Former Rayen standout earned All-American honors for OSU

The eight-year NFL veteran passed away Saturday.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- A Youngstown native who made All-American at Ohio State University and went on to play in the NFL for eight years has died.
Vic Marino, a 1936 Rayen School graduate and a two-way guard for Ohio State (1937-39), died Saturday in Columbus where he made his home at the age of 87.
Marino caught a touchdown pass for the Buckeyes while playing offense in the final game of the 1939 season at Michigan on a designed play. That was when it still was legal for an interior lineman to catch a forward pass.
Marino caught the pass from halfback Don Scott, a graduate of Canton McKinley. Marino had played against Scott in 1935 in Canton when Rayen shattered the Bulldogs' long winning streak with a 7-0 win under coach Harold Lansing.
Scott was a two-time, first-team All-American at OSU in 1939 and 1940.
Big Ten champs
The Buckeyes lost that 1939 game against Michigan, 21-14, but still won the outright Big Ten Conference championship (5-1) and completed a 6-2 season under coach Francis Schmidt, the only other loss being to No. 7-ranked Cornell, 23-14.
One of the players on the Michigan team in 1939 was Tom Harmon, who made All-American in 1939 and 1940 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1940.
Ohio State posted five shutouts in 1939 over Missouri (19-0), Northwestern (13-0), Indiana (24-0), Chicago (61-0) and Illinois (21-0), while the other win was over Minnesota (23-20).
The Buckeyes outscored the opposition by 189-64.
Eight years in NFL
Marino, a three-year letterman (1937-38-39), made first-team All-American and All-Big Ten Conference in 1939, and went on to play eight years in the NFL -- four years each with the Baltimore Colts and the Chicago Bears.
He was one of three OSU players to make first-team All-American in 1939, the other two being Scott and end Esco Sarkkinen.
Another one of Marino's teammates that year was center-captain Steven Andrako, who was selected as OSU's Most Valuable Player.
"[Dad] was born in Columbus and grew up in Youngstown in the Brier Hill area," said Marino's oldest son, Mark Marino of Powell, a suburb of Columbus, noting that his father played football at Rayen and made All-State.
Most memorable moment
Mark said that his father's most memorable moment as an Ohio State player occurred in 1939 at Minnesota on the last play of the game when the Gophers, who were trailing 23-20, attempted to kick a field goal.
Mark said his father told him that the ball hit an upright on the goal post and then rolled along the horizontal crossbar for what seemed like "and eternity" before dropping backwards from the crossbar and preserving OSU's 23-20 win.
Mark recalled that his father told him "It seemed like days" about the ball rolling along the crossbar and the outcome of the game hanging in the balance until it finally dropped off in favor of the Buckeyes.
U.S. Navy
Mark said that after his father graduated from Ohio State, that he went on to serve four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. And that after his pro football career ended, he returned to Columbus.
"He was in sales for 30 years, coached a semipro football team in the Columbus area called Pope's Inn and was a Midwest singles handball champ," said Mark, noting that his father played a lot of handball.
Besides Mark, Vic Marino also left his wife, Joan (Kellin) Marino, a daughter, Teresa and two other sons, Jeffrey and Todd.
kovach@vindy.com