Football and TV star Ed Marinaro faces fellow islanders at DI Speaker Series

“This is freaking me out.”
For someone who has had starring roles on both the football field and the small screen, this seemed an odd way to open. But then, facing the roomful of guests and neighbors at the Daniel Island Club ballroom on April 15, Ed Marinaro expounded.
“Looking out here and seeing so many people that I know, so many people that I recognize – some of which I even like…” the Daniel Island Community Speakers Series headliner chuckled. “Typically, I’ll speak to a group and it’s just a faceless mass and I never have to see these people again. This makes me a little bit nervous, because I can’t be making stuff up.”
Truth is, he doesn’t need to. The real story is cool enough.
“Looking back on my life, I’d like to take more credit for the things I’ve done, the successes I’ve had. But I look at these moments in my life, these defining moments, and I don’t know what you’d call them… luck?”
Marinaro grew up in New Jersey, one of three kids. His dad was in the commercial sign painting business, but young Marinaro preferred playing apprentice to his deli-owner uncles. However, it turns out that a vague dream of slinging hoagies until the MLB came calling was not to be; a shoulder injury sidelined his baseball track, so he redirected his energy to football. It was a seemingly insignificant switch that would, in fact, alter the entire trajectory of his life.
“One thing I do take credit for is being prepared, being disciplined. I knew I had to work hard.”
Marinaro played at Cornell University, and perhaps to the surprise of no one but himself, set an NCAA season record of 1,881 yards rushing, became the first college player to gain over 4,000 career yards, was named a three-time All-American, and was a finalist for the 1971 Heisman Trophy. He studied Hotel and Restaurant Management, but of course found himself pursuing very different vocations.
“We didn’t have heaters on the sidelines (in Minnesota). It was 35 below zero. The first game I played in that kind of weather, I had no idea what it would be like. I’d never been in weather that cold. It was bad if you were playing; it was worse if you weren’t playing... Back then, football was so unglamorous.”
After graduating from Cornell, Marinaro was drafted as a running back for the Minnesota Vikings. He played for the Vikings for four seasons, helping them make two trips to the Super Bowl. He was then traded to the New York Jets where, incidentally, he made great dish-worthy memories with teammate Joe Namath, from a record launch party for Joan Baez to the re-opening of Tavern on the Green. A year later, Marinaro was traded to the Seattle Seahawks, where an injury encouraged him into retirement in his first season with the team.
“In my fourth year with the Vikings, I made just under $26,000. My apartment was $185 a month. My only extravagance was, I bought myself a purple Porsche. So I get this contract from ABC that says, should I get this role, I would do 22 episodes at $10,000 an episode. I’m no math major, but I said ‘this is something that I should pursue.’”
During an off-season trip to Los Angeles, Marinaro was introduced to an agent that later invited him to do a screen test for The Six Million Dollar Man. The role did not pan out, as Lee Majors resolved a contract dispute and returned to the show, but the running back found himself unexpectedly smitten with acting and television production.
He returned to Hollywood upon leaving the NFL, and attended acting school and numerous workshops. After landing a few commercial spots and small movie roles, Marinaro found himself the newest cast member of Laverne and Shirley. For 13 episodes he played Sonny St. Jacques, heartthrob of a west coast-relocated Laverne. Acting in front of a live studio audience was thrilling, but the call that came next positioned him to be part of something groundbreaking.
“I can’t help but think about how, had I not made eye contact with (Hill Street Blues casting director) Geri Windsor, if I had been two minutes later walking into that room, she never would have seen me, we never would have made that connection. And I would have done that exotic dancer movie instead…”
Hill Street Blues was still an infant series when Marinaro was invited to make guest appearances in the last four episodes of that first season. He accepted the role, and just before filming what was to be his last episode, Marinaro noticed there were two versions of the script – one where his character dies and one where he doesn’t.
Both were filmed, and the producer half-joked, “Ed, I just want you to know, your character is in the hands of your agent right now.”
His portrayal of Officer Joe Coffey was so compelling and popular with viewers, however, that the role was written into the script for the show’s hard-won renewal. He played the tough-cop-with-a-soft-spot for six full seasons, and today is conspicuously grateful for the time spent on such a critically-acclaimed and outstandingly-cast show.
“To be at this stage of my life and be ‘current’ – that’s kind of cool. When I talk about things I did 40 years ago, I start to feel like I’m reading my own obituary.”
The actor stayed in California, appearing in Falcon Crest and Dynasty, winning a role in a highly-coveted but ill-fated DreamWorks SKG comedy Champs, and finally landing the part of the short-fused Coach Marty Daniels on the Spike TV college football comedy Blue Mountain State for the show’s 2010-2011 three-season run.
But after 35 years working in Hollywood and living in the hills of Los Angeles, Marinaro and his wife, Tracy York (of Abs of Steel fame), reconsidered the environment in which they wanted their son, Eddie, to spend his childhood. And so, in early 2012, the family moved to Daniel Island and began acclimating to a slower pace and lower profile.
Still, Marinaro responds to inquiries about his retirement with the clarification that “retired” actors are simply those that have become irrelevant, unable to remember their lines, or dead. And since he falls into none of those categories, he is still a working actor. In fact, he recently wrapped a movie version of Blue Mountain State, filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina and set to premier on Netflix in September of this year. The film, like the series, has been feverishly supported by what Marinaro calls a “cult following.”
“I fell in love with this place. The thing that sold me was all the bicycles at the school. I remember riding my bike to school.”
Ed Marinaro has played on grass gridirons and storied soundstages. He has called all corners of the country home, from the northeast to the northwest, coastal California to coastal Carolina. But today, he and his family appear rooted, having settled in a new home they built in Daniel Island Park and enjoying the abundance of culture and scenic recreation the Lowcountry affords them.
Tracy is back to fitness instruction. Eddie is in middle school and taking up different sports. Ed is on the golf course every Monday (and Thursday… and Friday…), and doing good work like serving on the National Board of Directors for the Charleston-based Medal of Honor Bowl. Here, in Daniel Island, Ed Marinaro is in a community that’s family-friendly and unintimidating.
That is, until he has to take the podium in front of it.
The Daniel Island Community Speakers Series will be on hiatus through the summer. Watch for future information on speakers appearing in the fall, such as InterTech CEO Anita Zucker on September 9 and Spoleto Festival General Director Nigel Redden on November 18.