Marlin McKeever, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Marlin McKeever’s weight was felt almost as much on the political

turf in the off-season as it was on the football field every Sunday for

13 autumns.

A former Pro Bowl selection as a tight end, who later earned team MVP

honors as a linebacker for the 1971 Rams, McKeever could also mix it up

pretty well off the gridiron.

In 1968, McKeever, who served on two presidential campaigns for

Richard Nixon, moved to Washington, D.C., and launched a unique dual

career -- football and politics.

“I decided it would be a good place to go, (and) it would be good for

(my) kids to live in the nation’s capital,” McKeever once said. “Living

in the nation’s capital and going through the full political gamut, if

you will, was very educational.

“I just think being on a first name basis with those who were later

involved in Watergate, and being on a first name basis with the president

and his advisors, was a very heady experience.”

Later, when McKeever would read about Watergate history, he could

identify with some of the events and people. In addition to being a

veteran on the Nixon campaign trail, McKeever worked in the off-season as

a lobbyist in Sacramento for the milk industry and an oil company, among

other businesses.

But McKeever, a former USC All-American, could also relate to some of

football’s greatest historical figures, including legendary coach Vince

Lombardi, for whom he played in 1969 with the Washington Redskins.

“It was just fantastic, (and) really one of the best things that

happened to me in my professional football career,” he said of playing

for Lombardi, who died before the next season and was replaced by George

Allen, who eventually traded McKeever back to the Rams.

“(Allen) and I didn’t always see eye to eye,” said McKeever, who

played six seasons for the Rams (1961-66), one for the Minnesota Vikings

(‘67), three for Washington and then two more for the Rams (1971-72),

before concluding his career in 1973 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

McKeever, a first-team All-American for the Trojans in 1959 and ‘60,

was a No. 1 draft choice of the Rams and broke into the NFL as a

linebacker, a position he played for almost three full seasons before

switching to tight end.

At USC, McKeever and his twin brother, Mike, were All-Americans in the

same year (‘59) for the same school, the only time in college football

annals that twin brothers were so honored. Both were inducted into the

USC Hall of Fame in June 1995. Mike McKeever was killed in an automobile

accident in the mid-60s.

“Both of us had planned to play pro football from the time we were in

high school,” said McKeever, who attended Mt. Carmel High, a Los

Angeles-based parochial school. (Mike McKeever, a national-record holder

in the 16-pound shot put, suffered a head injury playing college

football, preventing him from a pro career).

McKeever, who moved to the Newport Beach area in 1968, a year after

his brother died, was also an Academic All-American for USC in 1960. In

track and field, he won the 1959 Pacific Coast Conference championship in

the shot put.

McKeever, the Trojans’ Player of the Game in their 17-6 victory over

UCLA in 1960, was active off the field during his collegiate career,

speaking at various functions throughout Southern California and

representing USC at clinics, high school assemblies and numerous Lions

Club, Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce meetings -- a precursor to his

political endeavors.

McKeever, who played an incredible 505 minutes on the field for the

Trojans in 1960, worked for Newport Beach resident Gary Davidson in the

now-defunct World Football League after retiring as a player. But, as it

turned out, McKeever wasn’t interested in staying in football.

McKeever became a stockbroker, then embarked on a career in the

insurance business in 1975. Three years later, McKeever left his own firm

to become affiliated with Alexander & Alexander as a vice president. He

has been with his current brokerage firm, Andreini & Co., for 11 years.

A longtime Balboa Bay Club member and past president of the Newport

Beach Country Club, McKeever, who turned 60 on Jan. 1, is today’s honoree

in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.

After living in Newport for over 30 years, McKeever remarried and

moved to Irvine with his new wife, Judy. McKeever has four grown children

-- three of them live in Newport.