Gerry Philbin, a member of the New York Jets’ Super Bowl III championship team and a two-time All-Pro over a 10-year career, has died at the age of 83, the Jets announced Wednesday.
The former defensive end was first-team All-Pro in 1968 and ’69, and also named to the Pro Bowl those two seasons.
With Philbin hunting quarterbacks and Joe Namath making guarantees, the Jets famously upset the Baltimore Colts for a surprise Super Bowl championship at the conclusion of the 1968 season.
“I really believe he should’ve been a Hall of Famer,” teammate and linebacker Ralph Baker said. “He was just a good guy, a regular guy who worked hard and shared his feelings. When teammates needed to be set straight, Gerry was the guy to do it.”
A third-round (19th overall) draft pick out of Buffalo, Philbin termed himself undersized at 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds. Despite his smaller size, over 123 games (112 starts) in New York and Philadelphia, where he played his final year, Philbin record 66 1/2 sacks and seven fumble recoveries.
No. 81 was named to the AFL’s all-decade team for the 1960s and later inducted into New York’s Ring of Honor.
“I got the most out of how hard I worked, because I was a little disadvantaged with size and overcame it,” Philbin told NewYorkJets.com in 2018. “And then just accomplishing most of my goals that I set. I wanted to be an All-Star. I wanted to win the Super Bowl.
“And the personal goals of getting elected to the All-Time AFL Team. And then finally, becoming a Ring of Honor recipient with the Jets. All those things I cherish a lot.”
–Field Level Media
