Matthews Snell was born on August 18,1941 and is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the New York Jets of the American Football League and National Football League.
19 Facts About Matt Snell
1.
2.
Matt Snell was Jets' owner Sonny Werblin's first coup, prior to his 1965 acquisition of Joe Namath.
3.
Matt Snell played right halfback on a team that lost only two games while he started.
4.
Matt Snell was awarded Newsdays Thorp Award for 1959 as the outstanding high school football player in Nassau County.
5.
At Ohio State University, Matt Snell was a three-year starter and a consummate team player, active on both sides of the ball.
6.
Matt Snell was named to the Ohio State Football All-Century Team in 2000 as a defensive end.
7.
Matt Snell went on to become an AFL Eastern Division All-Star in 1964 and 1966, and the Sporting News All-AFL fullback in 1969.
8.
Matt Snell's defining moment came in Super Bowl III when the AFL champion Jets played the heavily favored NFL champion Baltimore Colts.
9.
Matt Snell carried the ball 30 times for a then-Super Bowl record of 121 yards, and in the second quarter went four yards around left end to score the Jets' only touchdown, a score that marked the first time an AFL team had led in a Super Bowl.
10.
Matt Snell helped set up a trio of Jim Turner field goals that finally put the game away for the Jets in the second half, securing the AFL's first Super Bowl win in the league's penultimate season.
11.
Toward the end of his career, Matt Snell became one of the first third-down specialty backs, primarily because he was so good at protecting Joe Namath.
12.
Matt Snell was reported to have helped teach pass-blocking to Jets running backs during his career.
13.
Matt Snell suffered multiple injuries in his career, including torn knee cartilage in 1967 and a torn Achilles tendon in 1970.
14.
Matt Snell only played in a total of 12 games in what would be his final three seasons.
15.
In 1973, Matt Snell appeared in the first Miller Lite beer commercial.
16.
Matt Snell did not accept the Jets' invitation to participate in the ceremony at MetLife Stadium, just as he consistently has refused the club's invitations to other alumni events for unspecified reasons ever since he retired.
17.
In 2018, Matt Snell revealed that the reason he hasn't spoken to the Jets was because the team's owner at the time he left, Leon Hess, refused to give him a reference for a future job in spite of both being promised he would receive one, and in spite of his work to build the team's success over his professional football career.
18.
Matt Snell is a partner in DEFCO Securities, Inc and owns a restaurant in New York City.
19.
Matt Snell is the first cousin, twice removed of running back Benny Snell, with Benny Snell's grandfather being his first cousin.