Some remember him best for his record-setting career as a college football running back. Others recall him as a member of the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970s. If you watched Hill Street Blues, you know him as Officer Joe Coffey. Maybe you remember him from dozens of other films and TV shows over the last 40+ years. For most of his 71 years, Ed Marinaro has been busy.
Born in New York City and later a high school football and basketball standout for the Knights of New Milford High School in New Milford, New Jersey, Marinaro took his talents to Cornell University where he became one of the greatest college football players of the 20th century.
A durable and dependable running back, he set nearly 20 NCAA records and became the first running back in NCAA history to rush for over 4,000 career yards–in only three seasons. He led the nation in rushing in 1971 and finished as the Heisman Trophy runner up. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991 and in January of 2020 he was named by ESPN is one of the “150 greatest players in college football’s 150 year history” ranking 126th on the prestigious list.
Marinaro played six seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks, appearing in Super Bowl VIII and IX with the Vikings. His promising football career was cut short due to multiple injuries.
That was just the beginning of his story, though. The handsome Ivy League graduate became a successful actor and appeared in countless television series, most notably his stint on the smash hit Hill Street Blues from 1981 to 1986. More recently, he played head football coach Marty Daniels for three seasons on Spike TV’s comedy Blue Mountain State.
I chatted with him recently about collecting New York Yankees baseball cards as a kid, his impressive memorabilia collection and eventually rubbing elbows with some of his biggest childhood heroes.
