Since developing his distinctive 3D art technique more than 30 years ago, artist Charles Fazzino’s name has been synonymous with bright, whimsical, and wonderfully detailed 3D Pop Art. Another one-of-a-kind artist, Joe Namath, famously predicted a New York Jets upset win over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, and the quarterback delivered one of the most memorable games in National Football League history.

This historic chapter in the Namath story is commemorated by Fazzino in a remarkable, one-of-a-kind hand-painted 3D pop art creation built upon a New York Jets replica football helmet. “Broadway Joe” has signed his name in black marker on the back base of the helmet, and inscribed “SB III MVP” alongside his signature. The artist has signed his name in black marker over the left ear hole. 

The helmet is covered from end to end with 3D captions, illustrations and elements that celebrate the history of the Jets franchise and the career of Namath. The left side of the helmet has an illustration of Met Life Stadium around a green and white Jets logo decal. At the top of the stadium are a pair of orange illustrated 3D lights, and a banner in white with blue letters reading “Lets Go Jets!!!”. The stands are filled with cheering fans, illustrated below the captions that encircle the stadium and logo. Those captions include “The Jersey Boys” (painted directly on the helmet) and raised 3D elements bearing the captions “Bleed Green”, “Gang Green”, “Touchdown!”, “Flight Crew”, “Jets! Jets! Jets!”, “Go Green”, “Newark Airport”, “Met Life Stadium” and “Super Bowl III”. At the back is a 3D illustration of a brown football propelled out of the stadium, above a 3D illustration of Namath in his green #12 jersey dropping back to pass. At Namath’s left is a caption, “Joe Namath 4x AFL All-Star”. At the bottom left is a 3-D illustration of a Jets fan in a #13 jersey, and four Jets fans wearing green paint and the letters “J,” “E,” “T,” “S” in white on their respective chests.

Across the center of the helmet are raised 3D green letters reading “New York Jets” over a white stripe. The letters are embellished with green sequins, a motif repeated in the green illustrated borders on each side of the white stripe. The right side of the helmet has 25 raised 3D illustrations of New York City architectural landmarks, including the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower, with a blue sky and white clouds over the buildings. An illustration of a blue blimp with red fins bears the caption “Met Life” and is pulling banners in green and white that read “12 13”, “28 60” and “73 75”. At the lower right side are a raised illustration of a bridge, with a caption reading “Hudson River” painted directly on the helmet. Below that caption is a 3D caption reading “G.W.B. Fort Lee” with two white arrows, and a raised 3D version of a red, white and blue “Interstate 94” highway sign. At the front, over the green facemask, is a red, white, blue and black 3D caption, “Super Bowl III Joe Namath MVP.” The facemask is held in place by four clear plastic brackets and a white plastic tag with green letters reading “Jets”, accompanied by a white leather and felt chinstrap. This item comes with a LOA from Steve Grad of Beckett Authentication (A25486).

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