AIRING IT OUT: After his NFL playing days ended, Dan Marino (at right with wife Claire) launched a career as a football analyst with CBS. He is scheduled to be on the air from New Orleans at the Super Bowl Sunday.
Though his love life was a well-kept secret, Dan Marino’s gridiron greatness has been the stuff of legend.
The former Miami Dolphins quarterback and current CBS talking head retired as pro football’s most prolific passer and then parlayed that glory into steady TV work.
Marino hung up his cleats after the 1999 season with the most passing yards in NFL history and now stands second only to Green Bay Packer great Brett Favre.
A Pittsburgh native and first-round draft pick in 1983, Marino left football with more touchdown passes than any other signal caller. He’s now No. 3, behind Favre and current Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning.
He’s also No. 3 in all-time pass completions behind Favre and Manning.
All those mind-blowing numbers helped stamp Marino’s ticket to the Hall of Fame in 2005. He’s widely regarded as the best QB to never have won the Super Bowl.
Marino’s only shot at football’s brass ring came in 1985 when his Dolphins were harpooned by the San Francisco 49ers and their own Pennsylvania-born great, Joe Montana.
Even before Marino threw his final pass, he was on the fast track to a glorious post-football career.
He nailed a plum role in Jim Carrey’s 1994 comedy “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. ” In one scene Marino helped immortalize the comedic football catch phrase “Laces out!” during a scene in which he plays himself holding a football for a field goal with the laces turned the wrong way.
Marino, 51, has been one of TV’s most recognizable pitch men, shilling for a panoply of companies including Isotoner gloves, NutriSystem and Papa John’s Pizza.
He’s been busy in recent days representing AARP as its “Men’s Life Ambassador,” urging older men to stay active.
“Nowadays, [age is] just a number,” Marino told WPMT-TV, the Fox affiliate in York, Pa.
“To me, it’s about your lifestyle and the things you want to do in life and challenges you want to accomplish.”
Marino has been with CBS since 2003 and is now an in-studio analyst.
CBS is televising Sunday’s Super Bowl between the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.
James Brown, Marino’s CBS pal and AARP sidekick, gently mocked the handsome QB as the last guy who should be telling retirees how to reinvent themselves.
“Look at the guy — very handsome!” Brown yucked.
“He has a bank account that has no limits right now. He does movies. Wherever he goes, he doesn’t have to pay for anything. Not too much reinvention going on there.”
At his 2005 NFL Hall of Fame induction, Marino’s son Daniel Charles introduced him and the famed quarterback had nothing but sweet words for his wife, Claire.
“To Claire and the kids, you guys are my true Hall of Famers. You guys are my whole life,” he said.
“You mean everything to me. Win or lose, no matter what the situation, the kids and Claire, you’re always there with smiles, hugs and kisses.”