Johnny Unitas

Though Johnny Unitas went on to become a legend, and George Shaw is hardly remembered today, things looked very different in 1955. From the University of Oregon, Shaw was that year's number-one NFL draft pick. Unitas, on the other hand, came in on the ninth round, and became 102nd overall when the Steelers finally picked him up.

The Steelers dropped Unitas before his first exhibition game, claiming that he was not intelligent enough to be a quarterback. Shaw, on the other hand, was a golden boy, and even had a good Anglo-Saxon name. Chosen by the Colts on January 27, 1955, he seemed destined for immortality even as Unitas was destined for obscurity.

Even when the Colts signed Unitas in 1956, it was only as a backup to Shaw. Then, just four games into the 1956-57 season, Shaw broke his leg, and Unitas came in to replace him. Thereafter, the course was set, with Unitas bound for superstardom, and Shaw for the status of a footnote to football history.

After his recovery, Shaw went back to the Colts, only now he was the backup quarterback, and with Unitas' stoicism in the face of injury, he had few opportunities to play. He stayed with the Colts until 1958, when they traded him to the New York Giants. By this point, Shaw's career was already half over, and after two years with the Giants, he spent a year apiece with the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions before leaving the NFL in 1962. In his eight-year career, he gained 5,829 passing yards—just over a fifth of Unitas's record for 18 years.