Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. is one of those quarterbacks that should be more decorated than they are. His ability to get the ball out his hands in less than a blink of an eye made him nearly unstoppable from behind center. With a laser for an arm and ability to throw the ball fifty-plus yards down the field off of the wrong leg made the fact that he was a less than adequate scrambler a non-factor. Dan Marino attended the University of Pittsburgh from 1979 to 1982 where he boosted the team's rankings within the top five throughout the four seasons he played for the Panthers. His first three seasons as a Panther, Marino led the team to a 33-3 record but unfortunately during his senior year, Marino's statistics took a drastic dip but led the team to the 1983 Cotton Bowl Classic where they lost 7-3 to Southern Methodist University. However, Marino did finish college career with 7,905 passing yards and 74 touchdowns.
After a dip in his play in his final season with the Pittsburgh Panthers, Marino was selected 27th overall in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. Despite being the last quarterback picked in the first round of the draft, Marino set several NFL records as a rookie including a 96.0 passer rating, the highest completion percentage that season with 58.45 percent, and the lowest interception percentage with 2.03%. Marino played his entire pro football career with the Dolphins leading the team to the postseason ten times, reaching the Super Bowl one time (Super Bowl XIX), and winning the NFL MVP award in 1984. By the time of his retirement in 2000, Marino had held over 40 single-season and career passing NFL records. Most of which have been broken. Dan Marino is considered the greatest quarterback of all-time to have never won a Super Bowl. Still to this day, many try to emulate his style of play on the field.