	16	22	65.8	5	18	3.6	7	3	20	165
1967	SFO	14	10	5-5	168	349	48.1	2,013	5.8	63	11	16	57.6	20	147	7.4	15	1	18	129
1968	SFO	14	14	7-6-1	234	404	57.9	3,020	7.5	65	22	21	78.0	18	71	3.9	15	0	25	159
1969	SFO	13	10	2-6-2	194	347	55.9	2,405	6.9	80	16	15	74.9	11	62	5.6	15	0	16	134
1970	SFO	14	14	10-3-1	223	378	59.0	2,941	7.8	79	24	10	93.8	9	29	3.2	12	2	8	67
1971	SFO	14	14	9-5	208	387	53.7	2,642	6.8	71	18	24	65.0	14	45	3.2	12	3	11	111
1972	SFO	6	5	2-3	70	110	63.6	905	8.2	53	9	8	86.4	3	8	2.7	4	1	8	39
1973	SFO	14	6	2-4	98	194	50.5	1,126	5.8	66	3	12	47.7	5	16	3.2	14	1	4	29
Career		201	158	74-76-8	2,469	4,491	55.0	31,548	7.0	83	214	224	72.3	235	1,167	5.0	38	22	207	1,855

Playoffs

Year	Team	Games			Passing									Rushing					Sacks
		Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
1970	SFO	2	2	1-1	35	72	48.6	463	6.4	42	2	2	67.1	2	4	2.0	3	1	3	24
1971	SFO	2	2	1-1	24	49	49.0	360	7.3	78	2	3	61.6	0	0	0.0	0	0	2	9
1972	SFO	1	1	0-1	12	22	54.5	150	6.8	52	0	2	38.1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
Career		5	5	2-3	71	143	49.7	973	6.8	78	4	7	60.7	2	4	2.0	3	1	5	33

Personal life

File:John Brodie signature football (1991.83.1).jpg

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.<ref name=Jordan17 /> One of his daughters, Erin, found fame on television in 2003 during the first season of the reality series For Love or Money.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Jordan17 /> He received cortisone shots in an effort to remedy the problem, without apparent success.<ref name=Jordan17 /> 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.<ref name=Jordan17 /> Thus began a connection between Brodie and the church.<ref name=Jordan17 /><ref name=bwsbb/><ref name=bdnsci72>Template:Cite news</ref>

Brodie was for years thereafter one of the leading celebrity endorsers of the Church of Scientology.<ref name=bwsbb/><ref name=bdnsci72/><ref name=LATimes>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=LATimes /> 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.<ref name=LATimes />

Awards and honors

• In 1970, Brodie earned the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award
• In 1986, Brodie was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame<ref name="KTVU" />

• In 2010, Brodie was inducted into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first European-American so honored.<ref name="KTVU" />

Professional wins (1)

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Oct 27, 1991	Security Pacific Senior Classic	−13 (66-66-68=200)	Playoff	Template:Flagicon George Archer, Template:Flagicon Chi-Chi Rodríguez

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1991	Security Pacific Senior Classic	Template:Flagicon George Archer, Template:Flagicon Chi-Chi Rodríguez	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
U.S. Open	CUT

Tournament	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
U.S. Open

Tournament	1980	1981
U.S. Open		CUT

Template:Legend CUT = missed the halfway cut
Note: Brodie only played in the U.S. Open.

See also

• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
• List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
• List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders

External links

• Template:Footballstats
• Template:PGATour player
• Sports Reference – collegiate statistics – John Brodie