On the field and off, Joe Namath made a splash everywhere he went. Here are 12 of No. 12’s most memorable moments:

The classic Sports Illustrated photo shoot of a smiling Namath, the AFL’s prize, the big apple of Jets owner Sonny Werblin’s eyes, is how it all started. A $427,000 star was born.

“When Joe Namath walks into a room,” Werblin said, “you know he’s there. When any other high-priced rookie walks in, he’s just a nice-looking young man.”

For Werblin, a former Hollywood executive, there was no business like Joe business.

The turbulent ’60s witnessed Muhammad Ali (nee Cassius Clay) as a 7-1 underdog against Sonny Liston, and Namath and the AFL Jets as 18-point underdogs to the NFL Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. It didn’t stop the Louisville Lip from promising to shock the world, and it didn’t stop Namath from standing at a Touchdown Club of Miami luncheon roaring: “We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.” It helped pave the way for the AFL-NFL merger and Namath’s bust in Canton.

The bachelor pad penthouse on the Upper East Side — white llama-skin rug, an Italian marble bar, an elaborate stereo hookup, an oval bed, mirrored ceiling. From a 1969 Playboy magazine interview: “I spent the nights before the Jets’ two biggest games last year — for the AFL Championship and the Super Bowl — with girls. … The night before a game, I prepare myself both mentally and physically for the next day. I think a ballplayer has to be relaxed to play well; and if that involves being with a girl that night, he should do it. If some ballplayers don’t feel that way, they shouldn’t do it. But I feel that way.”

Namath guesstimated that he had slept with at least 300 women.

“I don’t like to date so much as I just like to kind of, you know, run into somethin’, man,” Namath said once. “I like my girls blond and my Johnnie Walker Red,” he said another time — but he did call an impressive audible for Raquel Welch.

Ali must have been the first to purchase Namath’s 1966 book “I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow ‘Cause I Get Better Looking Every Day.”

There is one photo of Namath fitted by a furrier in 1968 and another wearing a white fur coat on the Shea Stadium sidelines on Nov. 14, 1971. For old time’s sake, Namath showed up in a coat made of coyote with Norwegian fox trim for the Super Bowl XLVIII coin toss.

If Colts quarterback John Unitas personified the old-school NFL with his black high tops, along came the irreverent, irrepressible Joe Willie Whiteshoes, who wrapped white tape around his black shoes when the cleats began to wear out.

“Maybe subconsciously, I might have been reaching for something in recognition. Was I reaching, or did I want to be different? I don’t know,” he told the Kansas City Star five years ago.

Namath In 1974, shaved his legs for a Hanes’ Beautymist Pantyhose commercial: “Now, I don’t wear pantyhose. But if Beautymist can make my legs look good, imagine what they’ll do for yours.”

Namath was never confused with Laurence Olivier in his Silver Screen roles, which included “C.C. & Company” with Ann-Margret. “ The Love Boat” TV show was typecasting.

The June 16, 1969 Sports Illustrated cover: “Namath Weeps.” Just 10 days earlier, he had announced his retirement, defying an ultimatum from then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle to divest himself of ownership of his Bachelor III Lexington Avenue bar. Rozelle cited concerns about gamblers and mobsters there.

“I’m not selling, I quit!” Namath said.

A month later he changed his mind and sold, and rejoined the Jets.

Dan Marino was considered Joe Namath South because of his lightning-quick release. Namath, over 14 games, was the NFL’s first 4,000-yard passer in 1967. His 496-yard, six-touchdown game in 1972 against idol John Unitas — who threw for 376 yards and two TDs in a 44-34 Jets win — is legendary.

Namath required the first of four knee operations three weeks after he became a Jet. Club orthopedist Dr. James Nicholas told Namath, gimpy prey for so long, that he might last four years with a special brace. He was nine years off. Namath had knee replacement surgery on both knees in 1992 and told the New York Times: “I never played a down of pro football healthy. Not one down.”

“I wanna kiss kiss you,” a drunk Namath said 15 years ago on national television to then-ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber. He apologized and thankfully sought help and defeated his alcohol problem.

Namath estimates that he suffered five concussions.

“We need to discover more about our brains, we need to find out how to heal them,” Namath said last year. “Let’s stay strong and continue the efforts to healing the brain once it’s been injured.” The Joe Namath Neurological Research Center in Jupiter, Fla., has been experimenting with hyperbaric oxygen therapy for traumatic brain injuries.