USC great Marlin McKeever dies

[shanti]

update: marlin died on 10/27/06. my sister knew him, and said he was a great guy. i remember him when he played with the rams in the mid-60's. what's spooky is how he and his twin brother died of the same thing...40 years apart :(

RIP marlin.

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4558068

USC great Marlin McKeever in coma
Belmont Heights resident undergoes brain surgery; family, Pete Carroll at his side.
By Doug Krikorian, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Launched:10/26/2006 10:31:44 PM PDT
More Krikorian on McKeever
Marlin McKeever, 66, a legendary USC football player who played 13 seasons in the NFL, was in a comatose state and on life support Thursday after suffering severe brain trauma from a fall at his Belmont Heights home Tuesday night.

The long-time Long Beach resident seemed well immediately after the fall and as late as Wednesday morning, but he was found unconscious later in the day by his wife, Judy Cannavo, and rushed to St. Mary Medical Center, where he underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot that evening.

There is speculation among family members that the cause of the fall might have been a stroke, but nothing has been confirmed.

USC football coach Pete Carroll, who has become a close friend of McKeever, rushed to St. Mary to be by McKeever's side Thursday morning and was joined by former Trojan football stars John Papadakis and Sam Cunningham, as were members of McKeever's family, including two sons and two daughters from a previous marriage.

McKeever's twin brother Mike died from the effects of a head injury suffered in a 1965 automobile accident, although he remained in a coma for two years after the accident.

The McKeever twins became nationally famous at Mt. Carmel High after being featured in such publications as the Saturday Evening Post, Look Magazine and Sports Illustrated for their gridiron heroics at the small Jesuit school in South Central Los Angeles that no longer is in existence.

They both were two-time All Americans during their three seasons at USC between 1958 and 1960.

A first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Rams, Marlin McKeever had two tours with the Rams - 1961-66 and 1971-72 - and also performed for the Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles.

He retired after the 1973 season with the Eagles, worked for a time as a stock broker and in recent years has been in the insurance business for Andreini & Co. in Newport Beach.

But he has always maintained close ties with USC, attending every home game and many on the road. He also has been in charge of the Trojan Football Alumni Club.

Those with USC football links were saddened by McKeever's condition.

"It's a tragic situation for everyone ... we're all in shock," said Carroll. "Marlin is an extraordinary guy, so well known and loved around here. He has been an awesome supporter of our program, and a great reminder of the past. He has been a great friend. He and Marv Goux were my connections to the past. They were the guys who taught me what USC was all about."

"A greater Trojan there never has been," said USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett. "The McKeevers will live forever in Trojan lore. I'll never forget watching Marlin and Mike play against Pittsburgh at the Coliseum when the Trojans were recruiting me when I was a senior at Roosevelt High in L.A. I couldn't believe how good they were."

"Marlin and Mike were the two most dominant football players I've ever seen in college football, right up to the present time," said Ron Mix, a USC teammate of McKeever's and NFL Hall of Fame offensive tackle who played with the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. "Both were physically gifted and both had a great work ethic. They started lifting weights at a time when USC - and none of the other schools - had lifting programs.

"I lifted weights with them, and we became so much stronger than the guys we faced on the field. I was so flattered a few years back when Marlin asked me to be the presenter for him when he was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame. I don't know why he chose me, but I was honored. I think we formed a close bond because the three of us were the only ones to lift weights on the Trojan team."

"Marlin McKeever was as tough as nails on a football field," said Willie Wood, the Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers safety who played on five NFL championship teams and played two seasons with McKeever at USC. "What I remember most about Marlin and his brother Mike was how they were always ready to play. I think the way they prepared for a game helped me to become a good NFL player. I always made sure I was ready to play, and Vince Lombardi liked that in me."

Poly High graduate Willie Brown, who became a star Trojan running back in the early 1960s, didn't play with McKeever at USC, but he did become a friend over the years.

"Before every USC home game, Marlin and I always sit on the Trojan bench before the game and just gab it up," related Brown, now an academic monitor for student-athletes at USC. "We have gone to so many functions together, and we talk to each other every week.

"I remember as a young football player when I first came to USC, I was in awe of the McKeevers. I was a freshman - we weren't allowed to play on the varsity in those days - and I'd be at practices with the McKeevers and they already were legends. I was actually a teammate of Marlin when I was a rookie with the Rams in 1964. He's just a great guy."

"As ferocious as Marlin McKeever was on the football field, he is just as gracious off it," said Papadakis. "The McKeevers represented what USC is all about. These guys played their football in South Central L.A., and continued to play it there when they went to USC."

"No doubt Marlin's one of USC's all-time greats," said Jim Hardy, who quarterbacked the Trojans to two Rose Bowl victories in the 1940s. "A tremendous competitor. You could put Marlin anywhere - fullback, tight end, defensive end, linebacker - and he could play it. A very tough guy."

McKeever was such a tough guy that, apparently, he told his wife that he felt fine Wednesday morning, and Cannavo, an attorney, went to work figuring everything was all right.

But attempts to reach her husband on the phone later proved futile, and she rushed home to find him unconscious.

"You have to understand Marlin McKeever wasn't born, he was chiseled," said Papadakis. "He's like the rocks in the walls of Troy, that was his nature. So when he told his wife he was all right, he was fine, that's what she thought.

"Marlin and Mike were my heroes growing up. I wanted to be like them. No tougher guys ever attended USC. And I think it's a privilege for me to have been Marlin's friend all these years."