By John Turney
In 1965 Carroll Rosenbloom, the owner of the Colts retired Colts left defensive end Gino Marchetti's number and presented him with the jersey. In 1985 Rosenbloom's widow Georgia Frontiere did the same for longtime Ram left defensive end Jack Youngblood. Marchetti, at the request of Rosenbloom, came back in 1966 when injuries depleted the Colts defensive line. Marchetti felt he owed it to Rosenbloom after all that was done for him by Rosenbloom.
Interestingly the two players, Marchetti and Youngblood, were admirers of each other. When Youngblood came into the NFL he was given game films of the great left ends to learn from and study. Youngblood thought Marchetti was a joy to watch and took much of his style from Marchetti (and teammate Deacon Jones).
Marchetti told us years ago, “I liked Youngblood. I liked the way he rushed the passer and how created havoc in the backfield. In the games I saw, he was great."
Marchetti's coach Weeb Ewbank in the book "Football Greats" said, "The way he played in against the Minnesota Vikings in the 1976 playoffs was the closest I’ve ever seen a defensive end approximate Gino Marchetti. Ron Yary simply couldn’t stop Youngblood, always a menace to the opposing offense, an annual All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection. A guaranteed Hall of Famer.”
Marchetti and Youngblood, two cut from the same cloth in our view.
Was the 76 playoff that Youngblood dominated Yary the Mud Bowl or some other game?
ReplyDeletenot the mud bowl---the year before
DeleteHard to find a lot of NFL full broadcast from pre 77 years.
Deletehopefully YouTube will continue to make available films from the pre-superbowl era of pro football......there just isn't enough film generally available to document to the average fan just how great Gino Marchetti was.....(a favorite anecdote:...a number of years ago, I had an opportunity to speak with Dan LaRose, the old Lion tackle...I asked him who was tougher, Gino or Deacon Jones....he thought about it for a minute and said...well, Deacon came along a bit later, but when I was a rookie with the Lions, they sent me in and I found myself across from Marchetti....we got down into our stances, I look up, and his chinstrap is hanging down...."Gino" I said..."your chinstrap is unbuckled."...he growls at me, "so what? I'm still gonna whip your ass, kid." The ball was snapped, I start up, and whoosh, he's past me...I turn around and all I see is Gino's back and Plum's cleats as he burys my quarterback in the turf. Gino Marchetti was simply impossible to block."
ReplyDelete