Dan Marino

Daniel Constantine Marino, Jr., or Dan Marino, is a former professional football quarterback who played his entire career with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He is generally regarded as one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history, holding or having held almost every major NFL passing record.

Although, Marino never achieved a Super Bowl victory, he perennially drove the Dolphins into the playoffs. He was noted for his incredibly strong throwing arm and recorded the Most Passing Yards in a Season, with 5,084 in 1984.

Marino was not the most mobile quarterback and although he had an ability to slide inside the pocket, his emphasis for deep passing games led to many hits. He had surgery on his left knee several times throughout his career, besides other injuries that also required medical procedures. After the 1999 season, Marino decided to retire. He turned down offers from several teams because he wasn't sure that his legs could take another season.

The next season, in 2000, his jersey number was retired by the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Dolphins Honor Roll that same day. A life-size bronze statue of Marino was commissioned at the Dolphin Stadium and the Stadium Street was renamed to Dan Marino Boulevard.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 7, 2005. During the ceremony, Marino threw a ceremonial "one last pass to a teammate", a former Miami Dolphin Mark Clayton, who was sitting in the audience.

Born in Pennsylvania, of Italian ancestry. He attended St. Regis Catholic Elementary School before going to Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where he also started in baseball, and won Parade All-American honors in football. As a high school baseball player, Marino hit high school highs by throwing up to 95mph. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals baseball team in the 1979 amateur draft, but decided to play college football instead.

College Career

Marino played college football at the University of Pittsburgh from the 1979 to the 1982 season. As a freshman in 1979, Marino led the Panthers in a 24-17 triumph over West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl with 252 yards and a field goal. Marino threw for 256 yards and also rushed for 40 yards. He led the Panthers to a last-minute triumph over the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1982 Sugar Bowl by throwing the game-winning pass to tight end John Brown with less than a minute remaining, a play that is considered among the greatest in Pittsburgh sports history. The next season (his senior year) was considered a disappointment with regard to the preseason Heisman Trophy and national championship hype. His team lost the 1983 Cotton Bowl 7-3 to Southern Methodist and their "Pony Express" of Eric Dickerson and Craig James. Although he lost the Heisman Race, Marino's Panthers triumphed once again over rival West Virginia with a late touchdown drive to win 16-13 in one of the best games in the rivalry.

Marino's selection status in the 1983 NFL Draft plummeted after a subpar senior season at Pitt, and observations that knee injuries were hampering his mobility. Five other quarterbacks, including Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and John Elway and less successful players Ken O'Brien, Tony Eason and Todd Blackledge, were drafted ahead of him.


Professional Career

On Jan. 4, 1983, the Los Angeles Express made Marino the first draft pick in the history of the United States Football League; Marino might have signed with them had the money been right.

His hometown Pittsburgh Steelers were also rumored to be drafting him as a replacement for an aging Terry Bradshaw, but the team drafted defensive tackle Gabriel Rivera instead, feeling at the time that either Cliff Stoudt or Mark Malone (both already on the roster, with Stoudt eventually named the starter for the 1983 season) would effectively replace Bradshaw.

The defending AFC Champions Miami Dolphins chose Marino with the 27th pick in the NFL draft. After starting the season as a backup to incumbent starter David Woodley and seeing action twice off the bench to relieve an ineffective Woodley, Marino was given his first NFL start in Week 6 versus the Buffalo Bills at the Orange Bowl. Marino and Miami lost that game 38-35 in OT. He posted a 96.0 passer rating- a rookie record until it was broken by Ben Roethlisberger's 98.1. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in his rookie year and became the first rookie QB to start in a Pro Bowl game. However, Marino's first NFL season ended in disappointment, as the Dolphins were upset by the Seattle Seahawks 27-20 in a rain-soaked game full of Miami turnovers. Marino looked shaky in that game, mostly due to a sprained knee he had suffered three weeks prior versus the Houston Oilers, an injury that caused him to miss the last two regular season games. Those two games would be the last non-strike games he would miss until he tore his Achilles tendon in 1993, a streak of 145 consecutive non-strike games.

The following year, Marino would have one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. In a year where Marino was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, he would break six NFL season passing records including the records for most TD passes (48) in a season (since broken by Peyton Manning in 2004 with 49 and Tom Brady in 2007 with 50) and most passing yards (5,084) in a season. Miami's passing attack would propel the Dolphins to a 14-2 regular season record and secure them home field advantage in the playoffs, where they avenged their playoff loss the previous season to Seattle 31-10 and defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC title game 45-28.

In Super Bowl XIX Marino and the Dolphins met Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers in a battle of Western Pennsylvania-bred quarterbacks. (The area is known as the "Cradle of Quarterbacks", and many quarterbacks from the region have gone on to success in the NFL). The Dolphins, who had 74 rush attempts in the previous two weeks, called only 8 hand-offs, placing their chances squarely on Marino. He finished the game with 29 out of 50 pass completions for 318 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. The 38-16 loss ended up being Marino's only Super Bowl appearance.

After the Super Bowl loss, Marino's Dolphins went 12-4. On December 2, 1985 Marino completed 14 of 27 passes for 270 yards and three touchdown passes and triumphed 38-24 over the 12-0 Chicago Bears (thus ensuring that the 1972 Miami Dolphins would remain the only team to go undefeated in a season) in the highest rated Monday Night Football telecast in history. He also brought the Dolphins back to the AFC Championship game the following year, losing in Miami to New England in another game in which wet conditions made the Dolphins turnover prone. New England intercepted Marino twice and recovered four fumbles en route to a 31-14 win over the Dolphins, their first win in the Miami Orange Bowl since 1966.

With Marino at the helm, the Dolphins were perennial playoff contenders, reaching the post-season in 10 of Marino's 17 seasons. In 1992 he made his final appearance in an AFC Championship Game, losing to arch-rival Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills, 29-10. Kelly's Bills knocked Marino out of the playoffs three times between 1990 and 1995.

The following year, 1993, Miami was strongly favored at the start of the year to make it back to the AFC championship game and possibly the Super Bowl. However, disaster struck Marino and the Dolphins in Cleveland. After throwing a swing pass, Marino, who was untouched on the play, crumpled to the ground in pain with a torn Achilles tendon and was out for the season. Marino would say later "I felt like I'd been shot". Complicating matters was that in Marino's absence, backup quarterback Scott Mitchell had an impressive series of starts before suffering an injury of his own. As a result, for the first time in a decade, Miami had a quarterback controversy in the media and amongst fans: keep the younger Mitchell (who was a free agent after the season) or the proven veteran Marino, who it was feared wouldn't be the same after the injury.

In the end, Miami, after losing the last five games of the season and missing the playoffs , decided to cast their lot with Marino. Mitchell signed a free-agent contract with the Detroit Lions and as insurance, Miami signed Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar. Wearing a special shoe and with a right calf that was visibly atrophied, Marino was once again the starting QB at the start of the 1994 season.

In 1994, a season where Marino's viability was very much a question mark from the outset, two of his signature games took place. The first was the opener, a home game versus the New England Patriots and their upstart quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who drew more than a few comparisons to a young Marino. It had rained heavily that day, and the baseball infield used by the Florida Marlins was muddy as a result. Despite the conditions, the two quarterbacks put up a combined 894 yards and nine touchdowns through the air, with Miami winning a 39-35 shootout. The other was the comeback win on the road against the New York Jets, a game famous for Marino's execution of a fake spike for the winning touchdown pass, a stunt known simply as "The Clock Play". Miami went 10-6 that year, winning the division and defeating the Montana-led Kansas City Chiefs at home before losing a heart breaker at the San Diego Chargers 22-21 the following week after leading 21-6 at halftime. That season, Marino passed for 4435 yards and was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year.

Marino went no further than the divisional round of the playoffs through the remainder of his career. Longtime coach Don Shula resigned after the 1995 season. He was replaced by Jimmy Johnson, whose ball-control philosophy had worked to the tune of two championships with the Dallas Cowboys and who guaranteed a Super Bowl win in Miami. Johnson attempted to emphasize Miami's ground game, but in his four seasons as coach of the Dolphins he never found a running back, despite trying several players at the position.

Now more injury prone and less consistent than he had been at the peak of his abilities, Marino's decline became evident at a Thanksgiving game in 1999 versus the Cowboys. In his first game back after missing a month due to injury, Marino threw five interceptions in the Dolphins 20-0 loss. The Dolphins then proceeded to back into the playoffs by losing four out of their next five games to finish the season at 9-7.

Marino's final win was his first playoff road win and his 36th comeback win, as the Dolphins defeated the Seattle Seahawks 20-17 in January 2000 in the final football game ever in the Kingdome. In the next round, also on the road, Marino and the Dolphins were demolished 62--7 by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Marino was replaced by backup Damon Huard in the second half, an ignominious end to a spectacular career. However, he did leave the game on a high note, leading the Dolphins on an 80-yard scoring drive and throwing a 20-yard touchdown pass to receiver Oronde Gadsden with 20 seconds left in the half.

The Jacksonville loss thus put Marino's playoff record at a mediocre 8-10.

Before the 2000 season, Marino decided to retire, after declining offers from Minnesota, Tampa Bay and his hometown of Pittsburgh when the Dolphins declined his option on his contract. When asked at his retirement press conference why he decided to retire, he responded:

"That is a good question. Boy, I really struggled with this. This has been the toughest month of my life as far as dealing with playing football or retiring. After the season, I pretty much thought that I was not going to play anymore and I felt that way for a while and I think it was because of the physical aspects of the game. It kept coming back to how my legs felt during last season, going through the neck injury; not knowing whether I was going to be able to throw the football, and family reasons also, but Claire and the kids, they were great. They wanted me to play, be honest with you. Really, it was my decision, a family decision and a health decision."

Marino later admitted that he seriously considered the offer from the Vikings, but that he turned it down not because of his arm, but because he wasn't sure that his legs could take another season. He also appreciated the fact that unlike many of his contemporaries, he got to play his entire career with one team.

During Marino's professional career (1983-1999) in Miami, he was one of the most skilled and revered quarterbacks in the game. Marino's release was incredibly quick, one of his most important weapons. Also, despite the fact that he was not known for his scrambling ability (he averaged less than 1 yard per carry on his 301 career rushing attempts), Marino possessed an uncanny awareness in the pocket, often sliding a step or two to avoid the pass rush. He has the most fourth quarter comebacks (36) in the history of the NFL, and the third most wins by a starting quarterback (147). John Elway and Brett Favre are ahead in overall wins.

The last game that Marino had won was a Wild-Card Game against the Seattle Seahawks in the Kingdome in 2000.

Marino was selected to play in nine Pro Bowls (1983-87, 1991-92, 1994-95), seven times as a starter, but due to injuries he only played in two of the games (1984, 1992). (Marino usually had knee surgery following every season.) He was named first- or second-team All-Pro eight times and earned All-AFC honors six times.

In 1999, Marino was ranked number 27 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, making him the highest-ranking Dolphins player.

Dan Marino #13
Quarterback

Holds the Single Season Passing Record for Most Yards :  5,084
Most Games, 300 or more Yards Passing, Career : 63

Dan Marino Foundation

The Dan Marino Foundation, was established in 1992 by Marino and his wife, Claire, after their son, Michael, was diagnosed with autism. The foundation has distributed over $22 million to research, services and treatment programs serving children with neurodevelopment disabilities. The Dan Marino Center, which opened in 1995 along with the Miami Children's Hospital, is an integrated neurodevelopmental center specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children at risk for developmental and psychological problems. The center saw more than 48,000 children last year alone.

Marino has teamed with other celebrities to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorders, including fellow NFL great Doug Flutie, whose son also has an autism diagnosis.

On November 7, 2005, the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat honored Marino's charitable works and recognized his service to South Florida with a halftime tribute, including a large donation to the Marino Foundation. Though a Heat jersey with his name and #13 was unveiled, this did not constitute retirement of his number by the Heat.