“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 26: Joe Namath

We’re taking this podcast to Broadway, folks – “Broadway” Joe Namath, to be specific, as the NFL legend joins Charlie to talk football, golf, what he’s up to these days and more. Enjoy the episode!

Balls In The Air Podcast · Ep. 26: Joe Namath
 

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Charlie Rymer (00:09):

Hi, and welcome into the Charlie Rymer Podcast, where we talk golf, life, and pretty much anything I want to talk because, hey, it’s my show. And we always start on time as well. We always start on time. Today, we’re going to the top folks. We’ve got Super Bowl III MVP, Pro Football Hall of Fame member, and one of the most popular athletes in the history of the world. Yeah, you heard that right, in the history of the world. And I don’t think anybody would argue that point. Joe Namath. Joe we’re thrilled to have you on the Charlie Rymer Podcast. Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to make some time for us.

Joe Namath (00:46):

Well, Charlie, it’s an honor. I thank you for having me, man. I have watched your show. I’ve seen a couple of them and I get tickled and I’m enthused to work with you.

Charlie Rymer (00:56):

Oh well, we really, really appreciate it. And I got to get to the most important question first. How’s your golf game right now, Joe?

Joe Namath (01:07):

At its worst.

Charlie Rymer (01:08):

No way.

Joe Namath (01:09):

At its worst that I’ve ever played. Yes. It’s frustrating. I’m disappointed. I could blame some of it on some minor details like wrists, fingers, hands, but it’s the swing. I stink.

Charlie Rymer (01:29):

And you didn’t even get into the knee replacements that you had, but-

Joe Namath (01:32):

Or hip.

Charlie Rymer (01:33):

Right. Are you still having fun playing?

Joe Namath (01:36):

I love it. I love golf. It’s been a passion. I started out, Charlie, as a caddy back home in Pennsylvania. Our caddy master was the first caddy master at Latrobe for Arnold Palmer.

Charlie Rymer (01:49):

Oh wow.

Joe Namath (01:50):

There too. But my older brother’s caddied and I ended up caddying and that’s how I learned the etiquette and the rules of golf.

Charlie Rymer (01:59):

How much did you charge for a loop, Joe? What was your fee?

Joe Namath (02:03):

Nine holes was $1.50. If you carried a double, you were able to get $3. That’s if it was a good doctor or a lawyer.

Charlie Rymer (02:12):

Oh I understand. Well down in your part of the world now, Jupiter, Florida, that caddy fee is a little bit higher than that. And I’m going to get into you a little bit later in the show, and playing some golf with coach Bear Bryant, we’ll get into that in a minute. But I do want to stay on Alabama football. You won a national championship for Alabama. You won a Super Bowl as a New York Jet. People outside the south, and we’re here in South Carolina, but people outside the south might think the Super Bowl was a bigger deal, but where I live SEC is king, and you know that. But talk to me a little bit about going to high school just outside of Pittsburgh, you turned down opportunity to play professional baseball, but the cultural change of where you grew up to going to Tuscaloosa to play football, that had to be a shocker for you.

Joe Namath (03:02):

Well, I was naive or uneducated really about the society, and in our country all I knew was Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and maybe a little bit of Pittsburgh. Didn’t give much thought about the rest of the world. It was football, basketball, baseball, golf, you know, and some swimming. So if it wasn’t for Coach Bryant, it would’ve been much more difficult. Coach Bryant was a great leader, a disciplined man. And he’d been around by the time he got me to come down there. And he had respect starting from home for people. And I saw that when I first got there, regardless of the color. Coach Bryan had respect for everybody and showed it. And that carried over to the team, the teammates in the most part. Coach Bryan made the world a difference.

Charlie Rymer (04:01):

Speaking of teammates, I was born in Cleveland, Tennessee. You have a former teammate and friend who was born in Cleveland, Tennessee, Steve Sloan, who was a quarterback at Alabama, ended up being a D1 head coach and athletic director at Alabama. He ended up retiring after his stint at UCF. But tell me a little bit about the only two people I’m sure you’ve ever met from Cleveland, Tennessee. And Steve Sloan, he was a heck of a golfer and a heck of a football player too.

Joe Namath (04:33):

I love Steve. I still do. We’ve shared some time in recent years after college together, and he was a player, a football player. I’m talking about quarterback. He would’ve played longer with the Atlanta Falcons, had he not injured his arm too.

Charlie Rymer (04:54):

I heard they didn’t have much of an offensive line at Atlanta at the time too. And that hurt him. That’s what I always heard.

Joe Namath (05:01):

Well, yeah that’s how you get an injured arm. Anyway, Steve’s a dear friend. And I’m going to tell you a quick story. You know how Steve used to talk so high, talk on like this, “Did y’all miss that?” And man, we nicknamed him Jiminy Cricket because of the way he was talking. Well, one game his father came down to visit. Steve and I roomed together on the road. And his daddy came in into the motel room there. And Steve said, “Joe, this is my father.” I said, “How do you do, sir?” And he, “Well, just fine, Joe, just happy to be here. Good to see you.” So I found out where Steve got that Jimmy Cricket. [crosstalk 00:05:47]

Charlie Rymer (05:47):

We all talk that way from Cleveland, Tennessee, Joe.

Joe Namath (05:52):

Right. There’s one guy that didn’t talk that way from Cleveland, Tennessee. His name was Jim Goostree.

Charlie Rymer (06:00):

Okay.

Joe Namath (06:01):

He was the trainer, the head trainer at Alabama.

Charlie Rymer (06:03):

Oh, I didn’t know that he was from Cleveland, Tennessee.

Joe Namath (06:07):

Yes sir. Jim Goostree, and he was a good golfer too. I’m going to tell you, my freshman season at Alabama, I had a bad ankle. I thought I had a bad ankle. And I walked into the training room and I just walked in there and I heard Coach Goostree and another player talking. And Coach Goostree said, “Well, son, how does it hurt you? Well, what are you talking about?” He said, “Well, Coach, every time I lift my arm up like this, it hurts.” He said, “Well, boy, don’t lift your arm up like that.” And I turned around and I walked right back to the locker room. I just thought I had a hurt ankle. I got over it quickly.

Charlie Rymer (06:48):

We’re smarter than we look from Cleveland, Tennessee, Joe. Okay, so let’s talk about some nerve-wracking things, right? Average person taking a snap in the Super Bowl, hitting a golf shot in a celebrity event in front of live cameras on network television, or opening night in a Broadway play. Those are three things that would terrify a lot of normal human beings. Those three, which one was more nerve-wracking for you and why?

Joe Namath (07:22):

Boy, we are educated by that time to expect the situation, the wonderful, just being there. If you’re not running with that adrenaline, if it’s not affecting you, you’re not alive, man, you know. And you kind of learn to calm down. You kind of learn to breathe. You do learn to appreciate the situation, but the heart starts pumping, man. You’re excited, everyone around you is excited. Whether it’s backstage, you’re on the field, man, you’re ready to go. And then you go back into your training, your routine. Golf. God, if you guys let those nerves get in there every time you never would… Well, you would make a putt, but not as often as you’d like.

Charlie Rymer (08:12):

It sounds to me like you’re saying if you’re not feeling nerves, you’re not living.

Joe Namath (08:18):

Hey, that’s it. I used to get frustrated with myself because I was nervous ahead of time. But I learned to get over it. My sophomore year in college, Charlie, I was a starting at quarterback on the defending national championship team with guys like Lee Roy Jordan, man, Billy Battle, [inaudible 00:08:37]. And I was a sophomore and I was scared. I was in the locker room, my head was beaten so hard, I had such a headache, man. I could not believe what was going on. I mean, I was, “What am I going to do?” All right. Quarterbacks had to walk out with the quarterback coach, just the four of us walked down there. And just as we got to the edge of the field, the Crimson Tide million dollar band struck up, started playing Dixie. And I forgot all about my head, man. I was ready to go. I was ready to go.

Charlie Rymer (09:14):

What great experience that must have been. And I want to switch gears just a little bit, because I know you love golf, and talk about some great experiences that I know you’ve had. Making a hole in one. If you don’t know, the odds for an amateur of making a hole in one in golf, 26,000 to 1. Now a little birdie has told me you’re the hole in one king. How many holes in one have you made?

Joe Namath (09:37):

Seven.

Charlie Rymer (09:38):

No way.

Joe Namath (09:39):

Seven. And I’m going to run it and by you real quick, Charlie. The first one I had was at Highland Golf Course in Birmingham, Alabama with some buddies.

Speaker 3 (09:51):

[crosstalk 00:09:51] message after the tone.

Joe Namath (09:51):

And then my brothers, I played with my three brothers. They came down to Tuscaloosa to visit with me, and I got one there. And then I got two of them at Turtle Creek. Well, not Turtle Creek, at… My phone went off and it distracted me.

Charlie Rymer (10:09):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So Turtle Creek-

Joe Namath (10:12):

And I didn’t turn off the darn ringer.

Charlie Rymer (10:16):

Throw it out, throw it in a lake. That’s what I do with my phone.

Joe Namath (10:19):

I have seven that had witnesses. The one I made out in Bel Air in Los Angeles area, I was playing with some guys. And the 10th hole. Have you ever played at Bel Air, Charlie?

Charlie Rymer (10:33):

I have, the swinging bridge.

Joe Namath (10:34):

Yes. Okay. Eddie Merrins you know, the old [crosstalk 00:10:39].

Charlie Rymer (10:38):

Yeah, he’s always there. Even though he is retired, he’s still there, the little pro.

Joe Namath (10:42):

The 10th tee for the men is right next to the clubhouse, you remember? Well, it was under construction or some change. They were doing something with the grass. So we had to walk across our swinging bridge and tee off from the ladies’ tee. And again, I was playing with Mac Davis and just guys, I can’t remember. Anyway, I got a hole in one from the ladies’ tee. So we got back, I said, “Mr. Merrins, what about it? He said, “Oh, that counts as a hole in one.” Jim Garner was the other guy, the actor Jim Garner. They started calling me Josephine, [inaudible 00:11:21].

Charlie Rymer (11:22):

And I bet they did that for a long time, would be my guess on that. And I’m glad you brought up Mac Davis. I had a chance a few times to spend some time with him. We lost him, it’s been a little more than a year ago, I believe. What a beauty Mac Davis was. Playing golf and hanging out with him in LA when he had his variety show, that had to have been so much fun.

Joe Namath (11:42):

It was fun. Mac was so cranky. He was cranky out on that golf course when he wasn’t still shooting in those low seventies. Boy, you heard… From Mac.

Joe Namath (11:54):

There’s a course in Fort Lauderdale, Charlie, called Tamarac. And my former wife had a dream that she saw three hole in ones that day. We went out to the golf course. She was with me. I was playing with my father and a fellow from my apartment building and another guy. And we got to the fifth hole, and there were two guys following us. On the first tee we said, “You guys go ahead.” They were two Canadians. And they didn’t want to go ahead of us. They didn’t know the course. So we get to the fifth hole. We get up there and it’s a 189-yard hole. I hit a three iron, bounced, rolled, and went in the hole for a hole in one. Now we’re celebrating and all and those two guys are still waiting. I said, “Come on, you guys go through, go through.” The first guy stepped up to the tee, knocked it in the hole.

Charlie Rymer (12:48):

No way. So there’s two balls in the hole at once.

Joe Namath (12:50):

Back-to-back. 189-yard shot back-to-back.

Charlie Rymer (12:56):

Well, as I mentioned, the odds of an amateur making a hold in one, 26,000 to 1. I’d hate to calculate what it would be back-to-back. That’s unbelievable. Really, really super cool stuff.

Joe Namath (13:08):

Back-to-back.

Charlie Rymer (13:08):

And I love hearing you tell a golf story. You seem to be getting more fired up telling the golf stories than football stories.

Joe Namath (13:14):

Oh man, I’ve got to play with, I mean, Arnold Palmer, Jackie Gleason. We had charity events. Jack Nicklaus, so many guys. Tommy Bolt, going back to that time. Doug Sanders, man, you know this… I love golf. I still do love it to this day and I’ll watch it as often as I can.

Charlie Rymer (13:37):

Well, tell me a little bit about Jackie Gleason, since you mentioned. I mean, I’m a huge Jackie Gleason fan. I know he used to host an event down in Fort Lauderdale, he loved golf, bigger than life. But Smokey and the Bandit for me, Jackie Gleason… That’s a big Friday night for me, sitting down my wife, drinking some sweet tea, and watching Smokey and the Bandit. But does a Jackie Gleason story come to mind?

Joe Namath (14:03):

Well, yeah. You know, he also shot some good pool. He was a good stick. If you ever watched The Cincinnati Kid, that was a good movie too, with Paul Newman. Meantime, in college I went up to Jasper, Alabama to play with some of the alumni there. I was a senior in college at that time, after football. At the tourn, I was $200 down to those guys. And I was embarrassed because I didn’t have 200 cash in my pocket. I had to go to my car to get my checkbook. Played the back nine well and ended up winning some money. But Jackie Gleason on television down here in Miami said, “I’m going to challenge that big mouth Broadway Joe to a $10,000 bet to go to the charity that we are having.” It was at the Miami Country Club, I believe. And Arnold Palmer… I was the fourth in the foursome. There was Jackie, Arnold Palmer, a doctor from Hawaii, and me.

Joe Namath (15:06):

So that day, I mean, I was crazy. I was choking up whenever I heard that. 10 grand, he challenged me? God Almighty, what am I going to do? I took 10 cash with me that day. I didn’t want to get embarrassed. Well, it was a cloudy day and it was windy and Jackie had the worst day playing golf. I mean he was off. And at the eighth tee, we’re getting ready to tee off and Jackie steps up and he said, “Broadway, this weather’s getting nasty and all.” He says, “I think we’re going to make this a nine-hole event.” I was seven up. He’s done, “I’m going to concede this to you.” And Arnold Palmer… Arnold just said, “Boy, Jackie, it takes a big man to know when to go ahead and concede, and you are a big man that’s for sure.” People loved it. That was great.

Charlie Rymer (16:05):

Tell me a little bit about Arnold Palmer. Did you have a chance to spend much time with him? I’m sure the Pennsylvania roots ran deep between the two of you guys. Well I sure do miss Mr. Palmer and I’m sure you do too, Joe.

Joe Namath (16:21):

I swear… I got to meet him the first time back in ’64 up at Oakmont Country Club, and he and Perry Como were talking. And boy, I’m just looking over there and they looked over and saw me and just gave me a little wave to come over, it was all right. And so I walked over there, man, I was just so tickled. I got goosebumps now talking about that first meeting. And then played in a lot of celebrity golf tournaments after that. Arnold was… He knew I was from west… He knew I was from Beaver Falls. His first caddy master at Latrobe, Joe Aquino, was up at our country club.

Joe Namath (17:10):

He was just nice, nice as could be. Just like, I mean, the other guy, Gary Player is nice, wonderful guy, I love that. Jack is a little different, soft, next to Nicklaus, you know, he’s a little quieter [inaudible 00:17:24], I don’t know. But he’s terrific. I haven’t met any… Ray Floyd, used to love hanging out with Ray Floyd, man. I’ve walked the [Doral 00:17:34], with him after we’d been over at the Playboy Club, about two in the morning, I thought, [crosstalk 00:17:40].

Charlie Rymer (17:41):

That stare… He scares me. Whenever I’m around him, he still scares me. I mean, he’s got an unbelievable stare.

Joe Namath (17:47):

Yeah. That’s it. He has a look, man.

Charlie Rymer (17:51):

Yeah. His stare, is that anything like looking over the line and seeing a middle linebacker looking back at you, any commonalities in that?

Joe Namath (17:59):

Oh man. I didn’t like to look at some of the guys because it was a slight distraction to see. Tommy Nobis is a middle linebacker. Dick Butkus is a middle linebacker. Willie Lanier is a middle linebacker. You know, Willie’s all right though, because we were in American Football League, so that was a little softer. Yeah, but Raymond’s eyes, that stare of his, that was special.

Charlie Rymer (18:24):

They are definitely intense. So I’d love to circle back to Bear Bryant, because I’ve heard that he played golf and sometimes he would get out and play with his players. Do you have any good Bear Bryant stories? I know the respect is there, but getting out and playing some golf with him?

Joe Namath (18:41):

It’s awful. Steve Sloan and I got challenged by Coach Bryant and Gene “Bebes” Stallings. Bebes Stallings was a head coach at Alabama. He had been with Coach Bryant at Texas A&M and he was an assistant at Alabama. Bebes was a good golfer. Well, we went out to Indian Hills Country Club in Tuscaloosa. And we’re coming up the 18th hole even. The country club’s just swarming with people to see Coach Bryant, man, you know, this is something. We get up there on the 18th green, he’s got a towel with some ice wrapped around his neck, you know, got a couple guys helping he and his caddy out, you know. Gets on the green, his ball’s 70 feet from the hole, 50 feet in the hole, whatever it was. And you can imagine what happened.

Joe Namath (19:36):

He rolled that darn thing in. It took about ten seconds or eight seconds to get, and made it. Made it and won the match right there. He and I played in a couple of charity events over the years. And well, Arnold Palmer. We played with Arnold down in Montgomery. It was Coach Bryant, Coach Shug Jordan from Auburn, Arnold Palmer, and I was there.

Charlie Rymer (20:02):

Wow.

Joe Namath (20:03):

And from the tee all the way down the fairways, all the way behind the greens that we played, there were 10,000 people just jammed up to see Coach Bryant, Jordan, and Arnold out there, man. And I was… You talk about scared to death. See, I knew I couldn’t play golf, but you know. It wasn’t football. It wasn’t, had you rehearsing a lot of things. It was golf man. And I was… Boy, but it was joyful.

Charlie Rymer (20:32):

Well I know you’re proud to be an alum of Alabama. I know you went back within about the last 12 or 15 years and got your degree. That’s how much you respect the University of Alabama. When you look at some of their other sports programs, golf, Coach Jay Seawell, the men’s golf coach there, won national championships in ’13 and ’14. The women won the national championship in 2012. The likes of Justin Thomas have come out of Alabama. Do you ever spend any time around Coach Seawell, or any of the Alabama golfers, and talk shop?

Joe Namath (21:05):

A lot of time, yes. Well, you know, like most universities, they need to have some fundraisers to survive, you see? And we have a lot of fundraisers over at the University of Alabama, and we’ve had some golf outings, and the guys have come back to play. Justin and a lot of the players from Alabama. Jay Seawell, you know, he’s a buddy and he’s… He taught Nick Saban how to play that game pretty good. Nick’s a good stick. [crosstalk 00:21:36]

Charlie Rymer (21:36):

Hard to teach Coach Saban anything, I would think.

Joe Namath (21:40):

It’s remarkable. He’s a remarkable man, yeah.

Charlie Rymer (21:44):

Well, I know they appreciate the time that you spend with them and the amount of time that you give the University of Alabama. You’ve mentioned charity a couple of times. Golf and charity, being a part of this industry, what golf does for charity, not only in this country, but beyond it is amazing. Tell me a little bit about some of the events that you’ve had using golf to raise money for great charities, especially our vets. I know you got a big place in your heart for our vets as do I. We’ve got a wonderful foundation here in Myrtle Beach called Project Golf, where we serve vets. But if you could talk a little bit about some of your charity events, that’d be awesome.

Joe Namath (22:22):

Well, we are football players, but it’s seems like we football players love golf maybe more or as much as the sport we play, you know. We just love to get out there and play. And not just football, baseball players, basketball players. We’ve had our celebrity outing at Bethpage and the Black Course for several years. We’ve down here in Florida. We’re coming back to Florida where we’re playing in Glen Oaks this coming September, which is going to be great. But golf is such a wonderful sport. There were two sports that I tried to get my children into and golf was one of them. Tennis is another one. I figured you could play golf and tennis for a long time, man. Compete, it’s good for you, you’re getting out there. But golf and tennis, two great sports.

Joe Namath (23:20):

We are going to have the September outing, as I mentioned, at Glen Oaks, because couldn’t stay at the Bethpage. It’s the state and some of the restrictions haven’t quite been lifted yet. It’s not guaranteed that we could get the courses. We raised a lot of money, starting out in the early years with the March of Dimes Foundation. And we still work with the March of Dimes Foundation, contribute to them. But we have our foundation that… Ah, we’ve helped several charities, and we’re just thankful. What support we get from, as I mentioned, the guys in football, baseball, basketball, TV guys, movie stars, you know, they all care. They all have a big heart and want to help those that need some help, man. You know, we were dealt a full deck when we came into this world and some of the children, some of the people that come in, you know, the handicapped and they need some love and some help. So we have a great team that handles this thing and we’re happy for it.

Charlie Rymer (24:30):

Well, that’s wonderful, Joe. And the greatest thing about it is not only do the causes get a lot of financial support, but getting everybody together is a lot of fun. And that even leads to more ways to support the folks that need help. And it’s just so amazing to see what golf does with our heroes like you coming together.

Charlie Rymer (24:54):

Joe, I want to finish with this. I’m headed down your way to Jupiter, Stuart, Tequesta area next week. And I need a reservation at a good place for dinner. You got any suggestions for me?

Joe Namath (25:08):

You bet I do. Yes. The Lucky Shuck or the Beacon, and you call me please.

Charlie Rymer (25:15):

Yeah. I heard-

Joe Namath (25:16):

Let me know, give me a heads up and I will certainly try to make you feel at home.

Charlie Rymer (25:21):

I hear the new restaurant is hot. You can’t get in there.

Joe Namath (25:24):

Well, you know, it’s been good. Just put it that way. It’s been good. We’ve had an influx with the Easter season too from folks all over the country. We’re going into the soft season. So we got to see how we do survive during the summertime, the soft part of the year. But we have a team that works with us that are wonderful. And the food is uniquely different than anything around here. And we’re very proud of our team.

Charlie Rymer (25:59):

Well, I’m sure you are. And as a nation, we are very proud of one of our heroes. Joe Namath, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate you sharing it with us. Joe, hopefully next time I see you, it’ll be in person. I’d love to hang out a little bit more. Maybe we can get out and play a few holes sometime.

Joe Namath (26:16):

Well, I don’t know about that. I know you’d have to give me a lot of shots [crosstalk 00:26:21].

Charlie Rymer (26:21):

Come on, I’ve heard that talk before Joe.

Joe Namath (26:25):

I will be open to some tips. You can give me some tips on what I can do there. I’m looking to learn, Charlie.

Charlie Rymer (26:31):

All right, you got it. Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing Joe Namath. He’s the best. And what a wonderful conversation we had with him. Thank you so much, Joe.

Joe Namath (26:42):

Thank you, buddy. Take care and call me if you come down here.

Charlie Rymer (26:46):

You got it. I will. I get down there a decent amount. I love that whole area. A lot of buddies down there. All my rich friends live down there. I got to work up here in South Carolina. Thank you, Joe.

Joe Namath (26:57):

All right. Stay well, good luck to your whole team there.