Hall of fame defensive end Gino Marchetti has died at 93, his wife Joan told the Baltimore Sun.
“I kissed him and he knew me and smiled,” Joan Marchetti told the paper. “That was Gino’s way of saying goodbye.”
She told the newspaper that her husband died of pneumonia.
Gino Marchetti played 13 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, winning two championships (1958-59). He played his first season in the NFL with the Dallas Texans in 1952, who drafted him with the 14th-overall pick out of San Francisco.
Colts owner Jim Irsay paid tribute to Marchetti on Twitter:
Rest in peace, Gino Marchetti. The son of immigrants—and a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge against the Nazis—Marchetti was one of the greatest to play the game, Gino was a player who helped turn the nation’s attention toward the “new sport” on television.
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) April 30, 2019
Marchetti was an 11-time Pro Bowler and seven-time first team All-Pro.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.
Though undersized for the position of defensive end by today’s standards — 6-foot-4, 244-pounds — Marchetti effectively tracked down quarterbacks and stuffed the run.
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 to the locker room. He watched from the sideline until Baltimore secured the victory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.