On January 10th, NFL fans were saddened with the news of former NFL star Don Maynard who passed away at the age of 86. One of the all-time great players of the New York Jets franchise, who was essential to their Super Bowl III championship upset in 1969. 

Don Maynard was a gritty Texas-made football player who came into the league after having an outstanding college career at Texas Western College (UTEP). He played for the school from 1954-56, at a time where throwing the football wasn't as popular as it is today. He only caught 28 passes in his time there. 10 of those passes were touchdowns, as he averaged 27.6 yards per reception. He was found to be everywhere on the field, being able to run for 843 rushing yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. He also played safety on defense where he had 10 career interceptions. 

Maynard was selected in the 9th round of the 1957 draft by the New York Giants. He played in 12 games as one of the few rookies to make the team, gathering 5 receptions for 84 yards on the year. He went on to play in the Canadian football league during the 1959 season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before signing with the New York Titans. He was the first player signed in the history of the Titans, who would be renamed to the New York Jets 3 years later. In his first season with the Titans, he played 14 games hauling in 72 receptions for 1265 yards and 6 touchdowns. Maynard was playing in an era where defensive backs were able to jam you at the line of scrimmage with no remorse for contact. They were not obligated to give you 5 yards of cushion, like how it is in the modern NFL.

The 4x AFL All-Star had perhaps the best season of his career in 1967 where he had 71 receptions for 1434 yards and 10 touchdowns. His NFL career was capped off with an historic underdog story as the New York Jets (11-3) defeated the Baltimore Colts (15-1) after Joe Namath guaranteed a victory over legends Don Shula and John Unitas. The Jets stunningly defeated the Colts by a score of 16-7 in Super Bowl III. Ironically Maynard didn’t have a single reception during this game. 

Don Shula had been running double coverages against Maynard the entire game because of how much respect and fear he had for the receiver. The strength of the defense was constantly rotated to his side of the field. “His influence on the Super Bowl was hidden from the casual fan, so to speak, but to those of us that understood, he was invaluable” said Joe Namath. This opened up the offense tremendously for Namath who went 17/28 for 206 yards (83.3 passer rating).

Don Maynard finished his 15-year career with a total of 186 games played, 633 receptions, 11834 receiving yards, and 88 touchdowns. He was the first player in NFL history to hit 10,000 receiving yards, as he set the pace for years to come in the league. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987 and is one of the all-time great legends of the New York Jets franchise. A crucial part of the Jets historic Super Bowl championship and will live on forever in history.