By Anthony Holden
CBS SportsLine Historian

When you look back into the archive of professional football in America, there are two games that stand out above all the rest, two games that are widely considered to be the most important in the sport's history.

Weeb Eubank is flanked by former Jets Greg Buttle (left) and Lance Mehl in this 1989 photo. (AP)

The first was Baltimore's 1958 NFL Championship Game victory over the New York Giants, a 23-17 overtime thriller that was nationally televised from Yankee Stadium and attracted hordes of new fans to the game.

The second was Super Bowl III played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, the game in which Joe Namath of the New York Jets guaranteed a victory for his AFL upstarts over the powerhouse Colts of the established NFL. Namath delivered on his promise as the Jets won easily, 16-7, forever establishing the AFL on level ground with the NFL and setting the stage for the merger of the two leagues the following year.

There are two common threads that link these games. The Colts participated in both, and Weeb Ewbank was the winning coach in both. The latter fact is no surprise.

Ewbank coached the Colts from 1954-62 posting a 59-52-1 record with back-to-back championships in '58 and '59, then moved to the fledgling AFL and took over the rudderless Jets in 1963 and stayed until '73. With New York teams that were largely mediocre in talent, he was 71-77-6 and he guided the Jets to that historic Super Bowl III victory.

His ho-hum overall record of 130-129-7 belies the skills Ewbank possessed as a coach. It also does not begin to explain the respect he earned from his players.

"Weeb was one of the game's greatest coaches," said former Jet Don Maynard. "I had the privilege of playing under (Tom) Landry and (Vince) Lombardi when they were with the Giants (as assistants). Weeb, without a doubt, was among the greatest. He was a great coach and a great man who knew how to treat his players."

Ewbank learned the game under legendary Paul Brown at Miami of Ohio and later served on Brown's staff with the Cleveland Browns. He became the first Paul Brown disciple to coach in the NFL, taking over a moribund Colts team and guiding them to the NFL title within five years.

He defected to the AFL because it presented another daunting challenge, and within six years, the Jets were hoisting championship rings.

Along the way, Ewbank developed two of the game's great quarterbacks, Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Namath, and he also developed an impressive list of coaching proteges that included Don Shula, Bud Grant, Chuck Noll and Chuck Knox.

"I don't think people realize how smart a man he was as far as knowing people and knowing football," said longtime Jets public relations director Frank Ramos when Ewbank died last year at the age of 91. "It's no coincidence that he had both Unitas and Namath and he worked very closely with Otto Graham. He really developed a great passing system with the Jets and the developed two rag-tag franchises into championship teams."