What Do Forrest Gump and Joe Namath Have In Common?

Since 1994, my favorite graduate of the University of Alabama has been Forrest Gump. Watching Forrest march across the stage confirmed my belief that the University of Alabama is a pillar of academic integrity. Now, Forrest Gump has to get in line behind Joe Willie Namath. Life imitates art. Winston Groom can write a sequel about Namath's senior project. Perhaps Winston Groom can write Namath's senior project. If this be (fair & balanced) skepticism, so be it.

[NYTimes]
Namath, 60, to Earn Degree
By DAVE ANDERSON

When Joe Namath's oldest daughter, Jessica, began talking about which college she hoped to attend, she told him, "I'll be the first to finish college in my family."

"You want to bet?" her father said.

Joe Namath needed 15 credits to graduate from Alabama in 1965 when he left to join the Jets as a rookie quarterback with what was then a dazzling three-year, $427,000 contract. But now, at age 60, he has returned there to complete his degree.

"Most of it I can do at my pace, but I've been back to Tuscaloosa a few times," he said yesterday, referring to the site of the university. "I've taken a humanities course on Vietnam and a writing course. I'm down to my last two courses, a writing course and a senior project."

Namath credited the golfer Jerry Pate, the 1976 United States Open champion and an Alabama graduate, for persuading Namath to pursue his degree.

"Jerry went back years later and graduated, so did several football players," Namath said. "When I first went to Alabama, I wanted to major in commerce, but as a football player, I was told to take elementary education and history. Now that I'm back there some 40 years later, I'm a little embarrassed, but everybody keeps telling me it's great, that it might persuade other people to go back to get their degree."

For his final writing assignment on "the most influential person" in his life, Namath is considering an obvious subject, Paul Bryant, who was known as Bear, his coach at Alabama.

"Everything starts with your parents and your family," Namath said in a telephone interview from the College Sports Television network offices in Manhattan, "but for leadership and the way he conducted himself, Coach Bryant was special."

Namath, who lives in Florida with his daughters, 18-year-old Jessica and 13-year-old Olivia, works for ESPN Classic and has invested in CSTV. He said the college sports network was "going to be great for college sports."

"It's going to do a lot for many of the smaller colleges that have been ignored," he said.

Copyright © 2003 The New York Times Company