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Marzano gone, but won’t be forgotten

He bled Philadelphia. He knew what the city meant. He lived, slept, and breathed Philadelphia sports and Philadelphia baseball. And now, gone too soon from our lives is the effervescent John Marzano. People will remember where they were when John F. Kennedy was shot. People will remember where they first heard the news of September 11^th. Although this tragedy may be on a much smaller magnitude than the death of a president or the attack of our nation, it hits close to home. So when the news first broke on radio and television sets across the Delaware Valley, it was hard to believe. That John Marzano? No way. Not the man we knew as “Johnny Marz” for so many years as a Philadelphia media personality. Soon we found it was true. There’s that sort of sense that makes you not want to believe something when you first hear of the death of such a young man. Marzano died after falling down his stairs at his home, with the cause of his death unknown. He was just 45 years of age, a death so untimely and so hard to put into words.

Marzano was born bred a true South Philadelphian. He attended Eagles, Sixers, Flyers and Phillies games growing up in the area. He knew what it was like to be a true fan. He attended Central High School and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1981. He elected to attend Temple University, and was drafted again by the Boston Red Sox in 1984.

He was never a superstar, but the outgoing Marzano fought his way to a 10-year big league career with three different teams. He got the chance to play catch with Roger Clemens, which is good enough to be a dream for many kids. He was there in Fenway Park, playing in front of thousands of fans and living out his dream. He headed off to the Texas Rangers organization, and then finished his career with the Seattle Mariners in 1998.

For Marzano’s future, the choice was easy. Everyone loves an outgoing personality, and it usually translates well to the media. Marzano became a lead analyst on Comcast Sports Net’s Phillies Post Game Live in Philadelphia, and made numerous appearances on Sports Radio 610 WIP. It seemed at times that Marzano was everywhere. Maybe he was. For Marzano, he was still living the dream. It was a continuation of sorts of a career that wasn’t always the most stable or most thrilling. He was getting the chance to talk about baseball day in and day out, and people listened. He always had points that raised discussion. Not everyone always agreed with him, but he told the truth and never sugarcoated anything.

He moved on to much bigger and better things before the beginning of the 2007 season, taking a job as a host on MLB.com’s daily show on their website. Although he was often caught up with having to talk about national stories on the program, he always found time to come back to Philadelphia and appear on radio and television. He appeared on Comcast’s Daily News Live this past Thursday, a show that was broadcast from the atrium at the Wachovia Center. Marzano was riled up as Flyers fans cheered behind him before Game 4 of the team’s first round match-up against the Washington Capitals. Right in the middle of it all was “Johnny Marz”, who was just as excited for the upcoming Flyers game as he was about the Phillies’ 10-2 win against the Astros earlier in the day.

There was a baseball game played Saturday. The Phillies lost it 4-2 to the New York Mets. It doesn’t seem to matter right now, however. Sometimes life is taken for granted. Everyone who has lived in the Philadelphia area has seen the character known as John Marzano. Now, things won’t be the same without him. Marzano will leave behind his wife and his two children. We’ll always remember his silly smile, his upbeat persona, and his love of the game of baseball. Sometimes our future can be so uncertain. In this case, a future was cut far too short.

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 9:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.