Joe Bellino
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No. 27 | |||||||||||
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Position: | Halfback | ||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||
Born: | Winchester, Massachusetts, U.S. | March 13, 1938||||||||||
Died: | March 27, 2019 Lincoln, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 81)||||||||||
Height: | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||
Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||
High school: | Winchester | ||||||||||
College: | Navy (1958–1960) | ||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1961 / Round: 17 / Pick: 227 | ||||||||||
AFL draft: | 1961 / Round: 19 / Pick: 146 | ||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
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Career AFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||||
Joseph Michael Bellino (March 13, 1938 – March 27, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots. He played college football for the Navy Midshipmen, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1960.[1] He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
Early life
Bellino was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, attended the town's public schools, and was a three-sport star at Winchester High School. In baseball he batted well over .400 and was courted by major league teams. He was offered a contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates after high school.[2]
The basketball team on which he starred won the state championship his sophomore and junior years. They moved up to the Class A (largest schools) tournament his senior year, where the team's 55-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of much larger B.M.C. Durfee High School of Fall River.
He was a dominant
College career
During his 1956–57 year at Columbian Prep in
In the fall of 1957, Bellino entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, along with his former high-school teammate, Frank Dattilo. During his freshman year, the Plebes matched up against the Penn State freshmen. Penn State won the game 23–13, but Bellino took a lateral from his Columbian teammate Harry Dietz and scored on an 85-yard kickoff return.
He was an outstanding baseball player at Navy, but his legendary exploits occurred on the football field. In his senior year, he rushed for 834 yards, caught 15 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns, threw two touchdown passes, averaged 47.1 yards as a punter, and returned kicks and punts. He won the 1960
Following graduation, Ensign Bellino began his four years of active Navy service, until he was discharged to reserve duty.
Professional career
Bellino was selected in 17th round of the
Bellino also played for the Providence Steamrollers semi-pro team in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bellino is the only past Heisman Trophy winning running back to have played for the Patriots. He caught a 15-yard pass from past Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte in the Patriots 38–14 rout of the Houston Oilers on December 11, 1966. Bellino caught a deflected pass on his back that allowed the Patriots to continue a drive that resulted in a touchdown in their 14–3 win over the Buffalo Bills in "The Game" at Fenway Park on December 4, 1966.
He had the Patriots longest kickoff return in 1966 and caught a 25-yard TD pass in the Patriots 20–10 win over the Buffalo Bills at
Bellino was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1968 AFL expansion draft.[4]
After football
Bellino served a total of 28 years in the
After the close of his playing career, he was a successful businessman in the Boston area, where he was also active in charitable organizations. He and his wife, Ann Tansey, had two children, Therese and John, and lived in Bedford, Massachusetts.[1]
In 1976 Bellino also coached Saint Columbkille, a small Catholic school. In 1991, he was the first inductee into his high school's Winchester Sports Foundation Hall of Fame.[5] Bellino Park in Winchester was dedicated in his honor in November 2004.
Bellino died on March 27, 2019, at the age of 81.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Winners". Archived from the original on November 8, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Joe Bellino Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. January 1, 1970. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Winchester Sports Foundation Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (April 3, 2019). "Joe Bellino, 81, Navy Star and Heisman Trophy Winner, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
External links
- Joe Bellino at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Joe Bellino at Heisman.com
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference