JOE NAMATH BACK ON FAMILIAR TURF

The entertainment media, no doubt, will miss him, as will opportunistic producers who have capitalized on his name. But Joe Namath, nonetheless, couldn’t be happier about his hiatus from show business.

For the next six months and the last half of 1986 at least, the former quarterback will be working from football rosters instead of scripts.

Most of his time will be spent in an ABC television booth as a “Monday Night Football” color commentator, or in preparing for his weekly telecast.

“I’m excited to get back into football,” Namath said the other day before leaving his Beverly Hills home for New York to bone up on his new role.

“I’m comfortable with football, maybe not in a booth with a headset on, but just being around the game and the players. I’m getting back into something I know, something I have confidence in.

“Picture work and the theater were new to me. I wasn’t that comfortable. I had very little background, especially in the theater.”

After about eight years of acting experience--since leaving a bench-warming spot on the Rams’ 1977 team--Namath still hasn’t impressed critics, despite his off-stage charm in dealing with the media.

“As a dancer he was kind of clumsy, and when he sang he was off-key,” said David Spatz, entertainment columnist for the Press of Atlantic City, referring to Namath’s recent performance in “Bells Are Ringing.”

The play, which ended a three-month run at Del Webb’s Claridge Casino Hotel in Atlantic City in June, was Namath’s last.

“The role was out of his range,” Spatz added. “He was just marquee value.”

Dan Sullivan, The Times’ critic, made similar statements in his review of last year’s production of “Sugar,” which gave star billing to Namath at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Wrote Sullivan: “ ‘Can’t sing. Can’t dance. Personable. Pleasant speaking voice. Might do for dinner theater.’ That would be a scout’s report on Joe Namath’s chances as a musical-comedy performer, were he just another guy called Joe.

“But because he could pass that football, Namath became a celebrity and therefore a name that might sell theater tickets. . . . “

Certainly, his name has helped boost more than one show-biz box office, which might explain the heavy demand for his services--in TV, movies, theater, whatever.

His first effort as a TV series headliner was in 1978, when he portrayed an ex-basketball player in “The Waverly Wonders,” a silly half-hour comedy that lasted a month.

Only a few weeks ago, he was set to appear in ABC’s “Hardcastle & McCormick,” but the series star, Brian Keith, suffered an eye injury, causing the shooting of the episode to be rescheduled--without Namath, who can’t seem to find time these days even for a round of golf.

He has been in at least four feature films, including such forgettable movies as “Avalanche Express,” starring Lee Marvin and the late Robert Shaw.

Other stage credits include a Broadway performance in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” and regional appearances in “Picnic,” “Li’l Abner,” “Cactus Flower,” “Damn Yankees,” and “Guys and Dolls,” among others.

“Hopefully I’ll be back on the boards after Feb. 2 (end of the National Football League season),” Namath said, “but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. My wife and I may leave for a couple of months. I have no long-range plans.”

Namath, 42, who married former actress Deborah Lynn Mays, 23, last Nov. 7 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (where they also have a home), will become a father for the first time on or about Oct. 14.

Already, he’s looking forward to spending time with the baby, whose name, he said, will be either Jessica Grace or John Jeffrey.

Meanwhile, he’s cramming for his first big test in prime time--Monday night, when ABC kicks off its “Monday Night Football” series with a preseason game between Denver and the 49ers in San Francisco.

Namath, who will team with O.J. Simpson and Frank Gifford at the microphone, warmed up with a “Wide World of Sports” telecast on Aug. 3, when he was inducted into pro football’s Hall of Fame. Reviews, it seems, were mixed.

The gifted, ex-Alabama quarterback, whose most memorable performance--on or off the stage--came in Super Bowl III of 1969, when he led the New York Jets to a stunning 16-7 upset of the Baltimore Colts, said he expects emotional stress in his new job. But he expressed confidence that he can handle it comfortably.

“Working with people helped me tremendously with the work I’ve done outside of football,” he said. “Some people you meet don’t want you to succeed.”

When changing professions eight years ago, Namath recalled the attitude of some--”Who is this ex-jock coming in here trying to be an actor?”--and now he believes he will experience a similar attitude in some cases as a football commentator.

“Not everyone will welcome me with open arms,” he acknowledged, “but I’m handling it comfortably. To do that, for the most part I try my best not to read about myself.”

However, he did read a recent item in this newspaper that mentioned the salary he will be paid by ABC--a figure that was, in his words, “way, way off.”

Anxious to set the record straight, he said his contract guarantees him $1 million each year for two years, with the following three years at ABC’s option, which, if executed, would net Namath $5 million total.

“Hardcastle & McCormick,” it would seem, can wait.