The Story And Significance Of Gino Marchetti - Pro Bowl Or All-Pro For Eleven Consecutive Seasons At Defensive End

Gino John Marchetti was an American professional football player who was a defensive end and offensive tackle in the National Football League. He played in 1952 for the Dallas Texans and from 1953 to 1966 for the Baltimore Colts.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972. In 1969, Marchetti was named to the National Football League 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 1994, Marchetti was named to the National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 2019, he was unanimously named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

During his rookie season, the Yanks became the Dallas Texans, which became the Baltimore Colts in 1953. 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 was voted "the greatest defensive end in pro football history" by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

He moved to left offensive tackle in 1954, a position Marchetti hated, but admitted that it taught him how to beat a blocker. He returned to defensive end in 1955 and made his first Pro Bowl.

He made a big play in the 1958 NFL Championship Game when he prevented the New York Giants from gaining a first down by tackling Frank Gifford just a yard before the first down mark. He fractured his ankle on that same play 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. Marchetti was First-team All-Pro nine times and a Second-team selection once.

Marchetti's stellar play led to his being called by Sid Gillman, the Los Angeles Rams head coach, "The greatest player in football. It's a waste of time to run around this guy's end. It's a lost play. You don't bother to try it."

His Hall of Fame teammate Art Donovan had this to say about him: "For his first couple of years with the Colts, Gino Marchetti was our enforcer. Gino was a tough kid from the ghetto.... An Antioch recruiter had spotted the big hulk at the racetrack one day and brought him along to the head coach. He immediately became a star. He could also kick some ass, and that particular talent gained him quite a reputation as not only perhaps the greatest defensive end to ever play the game, but also as a dirty, cheap-shot artist. Then one day Gino was born again, so to speak. He had just brought down Detroit's marvelous halfback Doak Walker, and he couldn't resist digging the heel of his hand into Walker's schnozz as he was getting up off the ground. But instead of starting a fight or yelling anything, Walker just looked at him. Didn't say a word, just stared at Gino. Gino felt like a piece of shit. 'I could see it in his eyes,' he said later. 'A big guy like me, with probably eighty pounds and six inches on Walker, having to resort to a mean, lowdown trick like that. That look of disgust reformed me. I'm no longer the hatchet man around here.' Which, of course, did not mean that Gino stopped getting his licks in. Everyone gets their licks in playing football."

He was enshrined in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1985. Also a member of Modesto Junior College Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 1990. He is also a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.

Forrest Gregg in an interview: "You ask who was the best ... just my opinion, Marchetti was the best all-around player I ever played against. Great pass rusher. Great against the run. And he never let you rest."

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 Mid-Atlantic regional fast-food chain and had 313 company-owned locations when they were sold in 1982 to Marriott International, which abandoned the name in favor of their Roy Rogers restaurants.

In 2009, Marchetti teamed with other former key Gino's employees to resurrect the Gino's name. Hiring commenced in September 2010 to staff their first new restaurant in the company's old hometown of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and Gino's Burgers & Chicken, as the company is now known, opened its first store on October 25, 2010. This restaurant has since closed. As of April 9, 2021, the chain operates restaurants in Glen Burnie, Maryland and Towson, Maryland.

Marchetti died of complications of pneumonia at Paoli Hospital in Paoli, Pennsylvania on April 29, 2019.

Sources

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/

https://www.profootballarchives.com/index.html

https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/Football_Wiki

https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=main

https://www.profootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/

 "Hall of Fame DE Gino Marchetti dies at 93". ESPN.com. ESPN News Services. April 30, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 Wolff, Alexander (July 4, 2016). "Gino Marchetti". Sports Illustrated. 125 (1).

 Lavietes, Stuart (April 30, 2019). "Gino Marchetti, Baltimore Colts Defensive Star, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2024.

 Callahan, Tom (2006). Johnny U, The Life & Times of Johnny Unitas (First ed.). Crown Publishers. pp. 122–131. ISBN 978-1-4000-8139-4.

 Steadman, John (February 13, 2000). "`Alien' thoughts never entered Marchetti's mind". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 11, 2024.

 "Where are they now: Gino Marchetti". Yahoo Sports. April 15, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2024.

 Marchetti, Gino (November 11, 2009). "My Army experience was life-altering". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 "Gino Marchetti". Antioch Sports Legends Hall of Fame, Inc. Retrieved October 11, 2024.

 Jacobs, Martin (Summer 2019). ""Gino the Giant" A Relentless Defensive End". Gridiron Greats.

 Fimrite, Ron (November 20, 1990). "BEST TEAM YOU NEVER HEARD OF The '51 USF Dons were unbeaten -- and unsung". Sports Illustrated. 73 (20).

 "Burl Toler, an NFL Officiating Pioneer | NFL Football Operations". operations.nfl.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "1951 USF Dons: The team that stood tall". NFL.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "Gino Marchetti | Pro Football Hall of Fame". pfhof. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "Hall of Fame Inductees". East-West Shrine Bowl. Shriners Hospitals for Children. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 "Gino Marchetti". Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 "Gino Marchetti: From The Battle Of The Bulge To The 'Greatest Game Ever Played'". www.wbur.org. July 22, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 Bowden, Mark (2008). The Best Game Ever. Triumph Books. pp. 175–177, 180. ISBN 0-87113-988-X.

 Lombardi, David. "NFL 100: At No. 34, Gino Marchetti's larger-than-life legacy remains an inspiration to many". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 Sahadi, Lou (2004). Johnny Unitas, America's Quarterback. Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-610-7.

 "TSN Presents - Football's 100 Greatest Players". The Sporting News. 1999. Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 Donovan, Arthur (1987). Fatso: Football When Men Were Really Men. W. Morrow. p. 165. ISBN 0-688-07340-9.

 "NFL 100". NFL.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "1958 Baltimore Colts Roster & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 Bowden, Mark (2008). The Best Game Ever. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 121. ISBN 0-87113-988-X.

 "Gino Marchetti". Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 "Modesto Junior College". Modesto Junior College. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "NIASHF Inductees". National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 "The top 100". Football Digest. 28 (9). June 1999.

 Kraus, Jared (Spring 2016). "In the Huddle with Forrest Gregg, The Answer". Gridiron Greats: 17–19.

 Johnson, Jim (August 8, 2021). "Baltimore's Football Ring of Honor". Baltimore Sports and Life. Retrieved October 9, 2024.

 Zimmerman, Paul (December 20, 1993). "DON SHULA SI salutes the most successful NFL coach in history, a man whose mastery of the game spans four decades". Sports Illustrated. 79 (25).

 Aurand Jr., Harold (2002). "Football and Fast Food: The Gino's Story, The Coffin Corner, Vol. 24 No. 2" (PDF). profootballresearchers.org.

 "Gino's Burgers & Chicken". GinosGiant.com. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 Klingaman, Mike (April 30, 2019). "Gino Marchetti, Baltimore Colts legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer, dies at 93". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 9, 2021.

 Klingaman, Mike (November 28, 2003). "Old hand provides lift to his fallen grandson". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 18, 2021.

 "Unitas QBs NFL Team". Tampa Tribune. September 7, 1969. p. 34.

 "The Athletic's 100 Greatest Players of All-Time (2021)". futurefootballlegends.com. Retrieved November 20, 2024.

 "Cleanup in Gino Marchetti Park Area | Antioch Herald". antiochherald.com. December 30, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2024.