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His career stats are shockingly pedestrian: a 62-63-4 record with 173 touchdown passes against 220 interceptions.

Though he was the first quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season (and a 14-game one at that), he didn’t even have a touchdown pass in the biggest game he played in and is most associated with – Super Bowl III in which he backed up his famous guarantee of victory and was named game MVP.

But cursory glances at the statistics of Joe Willie Namath of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, don’t even begin to capture the impact that he had on professional football, and the culture at large. He is simply put, the biggest star – bar none – to ever play the game, and truly was “Mick Jagger in a football uniform.”

That’s how sportswriter Sal Marchiano aptly describes Namath in the HBO documentary “Namath” which premieres tonight at 9 p.m.

Narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, the film follows Namath’s life from Beaver Falls to the University of Alabama to the New York Jets and the absolute zenith of stardom – on and off the football field. It continues with a painful decline as a player, fighting his personal demon of alcoholism, and back to Beaver Falls to be honored this past September.

If Namath is the star of this film, Beaver Falls wins for a best supporting role.

The film starts and ends in the town, with shots of the high school football stadium, and indeed the first 12 minutes are dedicated to growing up in industrial, post-war Beaver Falls. It’s filled with excellent old pictures and videos that capture the essence of a bygone place that exists in the mind’s eye, and the town as it is today.

Interviews with his brother Frank and sister Rita – who lovingly called him a ‘pain in the ass’ -- and childhood friends give a real sense of the man. You can see how he was so able to easily navigate his celebrity with such confidence – his Western Pennsylvania background kept him incredibly grounded

Throughout the 90-minute piece, the setting returns frequently to his boyhood home -- Maria’s Kitchen, Fubio’s barber shop, to name a few stops – for memories and testimonials about Namath, before ending there, where Namath was honored before a high school football game in September, the 50^th anniversary of his 1961 championship team.

“If it wasn’t for these people, ol’ Joe might’ve been someplace else altogether,” he said. “It’ll always be Beaver Falls and Joe Namath.”

That the documentary is heavy on the Western Pennsylvania aspects of Namath’s life and personality, might not be an accident – the producer is Mt. Lebanon native Keith Cossrow.

Throughout it, Namath is incredibly frank and very funny (the scene when he talks about his mother Rose visiting his Manhattan playboy apartment, with its mirrored-ceiling bedroom, is hilarious). Namath has such a natural, disarming charm and a Cheshire grin that he could steal your girlfriend – and he probably stole more than a few – and you’d buy him and drink thank him afterwards.

Not that Namath would accept said drink, at least not anymore.

That wasn't always the case. Namath's love of drink and carousing started in high school and got him in scrapes in college and professionally. He used it as his personal painkiller for his wracked body while still playing, and it nearly ended his marriage in retirement. By his own admission almost killed him when he did get divorced some years later.

His ultimate embarrassment came on national television in 2003 when he famously made a sloppy, on-air drunken pass at ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber. Kolber had never spoken publicly about it until this – and is forgiving of Namath’s antics.

As a disclaimer: Namath played his last game in professional football 26 days after I was born. I’ve only seen him play on highlight reels. And to me, while the football stuff was certainly interesting, I found more compelling the elements of his (and some of America’s) history: old Beaver Falls; Namath’s discussion of race relations and how he was in the crowd when the University of Alabama was integrated by federal decree; his bachelor days in a very liberated late-1960’s New York; his honesty about his struggles with the bottle.

Viewers have come to expect excellence with HBO Sports productions and this is no different. Make a point to watch it.

Namath premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO. Other HBO playdates: Jan. 31, Feb. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, and 17; HBO2 playdates: Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 18, 21, 26, 29. Check listings for times. It is also available on HBO On Demand from Jan. 30-Feb. 28

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