General | 4/30/2019 11:33:00 AM

SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco athletics department mourns the loss of USF Hall of Famer and Legend of the Hilltop, Gino Marchetti.  The local product was a member of the celebrated "undefeated, untied and uninvited" 51 Dons football team.  Marchetti passed away this morning at the age of 93 surrounded by his wife Joan and other family members.
 
The son of Italian immigrants Ernesto and Maria, Marchetti was born in Smithers, West Virginia but grew up in the Bay Area attending Antioch High School.  After graduating, Marchetti enlisted in the Army and fought in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge as a machine gunner.  Upon returning, he attended Modesto Junior College before enrolling at USF where he was a three-time letter winner for the Dons from 1949-51.
 
The 6-4, 240 pound defensive tackle was a sack master before it became an official statistic.  Marchetti anchored a stalwart defense that included future NFL players Burl Toler, and Bob St. Clair among other legendary players. The All-Coast lineman was a defensive captain and one of the leaders of the team who steadfastly refused the bowl invitation from the Orange bowl when the team was told they would have to play without their teammates Toler and Ollie Matson.
 
Upon graduating from USF, Marchetti was drafted by the New York Yanks in the 1952 NFL Draft, selected in the second round, 14^th overall. The Yanks became the Dallas Texans where he began a Hall of Fame career that spanned 14 years, most of which came as a member of the Baltimore Colts (1953-66). The 11-time Pro Bowler and nine-time First Team All-Pro honoree was selected to the NFL's 75^th Anniversary All-Time Team and was named to the NFL's 1950s All-Decade Team.
 
The two-time NFL champion was a relentless interior pass rush specialist. He was voted "the greatest defensive end in pro football" history by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972. 
 
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 the running back 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.
 
Marchetti's stellar play led to his being called by Sid Gillman, the Los Angeles Rams head coach, "(T)he 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."
 
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.