John Brodie

Early years and education

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.

Brodie played college football across the San Francisco Bay at Stanford University, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity. In his senior season of 1956, Brodie was a consensus All-American and also played on the Stanford golf team, which kept him out of spring football drills.

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.

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."

Professional 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. 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, Brodie was courted by the Houston Oilers of the rival American Football League. Newspaper reports indicated that a contract with the Oilers paying between $650,000 and $1 million had been arranged. 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 1966. 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.

The 1970 season proved to be a particularly stellar for Brodie. During that year he led the entire NFL with 24 touchdown passes, while taking a league low 8 sacks during the entire season. Brodie also paced NFL quarterbacks with a league-leading 2.6% of his passes resulting in interception. Brodie's outstanding season was rewarded when he received the 1970 NFL Most Valuable Player Award.

When Brodie retired from the NFL at the end of the 1973 season, he ranked third in career passing yards, behind only Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton. In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class

Career after football

After he retired from football, Brodie served as an NFL football and golf analyst for NBC Sports and 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.

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. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

In 2010, Brodie was inducted into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, becoming the first European-American so honored.

Personal life

John has been married to Sue since 1957. They have four daughters and a son, and ten grandchildren. One of his daughters, Erin, found fame on television in 2003 during the first season of the reality series For Love or Money, while another daughter, Diane, was married until 2011 to former NFL quarterback Chris Chandler.

During the 1969 season, Brodie experienced tendonitis in his throwing arm which caused him to miss two and a half games. He received cortisone shots in an effort to remedy the problem, without apparent success. 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 completely eliminate the tendonitis by the following week. Thus began a connection between Brodie and the church.

Brodie was for years thereafter one of the leading celebrity endorsers of the Church of Scientology. 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. 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 2006.

Senior PGA Tour wins (1)

Senior PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)