Gino Marchetti

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Gino Marchetti
Date of birth	January 2, 1927
Place of birth	Smithers, West Virginia
Position(s)	Defensive End
College	San Francisco
NFL Draft	1952 / Round 2 / Pick 14
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	10
Awards	1963 Pro Bowl MVP 1958 AP NFL MVP
Honors	NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1950s All-Decade Team
Retired #s	Baltimore Colts #89
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1952 1953-1966	Dallas Texans Baltimore Colts
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1972

Gino John Marchetti (born January 2, 1927, Smithers, West Virginia) is a former professional American football player in the National Football League. A defensive end, he played from 1952 to 1964 and 1966 for the Dallas Texans and the Baltimore Colts.

1 Pre Pro Football
2 Pro Football career
3 Restaurant
4 Awards and honors
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Pre Pro Football

Marchetti enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating Antioch High School and fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a machine gunner during World War II. Upon returning home after the war, he attended Modesto Junior College (Calif.) for a year before joining the football program at the University of San Francisco, where his team enjoyed an undefeated season in 1951. He was drafted in the second round with the 14th overall pick by the New York Yanks in 1952.

[edit] Pro Football career

During his rookie season, the Yanks became the Dallas Texans and in 1953 became the Baltimore Colts. Marchetti played 13 seasons with the Colts and helped them win NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959. During his career, he was noted for being effective against the run and a relentless pass-rusher. He fractured a leg on a key play near the end of the 1958 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants but, as a team captain, insisted on watching the rest of the historic overtime contest from the sideline with his teammates rather than seeking immediate medical attention in the locker room. The injury forced him to miss the Pro Bowl that year and ended his string of nine consecutive Pro Bowl appearances.

[edit] Restaurant

In 1959, Marchetti joined with several of his teammates, including Alan Ameche, and opened a fast food restaurant. The business grew, began to franchise, and would eventually become known as Gino's Hamburgers. It was a successful East Coast regional fast food chain and had 313 company-owned locations when they were sold to Marriott International in 1982 and became Roy Rogers restaurants.

[edit] Awards and honors

Pro Bowl Selection (1955-1965)
All-NFL Selection (1956-1964)
NFL 50th Anniversary Team (1969)
Pro Football Hall of Fame (1972)
Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (1985)
NFL 75th Anniversary Team (1994)
All-Madden All-Millennium Team (2000)
NFL All-Time Team (2000)
In 1999, he was ranked number 15 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the second-highest-ranking defensive end behind Deacon Jones.

[edit] References

Pro Football Hall of Fame Page
TSN Football's 100 Greatest Players Page
Bay Area Hall of Fame Page
Ravens Nest Baltimore Colts Page
Sundays at 2:00 With the Baltimore Colts. (ISBN 0-87033-476-X)

[edit] External links

BaltimoreColtsMania.com - The #1 Baltimore Colts site!

Preceded by Jim Brown	NFL Most Valuable Player 1958 season	Succeeded by Charlie Conerly

Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts Retired Numbers
#19 Johnny Unitas • #22 Buddy Young • #24 Lenny Moore • #70 Art Donovan • #77 Jim Parker • #82 Raymond Berry • #89 Gino Marchetti