RIP: Gabe Rivera, “Señor Sack,” and the infamous 1983 NFL Draft: What would they have been like with Dan Marino?



... we will never know

He was supposed to be the foundation of the next Steel Curtain, just the way another Texan, Mean Joe Greene, had been for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969. Then on Oct. 20, 1983, Gabe Rivera was involved in a horrible accident in Ross Township near Pittsburgh. His Datsun 280-ZX was involved in an accident with another car, and Rivera was thrown out the rear window. He was not wearing a seat belt and was beyond the legal limit for intoxication.

Rivera suffered a traumatic injury to his spine and was paralyzed from the chest down. He passed away last week at the age of 57, a sad situation for a player who came to the Steelers with the 21st pick of a 1983 draft that was replete with NFL hall-of-famers.

At Texas Tech, Rivera compiled 321 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, and 14 sacks. He played just six games for the Steelers, recording two sacks. In 2012, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, but he often surmised what might have been without the accident. “I wonder once in a while, what it would be the other way,” Rivera said in an interview earlier this year. “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.”

How the Steelers may have been different — with Marino

The Steelers had a woeful 1980s with the draft, but in retrospect, Rivera could have been one of the gems of that decade. It never happened.

However, while Rivera was a plum that could have been a great one — maybe — they could have selected one of those three who made the NFL Hall of Fame. The three who made it were John Elway, picked number one overall by the Baltimore Colts, who later traded him to Denver. The second was Jim Kelly, who played in the USFL but then bolted for the Buffalo Bills when Donald Trump bought the New Jersey Generals. And the third, selected at Number 27, was Pittsburgh’s own Dan Marino.

I have written extensively about how in the world the Steelers passed over Marino. Theories abound, from Marino being accused of heavy drug use, being accused of being in the mafia — seriously — to being a little too much of a womanizer, to not having a good enough work ethic … the list goes on.

The reality, this was not a bad pick for the Steelers, but Marino could have been a great one. Can you imagine Marino playing in the 1997 Super Bowl? How many more Super Bowls may the Steelers have reached with him?

It is still baffling, and we may never know the truth. However, what could have been a great draft for the Steelers turned out to be a bummer — sadly for Rivera. But, sadly because they made the wrong pick.

One other consideration. One of the people Marino credits for his Hall of Fame career was Don Shula. Could he have had the same kind of relationship with Chuck Noll? Shula became like a father to him, but Noll was not that warm, cuddly guy. Just ask Terry Bradshaw.

So many ifs.

RIP Gabe Rivera.

P.S.: Could have been worse. The Kansas City Chiefs made a horrible pick that year with number 7: Penn State’s Todd Blackledge. Look at his numbers.

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