Former Oakland Raiders lineman and strength coach Marv Marinovich — a Watsonville High alum who captained USC’s 1962 national championship team — died early Friday morning at the age of 81.
Marinovoch, who was battling Alzheimer’s, was in hospice at Good Samaritan in Mission Viejo. He was unable to speak the past six months.
Marinovich’s brother, Gary, who lives in Santa Cruz, was unable to visit his brother this week due to financial constraints, but placed a call to his ailing brother.
“I think he held on to hear from him,” Traci Marinovich Grove said of her father. “They were best friends.”
The family hopes to spread Marinovich’s ashes on the 3,000-acre ranch he grew up at in Watsonville. That won’t happen anytime soon, his daughter said, because his brain has been donated for CTE research.
Gary also wants his remains spread on the ranch when he dies. He and his brother, separated by 18 months, shared many quality moments on the property. They played football and cowboys and Indians in the pasture and often went fishing at a pond atop the mountain.
The brothers got into weight lifting in middle school. They ordered a 110-pound weight set and put it in one of the rooms. Those shipments became more frequent as the boys bulked up.
Marv was always showcasing his strength and courage around the ranch, Gary said.
“We he had a young calf that he’d try to pick up,” he said. “He’d also, face to face, grab the horns of a grown bull and try hanging on. He’d get thrown off. Marv liked a challenge. Marv was always like that, hard driven for success.”
Gary and Traci said Marinovich was misunderstood by a lot of people.
“To the common person, they’d probably say that my father was socially distant,” Traci said. “But if you knew him, he was fun. He liked teasing people, joking and giving people nicknames.”
Marinovich was also a talented boxer and wrestler. He learned both sports from Gene Hoularis at the Boys Club. Marinovich was unbeaten in wrestling over two seasons in high school and boxed at tournaments held in Fort Ord.
After shining at Watsonville, Marinovich helped Santa Monica College win the 1958 JC National Championship before transferring to USC.
He lettered for the Trojans in 1959, ’61 and ’62 as a two-way lineman. The ’62 USC team that he captained went 11-0, including a 42-37 victory over Wisconsin in the ’63 Rose Bowl. He was named USC’s Most Inspirational Player award and chosen to play in the Hula Bowl as a senior.
“He was a great player and a great ambassador for the sport,” said Steve Cox, former Cabrillo College football coach. “He was part of the lore. He was part of the history of the valley. Whenever you talked about the greats from the area back in the day, his name always came up.”
After a brief career with the Raiders, Marinovich was named the team’s strength and conditioning coach by owner Al Davis. At the time, there was only one other strength coach in the league. He also held similar roles with the St. Louis Cardinals and the World Football League’s Hawaii franchise.
Marinovich checked in at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds in his playing days.
“He carried himself like he knew what the hell he was doing,” said Bob Bugalski, 90, a former teacher at Watsonville who saw Marinovich on golf courses and various functions. “He was well built. At the time, he was very intimidating.”
Marinovich had a fun side and was friendly. “To me, the whole family was nice,” Bugalski said. “We had a lot of fun together.”
Marinovich opened his own sports performance, training and research centers. His philosophy was based on Eastern Bloc training methods that focused on speed and flexibility. Among the professional athletes he trained, in addition to son Todd, were NFLers Dwight Lowery, Troy Polamalu and Jason Sehorn, NBAer Tyson Chandler, MLBer Steve Finley, and MMA fighter BJ Penn.
Training and having athletes utilize his innovative techniques fueled her father, Traci said
“I think that consumed him,” Traci said. “He had a willingness to help others with their training without any compensation. It was just the pure joy of doing it. That also kind of haunted him, because he didn’t have an savings.”
Traci thanked Polamalu as well as John and Mike O’Connor for their financial contributions to help with his health care over the last several months.
Marinovich’s two sons, Todd, 51, and Mikhail, 32, followed their father into the college football ranks. Todd was a quarterback at USC and Los Angeles Raiders, and Mikhail was a defensive end at Syracuse.
“He enjoyed watching sports, even with Alzheimer’s,” Traci said. “He could sit and watch football all day and he’d critique. It was entertaining.”
In addition to all his contributions to training, Marinovich will also be remembered for his strict, regimented and obsessive raising of Todd, beginning at an earlier age. Featured in Sports Illustrated, among other national publications, the Trojans’ former signal caller was dubbed a “test-tube QB.” Todd later rebelled, but ended up making peace with his father, Traci said.
Gary said his brother raised Mikhail the same way, though he didn’t start at such an early age.
“I was reading a post Todd put out last night,” Traci said. “There were a lot of good comments. One person said, ‘I know your dad loved you and you loved him.’ And that’s so true.
“No one was more giving and groundbreaking. He kind of reimagined what they do at the NFL Combine.”
Polamalu, a two-time Super Bowl champion and eight-time Pro Bowler, gave Marinovich a ringing endorsement on Instagram after Marinovich’s passing.
“Marv Marinovich is truly the king of strength and conditioning,” he posted. “I’ve had the blessing of being like an adopted son. The son that got his good side and none of the bad. Marv Marinovich, the king, has had much said about his life and parenting, none hold true to my experiences. Especially as someone who has spent more one-on-one time with him being trained, outside his sons Todd and Mikhail. … Marv to me is a savant. A “Beautiful Mind” of strength training and conditioning. Of course this type of genius has its setbacks.”
To Gary, his brother was genius and innovative and should be remembered as such.
“The general public, and also even people in the athletic world, does not understand the value of what he came up with,” he said. “It’s so far ahead of what is being taught. He trained the nervous system. You have to train fast to be fast.”
