DRAFT Magazine

There are some amusing Super Bowl drinking stories — Green Bay’s Max McGee scoring two touchdowns in Super Bowl I while nursing a horrendous hangover is one — and some sobering ones.

In the latter category is the story of Larry Grantham, as told by long-time Newark Star-Ledger Columnist Emeritus Jerry Izenberg. Grantham, a linebacker for the New York Jets, played in Super Bowl III, when the Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts, 16-7. Not only did the game establish the American Football League as an equal to its older counterpart, the NFL, it solidified the fame of quarterback Joe Willie Namath, who guaranteed the upset.

As a Super Bowl winner, every Jet was the toast of New York, including Grantham. Mississippi born and bred, the country boy in Manhattan could barely buy a beer on his own; his Super Bowl ring served as a passport to free drinks for years. On the plane after games, each player would be handed three beers; Grantham would also drink Don Maynard’s and anyone else willing to share some of theirs.

In 1986, he woke up in a drunk tank in Tennessee after a car accident. He hasn’t had a drink since. Sometimes it takes that type of humiliation to stop, as Namath undoubtedly knows. He was interviewed by a sideline reporter during a game a few years back, barely made sense and told her he wanted to kiss her. He was sloshed. Supposedly the man who used to like his women blonde and Johnnie Walker Black hasn’t had a drink since.

The Jets may not have made the Super Bowl, but at least some of their former stars have won a bigger game.