Dan Marino

Western Pennsylvania has produced and been the home of many great people that have made their mark in the game of football. In this episode we will discuss one of them in legendary Quarterback Dan Marino.

Recently my friend, historian Adam Connelly presented a trivia question to me in a discussion we were having about Western Pennsylvania football history. Adam asked if I knew that there were two Western PA, quarterbacks, both having a middle name shared by a Roman Emporer, that played for a team that lost in Super Bowl games to a starting QB that was also from the West side of the Keystone State.

I scratched my head and then when he revealed the answers I felt, silly. Daniel Constantine Marino (Pitt and Central Catholic) lost Super Bowl XIX to Joe Montana (Ringgold High in Carroll, Pennsylvania) an Johnny Constantine Unitas (St. Justin's High School in Pittsburgh) as a member of the Colts in Super Bowl III, fell to the New York Jets led by Joe Willy Namath former signal caller of Beaver Falls High School.

I thought this was a brilliant trivia question and a great introduction to start conversations about these Western PA football legends. On the docket in this episode is Dan Marino.

I felt it was really quite fitting to talk about Marino as the 2022 NFL Draft commenced at the time of the release of this episode. There is an uncanny parallel brewing that resembles the 1983 Draft where Marino from the University of Pittsburgh was taken as the 27th pick by Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins. The memories of this historic day were rekindled when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected a Kenny Pickett, another QB from Pitt, that had just completed a collegiate career where he broke a few of Dan the Man's records with the Panthers as the 20th overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Flashback 39 years earlier when the Steelers with the 21st selection did not choose the stellar QB from their own backyard, Dan Marino, and Steelers fans still regret that with the way Marino played at the NFL level.Dan played scholastic football at Pittsburgh Central Catholic where he graduated in 1979.

At the High School level according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Marino completed 60 of 173 passes for 1,596 yards and 16 touchdowns in just his senior season. Because of those lofty numbers, he was selected as a Parade Magazine All-American. As a junior, he completed 81 of 161 for 1,080 yards and 10 touchdowns. As you can imagine colleges were clamoring for Marino to attend their school to play football. However, football scouts and coaches from universities were not the only ones to try to recruit the 6-4 athlete. Marino was a heck of a baseball player too in high school and the Kansas City Royals tried to lure him into their farm system before college.

As mentioned the talented signal-caller chose his hometown Pitt Panthers as the place to play football in college. Things started off pretty good too when as a freshman in 1979, Marino led the Panthers in a 24-17 triumph over nearby West Virginia in the game called the Backyard Brawl. Dan also orchestrated a Panther's last-minute victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1982 Sugar Bowl by tossing the game-winning pass to tight end John Brown with less than a minute remaining! The Panthers fell in the next season's postseason at the 1983 Cotton Bowl Classic in a heartbreaking 7-3 loss to Southern Methodist and their "Pony Express" backfield of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. Can you imagine that a total of ten points scored with all of that offensive talent on the field between the two teams? During Dan's senior season, he had what many consider an off-year, perhaps hurting his draft stock.  The youngster finished ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1982, after finishing fourth in the previous year for the coveted trophy.

Rumors swirled and damaged his readiness to play football. Stories of knee injuries hampering his mobility and even possibly personal dependency issues made his value to NFL teams plummet. Five other quarterbacks including future Hall of Famers John Elway and Jim Kelly along with Todd Blackledge, Ken O'Brien, and Tony Eason were drafted ahead of Marino. Don Shula though knew talent and was delighted when the Panther QB was still available at the Miami first-round pick at number 27. Some might not realize this but Dan Marino was the first draft pick in the history of the original United States Football League. Dan was selected by the Los Angeles Express in the USFL's inaugural year but he declined their offer to play in the NFL.

In that first season in Miami, he started the season as a backup to the veteran, David Woodley, the starting QB from the year prior. Marino was given his first NFL start in Week 6 of 1983 when the Phins played the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo won the contest in a shootout 38–35 in overtime. As a rookie, Marino set several records as he posted a 96.0 passer rating and was selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. Dan also had the lowest percentage of passes intercepted, was the only rookie quarterback to lead a conference in passing, and had the highest passing completion percentage. In his second season he avoided the sophomore jinx to break six NFL full season passing records, among them:

• Most touchdown passes (48, which lasted for 20 years, broken by Peyton Manning in 2004, and later by Tom Brady)
• Most passing yards in a season (5,084, that stood for 27 years, broken by Drew Brees in 2011)
• Nine 300-yard passing games
• Four 400-yard passing games.

The young ball slinger led this South Florida team to Super Bowl XIX, where Marino and the Dolphins faced off against the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana in Stanford Stadium. Unbelievably this would be Dan Marino's only trip to the Super Bowl during his entire career as a player. The Niners triumphed 38-16 in the big game.

After 18 great NFL Seasons just before the 2000 season, Marino decided to retire, when the Dolphins did not resign him. He declined offers from the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to the Pro-Football-Reference, Dan Marino's career stats were 61361 total career passing yards with a 59.4% completion percentage with 420 touchdown tosses, 252 interceptions and an overall record as a stater of 147-93-0. His quick release is still noted to this day as the standard that all NFL quarterbacks are measured.

Dan soon found himself on TV as an NFL analyst with CBS after he hung up his helmet.Marino is not only remembered for his brilliant play but this guy collected some hardware along the way:

• Pro Football Hall of Fame (enshrined in 2005)
• College Football Hall of Fame (inducted in 2002)
• NFL Most Valuable Player award (1 time)
• All-Pro selections (3 times)
• Pro Bowl selections (9 times)
• 1984 Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year
• 1984 Bert Bell Award (Player of the Year)
• 1994 PFWA Comeback Player
• 1998 Walter Payton Man of the Year
• 1979 Parade Magazin High School All-American

The banner photo is of Number 13, Dan Marino quarterback of the Pitt Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh in a football game at Pitt Stadium against the Cincinnati Bearcats on October 13, 1979. Pitt won the game 35-0. From The Owl. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com