R.I.P.: Gabe Rivera

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Former Steelers first-round pick Gabe Rivera dies

Steelers 1st round pick in '83 draft.

Dead at 57.

Rivera, known as “Señor Sack,” was a star defensive lineman at Texas Tech before the Steelers selected him No. 21 overall in the ‘83 draft as Chuck Noll tried to replenish the famed “Steel Curtain” defense. Rivera registered two sacks over his first six games with Pittsburgh, but everything changed on October 20, 1983.
Rivera, then just 22 years old, was paralyzed in a car crash. He was legally drunk and not wearing a seatbelt when his car collided with another. Police charged Rivera with drunken and reckless driving, but the charges were ultimately dismissed.

 

[The Big Ragu]

This quote: “I wonder once in a while, what it would be the other way,” Rivera told the Post-Gazette in May. “But you don’t want to stay too long. You think about it, how life would be different, but so far life has been good here.”

RIP.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

He was the first 300-pounder I can remember. They're a dime a dozen nowadays, but in his day, he was a monster.

 

[Scout]

They thought they were getting Jose Greene and missed Marino.

Pittsburgh fans have been very fortunate the last 40 or so years. This was an unfortunate time.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Yep '83 ... Missed Marino. Jesus ....

Stoudt, Malone, Woodley and Bubby ****ing Brister.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

According to Dan Rooney, noll and everyone wanted a defensive lineman. It was John Clayton who put the idea of Marino in his head. Rooney told the coaches and they all started to see the possibilities. They asked Rooney, who was usually hands off in talent, how he came up with it and he credited Clayton. The coaches immediately dropped the idea.

 

[Slacker]

According to Dan Rooney, noll and everyone wanted a defensive lineman. It was John Clayton who put the idea of Marino in his head. Rooney told the coaches and they all started to see the possibilities. They asked Rooney, who was usually hands off in talent, how he came up with it and he credited Clayton. The coaches immediately dropped the idea.

Just a wild hunch, but it probably was because of this ...

"Shouldergate"

The 1978 season began with some controversy, when players were caught wearing shoulder pads in off-season drills in violation of league rules. The infraction occurred during a late May rookie camp and was uncovered and reported by Pittsburgh Press reporter John Clayton.

"That story had no news value whatsoever. The thing that made it very bad was that the story was of no news to the people of Pittsburgh. So I have assume that he [referring to John Clayton] is working for the competition. He certainly wasn't working in the interest of the paper or the fans. As far as I'm concerned he was working for the other people. The only way I can read it is espionage. I know for a fact that other people use other media for their interests, to spy."
– Head coach Chuck Noll's reaction to the "Shouldergate" story.

Clayton was not the paper's regular Steelers beat writer at the time, but was just filling in that day. While the practice in which the violation occurred was closed to the media by head coach Chuck Noll, Clayton uncovered the story in interviews with players whom he found wearing pads in the locker room. Clayton contacted the league office for clarification on the rule, which stated that teams must have "no contact work or use of pads (except helmets) in an off-season training camp."

The story caused an uproar among the team's local fanbase, with most of the vitriol directed at Clayton for reporting the story, rather than at Noll and the team for breaking the rule.[47][48] This sentiment was stoked by Noll's angry reaction to the story, in which he referred to the reporting as "espionage." Even some members of the local media spoke of Clayton as a traitor to the Steeler cause.

The precedent for punishment of such a rule violation was set by an earlier incident for which the Green Bay Packers were stripped of a fourth-round draft pick. The Packers were able to argue at that time that they were unaware of the rule they broke. The Steelers had no such defense, since the team's president, Dan Rooney, was instrumental in negotiations to get the "no pads" rule included in the collective bargaining agreement with the league's players.

NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle eventually stripped the Steelers of their third-round selection in the 1979 draft for the transgression.

1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season - Wikipedia

 

[poindexter]

Just a wild hunch, but it probably was because of this ...

"Shouldergate"

The 1978 season began with some controversy, when players were caught wearing shoulder pads in off-season drills in violation of league rules. The infraction occurred during a late May rookie camp and was uncovered and reported by Pittsburgh Press reporter John Clayton.

"That story had no news value whatsoever. The thing that made it very bad was that the story was of no news to the people of Pittsburgh. So I have assume that he [referring to John Clayton] is working for the competition. He certainly wasn't working in the interest of the paper or the fans. As far as I'm concerned he was working for the other people. The only way I can read it is espionage. I know for a fact that other people use other media for their interests, to spy."
– Head coach Chuck Noll's reaction to the "Shouldergate" story.

Clayton was not the paper's regular Steelers beat writer at the time, but was just filling in that day. While the practice in which the violation occurred was closed to the media by head coach Chuck Noll, Clayton uncovered the story in interviews with players whom he found wearing pads in the locker room. Clayton contacted the league office for clarification on the rule, which stated that teams must have "no contact work or use of pads (except helmets) in an off-season training camp."

The story caused an uproar among the team's local fanbase, with most of the vitriol directed at Clayton for reporting the story, rather than at Noll and the team for breaking the rule.[47][48] This sentiment was stoked by Noll's angry reaction to the story, in which he referred to the reporting as "espionage." Even some members of the local media spoke of Clayton as a traitor to the Steeler cause.

The precedent for punishment of such a rule violation was set by an earlier incident for which the Green Bay Packers were stripped of a fourth-round draft pick. The Packers were able to argue at that time that they were unaware of the rule they broke. The Steelers had no such defense, since the team's president, Dan Rooney, was instrumental in negotiations to get the "no pads" rule included in the collective bargaining agreement with the league's players.

NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle eventually stripped the Steelers of their third-round selection in the 1979 draft for the transgression.

1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season - Wikipedia

Little known fact, but as a result of that incident, John Clayton barely went out in public, and lived in his childhood bedroom at his mom's house.

 

[outofplace]

According to Dan Rooney, noll and everyone wanted a defensive lineman. It was John Clayton who put the idea of Marino in his head. Rooney told the coaches and they all started to see the possibilities. They asked Rooney, who was usually hands off in talent, how he came up with it and he credited Clayton. The coaches immediately dropped the idea.

That is one story out there. The other is that rumors of drug use were the reason Marino fell so far in the first round of the draft. The story went that either the Steelers did know it was an issue through local connections or they were afraid it would look even worse if they took him and it turned out he had a drug problem because they should have known more about a Pittsburgh guy. Remember, the Steelers previously had a talented quarterback, Joe Gilliam, who destroyed himself with drug use in the '70s.

I don't know if any of the rumors about Marino were true, but I can understand taking it seriously at the time. Also, Rivera was a beast. Obviously, passing on Marino was a mistake, but it would have been easier to take if Rivera had been able to play.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

That is one story out there. The other is that rumors of drug use were the reason Marino fell so far in the first round of the draft. The story went that either the Steelers did know it was an issue through local connections or they were afraid it would look even worse if they took him and it turned out he had a drug problem because they should have known more about a Pittsburgh guy. Remember, the Steelers previously had a talented quarterback, Joe Gilliam, who destroyed himself with drug use in the '70s.

I don't know if any of the rumors about Marino were true, but I can understand taking it seriously at the time. Also, Rivera was a beast. Obviously, passing on Marino was a mistake, but it would have been easier to take if Rivera had been able to play.

THIS ...

Marino said as much: not confirming drug use, but the rumors in "Football Life" story. He said the rumors of his alleged drug use cause his stock to plummet.

Instead they draft Rivera who ruins himself in a drunk driving accident. ...

 

[cyclingwriter2]

The reality is Marino would have been playing for noll...he would never have thrown for 5000 yards and 40 touchdowns, but he would have been better than the unholy trilogy of Malone, woodley and Brister in the 1980s.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Yeah, Noll was a run first coach. Marino was better off with Shula.
Though I think he would have been more successful with the Steelers.

 

[clintrichardson]

I ask because I don't know: how is it that Rooney would need the idea of Marino put in his head at all. Marino was playing college ball at Pittsburgh and had been on the cover of SI in college, I believe.

It's not like Clayton was suggesting he look into the quarterback at North Dakota State.

Just a wild hunch, but it probably was because of this ...

"Shouldergate"

The 1978 season began with some controversy, when players were caught wearing shoulder pads in off-season drills in violation of league rules. The infraction occurred during a late May rookie camp and was uncovered and reported by Pittsburgh Press reporter John Clayton.

"That story had no news value whatsoever. The thing that made it very bad was that the story was of no news to the people of Pittsburgh. So I have assume that he [referring to John Clayton] is working for the competition. He certainly wasn't working in the interest of the paper or the fans. As far as I'm concerned he was working for the other people. The only way I can read it is espionage. I know for a fact that other people use other media for their interests, to spy."
– Head coach Chuck Noll's reaction to the "Shouldergate" story.

Clayton was not the paper's regular Steelers beat writer at the time, but was just filling in that day. While the practice in which the violation occurred was closed to the media by head coach Chuck Noll, Clayton uncovered the story in interviews with players whom he found wearing pads in the locker room. Clayton contacted the league office for clarification on the rule, which stated that teams must have "no contact work or use of pads (except helmets) in an off-season training camp."

The story caused an uproar among the team's local fanbase, with most of the vitriol directed at Clayton for reporting the story, rather than at Noll and the team for breaking the rule.[47][48] This sentiment was stoked by Noll's angry reaction to the story, in which he referred to the reporting as "espionage." Even some members of the local media spoke of Clayton as a traitor to the Steeler cause.

The precedent for punishment of such a rule violation was set by an earlier incident for which the Green Bay Packers were stripped of a fourth-round draft pick. The Packers were able to argue at that time that they were unaware of the rule they broke. The Steelers had no such defense, since the team's president, Dan Rooney, was instrumental in negotiations to get the "no pads" rule included in the collective bargaining agreement with the league's players.

NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle eventually stripped the Steelers of their third-round selection in the 1979 draft for the transgression.

1978 Pittsburgh Steelers season - Wikipedia

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Rooney was on drugs too? Kidding, this was from Rooney’s personal bio. I would have to go and grab it off the shelf at home.

 

[outofplace]

The reality is Marino would have been playing for noll...he would never have thrown for 5000 yards and 40 touchdowns, but he would have been better than the unholy trilogy of Malone, woodley and Brister in the 1980s.

To a point, this is true, but Noll was at times capable of allowing his intelligence to overcome his stubbornness. He opened up the offense in the late '70s when the rules changed because he had Bradshaw, Swann and Stallworth. I think he would have been smart enough to open it up even more for Marino to throw to Lipps and Stallworth. With Marino, they would have been better built to throw, especially because backs like Pollard and Abercrombie were nothing special. I don't think it would have been quite what he did in Miami, but I have no doubt Marino would have been outstanding in Pittsburgh.

 

[goalmouth]

Sad about Rivera.

Some Marino trivia: My sister went to see Prince at the Orange Bowl, upper deck, in the 80s. Who was sitting right in front of her? Marino and Duper. Couldn't get better seats...

 

[Scout]

Marino probably would have played on teams with good to great defenses, and since it’s Pittsburgh, where weather can always be a factor, they will always have some form of running game to fall back on when the weather is ****.

****, what if the Jets took him?

 

[outofplace]

Marino probably would have played on teams with good to great defenses, and since it’s Pittsburgh, where weather can always be a factor, they will always have some form of running game to fall back on when the weather is ****.

****, what if the Jets took him?

It's something that was a subject of plenty of speculation at the time, especially in 1984 when the Steelers were the only team to beat the 49ers team that went 19-1, but they couldn't handle Marino in the AFC Championship.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Marino probably would have played on teams with good to great defenses, and since it’s Pittsburgh, where weather can always be a factor, they will always have some form of running game to fall back on when the weather is ****.

****, what if the Jets took him?

He'd have done well throwing to Toon, Walker and Shuler, and handing off to McNeil. But he would have taken a beating with that offensive line. O'Brien got sacked 60-something times one year.

 

[Slacker]

Marino probably would have played on teams with good to great defenses, and since it’s Pittsburgh, where weather can always be a factor, they will always have some form of running game to fall back on when the weather is ****.

****, what if the Jets took him?

The Jets would have moved him to tight end.