Gino Marchetti, whose path to the Pro Football Hall of Fame started in the Bay Area, died Tuesday at the age of 92 surrounded by members of his family.
West Virginia-born, Marchetti moved to Antioch at the age of 3 when his father took a job as a steelworker. The father later opened a restaurant.
Marchetti went from high school into the Army during World War II, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and then tended bar and played football for a couple of years before attracting the attention of a USF assistant coach, who recommended him to head coach Joe Kuharich.
Persuaded to come to the Hilltop campus for an inspection, Marchetti donned a leather jacket, hopped on his motorcycle and reported to Kuharich, who took one look at him and screamed, “Get that guy out of here!” Kuharich reconsidered, and Marchetti became one of the keys, along with players like Ollie Matson, Bob St. Clair and Burl Toler, in USF’s unbeaten season in 1951.
At 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, Marchetti, became one of the greatest defensive ends inhistory. Mixing finesse and force, he was known as a fearsome pass rusher. He made All-Pro in seven of his 13 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, and was selected for a then-record 11 straight Pro Bowls. In 1969, he was named the best player at his position in the NFL’s first 50 years, and he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with Matson, in 1972.
“It”s a hell of an honor,” Marchhetti said at his induction. “Sometimes guys get into the Hall of Fame when they’re too old to enjoy it.” Marchetti also made himself a millionaire off the field, thanks in large part to Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom.
“He wanted us to be more than jocks,” Marchetti once recalled.
Marchetti said that in 1958, Rosenbloom “called me into his office...
