With all due respect to the Super Bowl heroics of touchdown-scoring running backs, acrobatic receivers, brick-wall offensive linemen and big-play defenders, it’s always been the quarterback who steals the show.
The first two Super Bowls—played in 1967 and 1968—produced an MVP QB in Green Bay’s Bart Starr. The Hall of Famer led Vince Lombardi’s Packers to blowout wins over Kansas City and Oakland in 1967 and 1968. Significantly, Starr also won three earlier NFL titles, giving him five championships in a remarkable seven-year span.
Super Bowl III, in January 1969, found Joe Namath dissecting the heavily favored Colts. Leading up to the game, Namath guaranteed his New York Jets would upset Baltimore. When he delivered, he helped boost the Super Bowl to new heights.
Since then, the NFL’s big game has become an iconic part of America’s landscape. In the process, the Super Bowl has delivered a run of strong-armed quarterbacks leading their teams to the top of the NFL mountain.
The memorabilia market, of course, followed along. In some cases, winning QBs have been unsung heroes, journeymen who rose to the occasion. Think Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson.
But more often, we’ve seen the game’s top signal-callers—future Hall of Famers and big-name All-Pros—rise to the moment. They have included Len Dawson and Bob Griese, John Elway and Steve Young, Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger.
But it gets even better. Check out the group we’ll call our Super Seven. These Super Bowl-winning QBs will forever fly high in terms of hobby headlines and memorabilia demand. We present them not in order of stats or number of
