BALTIMORE — Gino Marchetti, a Hall of Fame defensive end who helped the Baltimore Colts win consecutive NFL championships in the late 1950s, has died at age 93.
Gino Marchetti, Baltimore Colts’ end is shown at the team’s summer training camp at Western Maryland College, July 18, 1960. Associated Press
The Pro Football Hall of Fame said Marchetti passed away Monday at Paoli Hospital in Paoli, Pa.
Marchetti was named to the Pro Bowl during 11 of his 14 NFL seasons. Though undersized for the position by today’s standards – 6-foot-4, 244-pounds – Marchetti effectively tracked down quarterbacks and stuffed the run.
“I was small, but big guys never scared me,” he once said. “I was quick and agile.”
In terms of stature, Marchetti was enormous.
“They called him Gino the Giant because he was one of the biggest people in the league,” former NFL general manager Ernie Accorsi said. “He was quick, he had great athleticism and he would just throw you.”
Gino John Marchetti was born in 1926 in Smithers, West Virginia. He broke into the NFL as an offensive lineman in 1952 with the Dallas Texans, who became the Colts in 1953. After being moved to the other side of the line, Marchetti became a star.
With Marchetti charging from the left side, the Colts were NFL champions in 1958 and 1959. He broke his leg in the fourth quarter of the so-called “Greatest Game Ever Played” – the sudden-death duel between the Colts and New York Giants in 1958 – but refused to be taken into the locker room.
He watched from behind the end zone until agreeing to being taken to the locker room early in overtime, a concession to the freezing temperatures and fear that the crowd would rush onto the field at game’s end.
TITANS: Tennessee claimed linebacker Riley Bullough off waivers. Bullough had 13 tackles for Tampa Bay last season while appearing in nine games and making three starts. The Bucs waived him Monday.
COLTS: Former Chiefs running back Spencer Ware signed a one-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday.
CHIEFS: Kansas City will sign franchise career rushing leader Jamaal Charles to a one-day contract this week so he can retire with his original team
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