Dan Marino

Daniel Constantine Marino, Jr., was born September 15, 1961, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Veronica and Dan Marino, Sr. Marino grew up in a blue-collar section of Pittsburgh called Oakland, along with his two younger sisters. Marino's mother worked as a school crossing guard, and his father drove the midnight delivery truck for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Marino was young when his father, a sandlot football coach, taught him to toss a football. While waiting for dinner, the father and son pitched the ball back and forth in the living room. Early on, Marino developed a quick release as his father taught him to draw the ball back swiftly and release it with a flick of the wrist and a whip of the shoulders. By the time he entered the pros, Marino could take the ball from the center and get off a pass

Dan Marino

in just 1.5 seconds, greatly decreasing the chances of getting sacked.

Besides teaching Marino basic sports fundamentals, Marino's father also taught him that hard work and determination were key to success. In his autobiography, Marino recalled that his father always told him, "'You don't deserve anything in life. You work for what you deserve.'"