Marv Marinovich, captain of USC‘s 1962 national championship team and a former NFL player and strength coach, died Thursday at 81, the school announced.
Marinovich died in Mission Viejo, Calif., of natural causes. He played both offensive and defensive line for USC, which went 11-0 and defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl to cap the 1962 season. Marinovich briefly played for the NFL’s Raiders before becoming the team’s strength and conditioning coach.
His sons both played college football: Todd was a quarterback for USC, and Mikhail played defensive end at Syracuse. Marv Marinovich trained Todd from a young age, enforcing a strict diet and rigorous conditioning. As a high school quarterback, Todd Marinovich gained the nickname “Robo Quarterback,” and earned national player of the year honors. Todd Marinovich became a first-round pick of the Raiders and had a short pro career cut short by drug use.
In 1997, Marv Marinovich opened a sports performance center in Orange County, California, where he trained professional athletes such as Troy Polamalu, Jason Sehorn and Tyson Chandler. In 2018, his family announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.