Matt Snell dies at 84, leaving a complicated Jets legacy after Super Bowl III glory
Former Jets running back and Super Bowl III star matt snell has died at the age of 84. A cause of death was not immediately known.
What happens when Matt Snell is remembered for both triumph and tension?
Matt Snell’s name is inseparable from one of the franchise’s defining moments: the upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, when he rushed for 121 yards on 30 carries and scored the team’s only touchdown while playing on an injured knee. That performance cemented his place as a championship hero, even as his relationship with the organization later turned into a years-long estrangement.
The friction remained part of his public story long after his playing days. In 2015, when he was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor, Snell acknowledged the distance between himself and the team, saying the people then in the organization did not owe him anything and that he would be gone soon, too.
What if the early peak of matt snell shaped everything that followed?
Snell made an immediate impact as a rookie in 1964, winning AFL Rookie of the Year honors. That debut season included a franchise single-game record of 180 yards in a win over the Oilers, a marker of how quickly he became central to the Jets’ identity on offense.
While his Super Bowl III performance became the signature highlight, the arc of his career was also defined by injuries. Further injuries stalled out his later years, limiting him to 12 games over his final three seasons. He retired in 1972 at the age of 31.
Even with the shortened late-career stretch, his statistical footprint remained significant in franchise history: 4, 285 career rushing yards, ranking fourth; 24 rushing touchdowns, ranking 10th among team rushers; plus 193 receptions for 1, 375 yards and seven receiving scores. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and was named an All-Pro three times, including First-Team honors in 1969.
What happens when a post-career dispute becomes part of the public record?
In the years after his playing career ended, Snell’s relationship with the Jets famously soured, developing into a grudge he carried for decades. The roots of that rupture were later detailed in Bob Lederer’s 2018 book, Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl Team That Changed Football.
In the book, Snell described a promise he said he received from then-part-owner Sonny Werblin: a place with the team for life. Snell said he felt the organization did not follow through after Werblin’s stake was bought out. He also described believing that people around the organization were unhappy about his friendship with Werblin and took the opportunity to speak negatively about him after Werblin was gone.
Snell recounted that in 1974, during a recession, he was in line for a construction job and asked the Jets for a reference. He said the team told him it did not do that for players and could not do it. Snell said he could not prove it, but believed the situation would not have happened if Werblin had still been in charge, and cited that as a key reason he did not get along with the organization.
The Jets, with a new front office from ownership on down, attempted to repair the relationship with Snell, but the effort did not change the outcome.
