Babe Parilli Vito " Babe " Parilli ( born May 7 , 1929 ) is a former American football player . Biography . Parilli was born in the Pittsburgh industrial suburb of Rochester , Pennsylvania . He attended the University of Kentucky as an All - American starting quarterback for the Wildcats under Coach Paul " Bear " Bryant . After playing for the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers in the National Football League before a one - year stint in the Canadian Football League with the Ottawa Rough Riders , Parilli was picked up by the fledgling American Football League ' s Oakland Raiders on August 17 , 1960 and threw for just over 1 , 000 yards . On April 4 , 1961 , he was part of a five - player trade that sent him to the AFL Boston Patriots , and he went on to become one of the AFL ' s most productive and colorful players . Playing for the Patriots from 1961 through 1966 , Parilli finished his career with over 25 , 000 total yards and 200 touchdowns , ending among the top five quarterbacks in 23 categories such as passing yards , passing touchdowns and rushing yards . Parilli was selected for three All - Star Games . In 1964 , throwing primarily to Gino Cappelletti , Parilli amassed nearly 3 , 500 yards passing with 31 touchdowns ; the latter number was a Patriots record until 2007 , when it was broken by Tom Brady . During that season ' s October 16 contest against the Oakland Raiders , he threw for 422 yards and four touchdown passes in a 43 - 43 tie . Parilli is a member of the Patriots All - 1960s ( AFL ) Team . Parilli completed his career with the New York Jets , where he earned a ring as Joe Namath ' s backup in Super Bowl III , when the Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts by a 16 - 7 score . Coincidentally , this gave the Jets two quarterbacks from Beaver County , Pennsylvania , with Parilli being from Rochester and Namath being from nearby Beaver Falls and both played for " Bear " Bryant in college . In 1967 it was discovered by Life Magazine that Parilli and several other professional athletes were regular patrons of Patriarca crime family mobster Arthur Ventola ' s major fencing operation called Arthur ' s Farm in Revere , Massachusetts . Despite the organized crime connection , journalist Howie Carr stated that there was never any inside information passed between Parilli and Ventola . Arthur was the uncle of mob associate Richard Castucci . Besides his considerable skills as a quarterback , he was one of the best holders in the history of football and was nicknamed " gold - finger " as a result of kicker Jim Turner ' s then - record 145 points kicked in 1968 ( plus another 19 points in the play - offs and in Super Bowl III ) . He is one of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten - year existence , and is a member of the University of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame . In 1982 Parilli was named to the College Football Hall of Fame . The wide receiver - quarterback duo of Cappelletti and Parilli was nicknamed " Grand Opera " . In 1974 , Parilli became the head coach of the New York Stars of the World Football League . The next year he coached another WFL team , the Chicago Winds . * In the late 90s and through most of the 00s * , he would coach several Arena Football League teams .