- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,144,507
- Reaction score
- 59
John Brodie, a former NFL most valuable player who later won a tournament on PGA Tour Champions and announced golf on TV for several years, is dead of natural causes, the San Francisco 49ers reported. He was 90.
Brodie is best-known as one of the NFL’s most prolific passers, the heartbeat of his hometown 49ers during a 17-year career that spanned from 1957-73.
Football, however, isn’t the only sport where Brodie excelled. Growing up in Oakland, and later starring at Oakland Tech High School, he spent hours playing everything he could with a ball, including golf. He’d been introduced to the game by his father, Aloysius Brodie, and learned the game by caddying at Lake Chabot and Claremont Country Club, along with participating in youth events at local links such as Lincoln Park in San Francisco.
Turned out, Brodie’s golf swing was as blessed as his throwing arm, so much so that Bing Crosby took notice. As a teen, the Crosby and Brodie boys spent summers playing golf at Hayden Lake Country Club. “If you play like that, I’ll invite you to my tournament,” Crosby had told him. The legendary crooner followed up on his promise and at the age of 21, Brodie started in his first Crosby Invitational in Pebble Beach, now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, while also a member of the Stanford golf team.
During the NFL offseason, Brodie took his athleticism to the PGA Tour, where he played from 1959 to 1961. At times, his traveling roommate was fellow Bay Area native Tony Lema, who won the 1964 British Open before dying way too young in a plane crash. Brodie played in the U.S. Open in both 1959 and 1981 – a record 22-year difference between appearances – though failed to make the cut both times.
In 1970, Brodie won the Crosby Pro-Am title playing with partner Bob Rosburg, shooting 1-under on his own ball over the 72-hole tournament. At the AT&T tournament many years later, the California Golf Writers Association honored Brodie with the “Jack Lemmon” Ambassador of Golf Award. He was inducted into the Northern California Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2023.
Following his retirement from football in 1973, Brodie was a leading sports commentator for 12 years at NBC Sports where he not only called football, but was one of the earliest color commentators for televised golf. Brodie preferred to be the one playing - as soon as he turned 50 he retired from his lucrative position at NBC Sports with his eyes set on joining the newly formed PGA Senior Tour (now Champions Tour). He was a professional golfer from 1985 to 1998, recording one win, 12 top-10 finishes and earning a total of $735,000, after joining the senior circuit. Brodie won the Security Pacific Senior Class in 1991, outdueling 1969 Masters champion George Archer and eight-time Tour winner Chi Chi Rodriguez in a playoff at Los Angeles. He became the first athlete from another sport to win a PGA Tour sanctioned event.
On the gridiron, he was the 1970 league MVP, played in two Pro Bowls, a two-time All-Pro, the 1965 Comeback Player of the Year among his various accolades. Brodie guided San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game in the 1970 and 1971 seasons, but the club lost to the Dallas Cowboys on both occasions. He led the NFL in passing yards three times and passing touchdowns twice. He ranked fourth all-time in career passing yards upon his retirement. His No. 12 jersey was retired upon his retirement in 1973 and he was inducted into the 49ers Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 2009.
Born Aug. 14, 1935, in Menlo Park, Calif., Brodie played his college sports in the Bay Area, too, graduating from Stanford University, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. He competed in two NCAA Championships for the Cardinal golf team.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: NFL great John Brodie, dead at 90, won on PGA Tour Champions too
Continue reading...
Brodie is best-known as one of the NFL’s most prolific passers, the heartbeat of his hometown 49ers during a 17-year career that spanned from 1957-73.
Football, however, isn’t the only sport where Brodie excelled. Growing up in Oakland, and later starring at Oakland Tech High School, he spent hours playing everything he could with a ball, including golf. He’d been introduced to the game by his father, Aloysius Brodie, and learned the game by caddying at Lake Chabot and Claremont Country Club, along with participating in youth events at local links such as Lincoln Park in San Francisco.
Turned out, Brodie’s golf swing was as blessed as his throwing arm, so much so that Bing Crosby took notice. As a teen, the Crosby and Brodie boys spent summers playing golf at Hayden Lake Country Club. “If you play like that, I’ll invite you to my tournament,” Crosby had told him. The legendary crooner followed up on his promise and at the age of 21, Brodie started in his first Crosby Invitational in Pebble Beach, now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, while also a member of the Stanford golf team.
During the NFL offseason, Brodie took his athleticism to the PGA Tour, where he played from 1959 to 1961. At times, his traveling roommate was fellow Bay Area native Tony Lema, who won the 1964 British Open before dying way too young in a plane crash. Brodie played in the U.S. Open in both 1959 and 1981 – a record 22-year difference between appearances – though failed to make the cut both times.
In 1970, Brodie won the Crosby Pro-Am title playing with partner Bob Rosburg, shooting 1-under on his own ball over the 72-hole tournament. At the AT&T tournament many years later, the California Golf Writers Association honored Brodie with the “Jack Lemmon” Ambassador of Golf Award. He was inducted into the Northern California Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2023.
Following his retirement from football in 1973, Brodie was a leading sports commentator for 12 years at NBC Sports where he not only called football, but was one of the earliest color commentators for televised golf. Brodie preferred to be the one playing - as soon as he turned 50 he retired from his lucrative position at NBC Sports with his eyes set on joining the newly formed PGA Senior Tour (now Champions Tour). He was a professional golfer from 1985 to 1998, recording one win, 12 top-10 finishes and earning a total of $735,000, after joining the senior circuit. Brodie won the Security Pacific Senior Class in 1991, outdueling 1969 Masters champion George Archer and eight-time Tour winner Chi Chi Rodriguez in a playoff at Los Angeles. He became the first athlete from another sport to win a PGA Tour sanctioned event.
On the gridiron, he was the 1970 league MVP, played in two Pro Bowls, a two-time All-Pro, the 1965 Comeback Player of the Year among his various accolades. Brodie guided San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game in the 1970 and 1971 seasons, but the club lost to the Dallas Cowboys on both occasions. He led the NFL in passing yards three times and passing touchdowns twice. He ranked fourth all-time in career passing yards upon his retirement. His No. 12 jersey was retired upon his retirement in 1973 and he was inducted into the 49ers Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 2009.
Born Aug. 14, 1935, in Menlo Park, Calif., Brodie played his college sports in the Bay Area, too, graduating from Stanford University, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. He competed in two NCAA Championships for the Cardinal golf team.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: NFL great John Brodie, dead at 90, won on PGA Tour Champions too
Continue reading...
