Namath cemented his legacy in 1969 when he boldly guaranteed his heavy underdog Jets would win Super Bowl III before defeating the NFL's Baltimore Colts in one of the greatest sports upsets of all time. The Super Bowl victory was the first for an AFL franchise, helping dismiss notions that its teams were inferior to the NFL's and demonstrate they would enter the merger as equals. Namath received Super Bowl MVP honors in the game while becoming the first quarterback to win both a college national championship and a major professional championship.