Seeking sports photo from the late 1960s/early 70s

The Game Room
#1

I remember seeing a photo–maybe in Time Magazine–of an NFL player with a little bit of hair sticking out of the back of his helmet. The photo showed him from behind; you didn’t see his face. I don’t remember if you could see his uniform number, name, or team.

At the time, all athletes had short hair and this photo was saying, in an amusing way, “Look, the hippies are getting into sports now.” I have tried searching for this but have not found search terms that narrow it down enough. I am hoping someone else will remember this photo, and maybe remember the source so I can find it.

(Because this is a factual question about a specific photo, and not the sport or the artistic aspects, I put in here rather than Game Room or Cafe Society.)

#2

It sounds like something they would have said about Joe Namath, but I can’t find any photo of him that matches.

#3

That was my immediate thought also this morning, but as it was in GQ, I held off answering.

I moved the thread to The Game Room to open up more speculations and different posters.

#4

I don’t think it was Broadway Joe. It was a less well-known player and the point was not who the player was, it was the hair in the context of the social atmosphere at the time.

This photo is a similar idea but was taken in 2014. The photo I am thinking of was from 1970±3 years, the hair was not as long, and was from farther back.

#5

I though of Namath immediately, he was the original NFL long hair. If he wasn’t the very first he was the one people would remember. Here’s some pic of him with some hair poking out under his helmet, not quite as described in the OP, and from 1975 so not that unique among players anymore. I’m sure you can find more like that, that only required about 30 seconds to find.

The names of other players to consider aren’t coming to mind that quickly, but I’m recalling more than one receiver with long hair from those days but can’t put a name or even a team to them.

But the OP has to tell us if it’s a specific picture we need to find, or just one that matches that description.

#6

Pretty sure I remember the photo in question. I think it was a college player?

#7

Y’know, it could’ve been college. I’m not sure.

#8

Could it have been Ken Stabler?

#9

Here’s Madden & Stabler in 1970.

#10

That could be the same guy although maybe not the same photo. To be fair my memory of a photo from over 50 years ago may not be that accurate.

That photo is good enough for my general purposes, which is just to compare what used to seem eyebrow-raising to what we see more recently, like Troy Polamalu of a few years ago.

#11

For comparison, here’s Stabler in college.

Remind you of anyone?

#12

I can’t find a back view, but here’s future actor Ed Marinaro on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he played for Cornell

And here’s what he looked like out of uniform

Can anyone check the 11/1/71 issue of SI :wink: