BALTIMORE -- Johnny Unitas, the Hall of Fame quarterback who after being cut by the Steelers as a rookie went on to break nearly every NFL passing record and won three championships with the Baltimore Colts in an 18-year career, died yesterday at age 69.
Unitas had a heart attack while working out at a physical therapy center in the Baltimore suburb of Timonium, said Vivienne Stearns-Elliott, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson.
Unitas had emergency triple-bypass surgery in March 1993 after a heart attack.
"Johnny U," with his trademark crewcut and black hightops, was the first to throw for 40,000 yards and now ranks seventh, surpassed by a group of quarterbacks who played after him, with rules that make passing easier.
Unitas, a native of Pittsburgh who played high school football at St. Justin's High School on Mount Washington, retired after the 1973 season with 22 NFL records, including marks for most passes attempted and completed, most yards gained passing, most touchdown passes and most seasons leading the league in touchdown passes.
"Johnny Unitas will always be a legendary name in NFL history," said Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "One of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, he epitomized the position with his leadership skills and his ability to perform under pressure."
After high school, Unitas wanted to go to Notre Dame but was rejected because he was too small at 6-foot and 138 pounds. The University of Pittsburgh offered a scholarship, but he failed the entrance examination. He accepted an offer from the University of Louisville and did well enough to be taken by the Steelers in the ninth round of the 1955 NFL draft.
He never played a down for the Steelers and was released before the start of the regular season.
Steelers President Dan Rooney, who was quarterback of the 1948 North Catholic High team which lost to Unitas and St. Justin's, said the future Hall of Famer spent most of his time during the 1955 training camp in Olean, N.Y., throwing passes to Rooneys brothers rather than the Steelers' receivers.
"We never gave him a chance," Rooney said. "We never put him in [a game]. [The coaches] just made up their mind that this was what they were going to do."
Steelers Coach Walt Kiesling chose to keep another rookie, Vic Eaton, as the third-string quarterback because Eaton could also punt and play defense if necessary, Rooney said.
Unitas said he harbored no ill feelings toward the Steelers.
"How could I?" he asked. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me."
Rooney called Unitas one the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks, ranking him with the Steelers' Terry Bradshaw and Denver's John Elway.
"You talk about Elway and the two-minute drill, [John] was the first one to do that," Rooney said. "He was excellent at it. ... He was a winner."
After being cut by the Steelers, Unitas played the 1955 season on rock-and-glass-covered fields in Pittsburgh with the semi-pro Bloomfield Rams for $6 a game and worked as a piledriver at a construction site.
He joined the Colts as a free agent in 1956.
With Baltimore Unitas completed 2,830 of 5,186 passes for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns. He completed at least one touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games, a record not challenged since it was set from 1956-60.
Unitas was most valuable player three times and played in 10 Pro Bowls. He led Baltimore to the NFL championship in 1958 and '59 and the Super Bowl in '70.
On the NFL's 50th anniversary in 1969, Unitas was voted the greatest quarterback of all time. He also was selected at quarterback for the NFL's All-Time team in 2000 by the 36 Pro Football Hall of Fame voters.
"Johnny Unitas is the greatest quarterback ever to play the game, better than I was, better than Sammy Baugh, better than anyone," once said Sid Luckman, the great Chicago Bears quarterback of the 1940s.
Unitas was one of the few quarterbacks who called his own plays, an ability traced to his knack for reading an opponent's defense and spotting a weakness, then calling a play to take advantage.
"To be in Baltimore as a receiver and get to play 12 years with him, I have to classify as the best break I ever got in my career," Hall of Famer Raymond Berry said. "The type of quarterback he was, the leader he was, he was totally focused on moving the football, scoring points and winning."
John Mackey, the Colts' tight end during the Unitas years, once said of his teammate, "It's like being in a huddle with God."
Unitas was never flamboyant or boastful -- yet No. 19 always seemed to get the job done thoroughly and quietly.
"A man never gets to this station in life without being helped, aided, shoved, pushed and prodded to do better," Unitas said at his induction into the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1979. "I want to be honest with you: The players I played with and the coaches I had ... they are directly responsible for my being here. I want you all to remember that. I always will."
The long list of accomplishments was quite a reversal of fortune for a player who hitchhiked home from his first NFL training camp with Pittsburgh. The Colts signed him the following season after getting tipped to his ability in a most unusual way.
"Unitas was signed after we received a letter from a fan telling us there was a player in Bloomington deserving a chance," former Colts coach Weeb Ewbank recalled a few years later. "I always accused Johnny of writing it."
Unitas became a backup quarterback and made his debut in the fourth game of the 1956 season. His first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. It got worse as Unitas fumbled on his next two possessions.
Fortunately, the Colts' other backup had opted for law school and Unitas was able to start the next game, and Baltimore beat the Green Bay Packers, 28-21. A week later, the Colts upset the Cleveland Browns, and Unitas had earned himself a job.
Unitas was born May 7, 1933, and was only 4 when his father, who had a small coal delivery business in Pittsburgh, died of pneumonia. His mother went to night school to become a bookkeeper to support her four children.
Unitas later said he learned more about courage from his mother than any coach.
Unitas didn't really look like a football player. At 6-1 and just under 200 pounds, his body was that of an everyday person -- except for the scars, bumps and bruises.
"What made him the greatest quarterback of all time wasn't his arm or his size, it was what was inside his stomach," said Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi, who worked with the Colts in Unitas' final years on the team. "I've always said the purest definition of leadership was watching Johnny Unitas get off the team bus."
Unitas' most noticeable malady was a curved right arm, evidence of the thousands of passes he threw. His worst injury was a torn Achilles' tendon, but he also had broken ribs, a punctured lung and knee injuries.
Unitas' brightest moment probably came in the 1958 championship game against the New York Giants, a match that was called "the greatest football game ever played" for years afterward.
With 90 seconds left, Unitas completed four passes, taking the Colts to the 20-yard line to tie the score on a field goal. He then engineered an 80-yard drive for the winning touchdown.
"The drama came from the championship setting rather than the game itself, until we came down to tie it in the final seconds. And then it became the first playoff ever to go to sudden death, and you can't have much more drama than that," Unitas recalled.
The following year, Baltimore beat the Giants, 31-16, in the championship game. Unitas ran for one touchdown, and passed for two others, completing 18 of 29 passes, good for 264 yards. For the season, he set an NFL record by throwing 32 touchdown passes and was named the league's outstanding player.
His Super Bowl victory came in 1971, a 16-13 win against Dallas in which he played sparingly. He also played in the 1969 Super Bowl, a shocking 16-7 loss to Joe Namath and the New York Jets.
Unitas' enormous talent and ability, combined with his penchant for taking command in the huddle, caused some players to view him as overly cocky and arrogant.
Unitas called it confidence.
"There's a big difference between confidence and conceit. To me, conceit is bragging about yourself. Being confident means you believe you can get the job done, but you know you can't get your job done unless you also have the confidence that the other guys are going to get their jobs done too. Without them, I'm nothing," he said.
Some of that confidence was apparent in his freshman year at Louisville. He threw for more than 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns in his first two years, earning the nickname "Mr. Football" from local sports writers.
Unitas played his final season for the San Diego Chargers, and his 30-yard completion to Mike Garrett against Cincinnati Sept. 30, 1973, put him over the 40,000-yard mark.
His influence on the game lasted long after his retirement. He served as a tutor to Louisville quarterback Chris Redman, who received his first NFL start last week with the Ravens.
"I believe he's one of the main reasons I'm an NFL starting quarterback," Redman said. "He had such an impact on me. I'll miss him so much."
Redman won the Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the nation's top passer, his senior year at Louisville.
Unitas is survived by two sons, Kenneth and John Jr., and a daughter, Paige.
Services were not immediately announced.
Obituary: Johnny Unitas / Hall of Famer once cut by Steelers 
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