The Villages Daily Sun

THE VILLAGES — Rich Erdelyi is an accomplished motivator, a sought-after speaker at coaching clinics, was offered an NFL scouting job, and is the undisputed master of the Wing-T offense, but he will always be first and foremost, Dan Marino’s high school football coach.

Erdelyi, a new Villages homeowner who has had 21 consecutive winning seasons as offensive coordinator at Carnegie Mellon, doesn’t mind. If you’re going to be forever linked to someone, it might as well be the greatest passer in NFL history.

It’s been nearly 25 years since Erdelyi stood with arms folded watching Marino and other kids who lived to pull on the pads and the Central Catholic blue-and-gold tossing rocks they pick out of the dirt into their battle-scarred helmets after each practice.

It’s been — can it be? — nearly seven years since Marino last threw a pass in a professional football game.

And yet Marino remains the No. 1 topic of conversation when people meet Erdelyi.

And not because Erdelyi advertises his link to the football legend. He doesn’t need to; Marino keeps bringing it up.

During his acceptance speech at the Aug. 7, 2005, induction into the Football Hall of Fame, which was broadcast live on ESPN, Marino said, “I also want to mention my high school coach, Rich Erdelyi’s here. Coach, you meant so much for us. I want to thank you for taking pride and dedication and teaching us the game of football. Coach Erdelyi takes all the credit for my success. To this day, he still tells the story that when I went to Central that I was throwing left-handed and he actually taught me how to throw right. Problem is, I think he believes it after all these years. Thank you, coach.”

It was a touching moment for Rich and his wife, Judy, who attended the ceremony, along with hundreds of Marino’s former teammates.

“He invited 70 or 80 kids he played with in college and his whole high school team,” said Erdelyi. “And he had two parties; one in Canton (at the Hall of Fame) with about 600 people, and one at Central Catholic for people who couldn’t get up there.”

“It was a special four days of our lives,” said Judy.

Erdelyi never tires of talking about Marino, which is good, because someone’s always asking about the kid who passed his way into the Hall of Fame and rewrote the NFL record book as quarterback of the Miami Dolphins.

“When did you realize he was special?” “What was he like in high school?” “Did he become full of himself when he became famous?”

The answers are: “In grade school. Actually, it was at a little kids camp that I held each year for 11- and 12-year-olds.” And, “He really was a special kid at a young age.” And, “No.”

Now that that’s out of the way, Erdelyi wants everyone to know what kind of man Marino is, and how Dan is unchanged by fame.

“I was home sick with the flu in mid-February (1995) when UPS delivered this big box,” recalled Erdelyi. “Inside was the game jersey that Danny wore when he set the NFL record for career touchdowns. It was framed, with a picture of him playing in that game and a letter to me. In the letter he wrote, ‘Coach, since you were the catalyst for my career I wanted to give you the shirt off my back.’ I just couldn’t believe that 15 years after he played for me that he still thought enough of me to do that.”

Marino was still thinking of Erdelyi five years later.

“Danny flew us down to Miami when the Dolphins retired his number on ESPN on a Sunday night. I said, ‘Danny, I can’t come down, we’re playing Bethany on Saturday night.’ He said, ‘I don’t care. I’ll fly you down on Sunday morning and back on Monday morning. I want you here.’”

Of course, Rich and Judy were thrilled and honored to be part of the festivities at Joe Robie Stadium.

And Marino continues to think about them, as evidenced by phone calls, e-mails and cards the Erdelyis regularly receive. And that may be the greatest honor of all.

Gary Corsair is a senior writer with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 7907 or gary.corsair@thevillagesmedia.com.