Say It Ain’t So Joe: BROADWAY JOE NAMATH IS THE SON OF AN IMMIGRANT!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, Broadway Joe Namath, Hall of Fame Quarterback for the New York Jets, was a guest of honor at an annual awards ceremony at which his family was being honored for his family’s immigrant experience. His grandfather Andras Nemet and his father, Janos, did not speak English on arrival in the United States after a the long journey from Hungary to the Pennsylvania steel town, Beaver Falls, where he was raised. According to Joe, both “worked hard to assimilate.” 

Namath’s paternal grandfather, later known as Andy Namath, arrived in 1911. Janos was left behind until his mother went back for him in 1920.

 According to the N.Y. Times (link above), on the ferry to the awards ceremony, Joe Namath ran into Candice Bergen, who the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation asked to announce the winners of Family Heritage awards, which included comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Dr. Eric R. Kandel, the Nobel Laureate. She also gave Gloria and Emilio Estefan, musicians born in Cuba, an award for newer arrivals.

Photo Courtesy of Pro Football Hall of Fame

KJ