Joseph Arthur Campanella (September 3, 1930February 15, 1967) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for six seasons for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

. After retiring from professional football, Campanella, at the encouragement of Carroll Rosenbloom, the owner of the

, pooled his money with

Alan Ameche Alan Ameche (; June 1, 1933 – August 8, 1988), nicknamed "The Iron Horse", or simply "The Horse", was an American football player who played six seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

and

Louis Fischer Louis Fischer (29 February 1896 – 15 January 1970) was an American journalist. Among his works were a contribution to the ex-communist treatise '' The God that Failed'' (1949), '' The Life of Mahatma Gandhi'' (1950), basis for the Academy A ...

, who was Campanella's classmate from

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and they became early investors in some restaurants. The first store, called "Ameche’s Drive-In" in Glen Burnie, Maryland, featured the Powerhouse and Kingfish sandwiches served with the Special "35" Sauce. The number of stores slowly grew beyond the flagship drive-in. In the early 1960s Ameche, Fischer and Campanella wanted to expand, so they started looking for a fourth partner. They had approached and been turned down several times by

Gino Marchetti Gino John Marchetti (January 2, 1926 – April 29, 2019) was an American professional American football, football player who was a defensive end and Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) ...

, the All Pro defensive lineman. Marchetti had decided that when he retired he would return to California to join his brothers at a gas station in Alameda, in the Bay Area. Campanella left the group in 1963 and started his own restaurant,

Rustler Steak House Rustler Steak House was an American steakhouse chain. It was founded in 1963 by former professional football player Joe Campanella, who expanded the kitchen offering to steaks, baked potatoes, bread, soups, salads and checkered napkins. Campanella ...

, and later sold it after opening five stores and returned to work with his partners after less than a year. The restaurant later changed hands including

Marriott Corporation Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993, founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, Marriott Corporation opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, Ar ...

selling it to Tenly Enterprises in 1973, and it was later sold in 1985 to Collins Foods. In 1966, after Don Kellett retired as General Manager of the Colts,

Carroll Rosenbloom Dale Carroll Rosenbloom (March 5, 1907 – April 2, 1979) was an American businessman. He was the owner of two National Football League franchises; he was the first owner of the Baltimore Colts, and later switched teams, taking ownership of the ...

invited Joe to re-join the football team as the VP and General Manager. Although it was a career shift back into sports, Campanella decided to follow his heart, and he accepted the job. One reason for the decision was that Campanella had a great deal of respect and admiration for the coach, Don Shula.

Death

Campanella's sudden and untimely death occurred in February 1967: he was 36. Joe had stayed physically active, often running or playing ball with friends. All that ended several months after beginning his stint as General Manager of the Colts. Campanella was playing a friendly round of handball with Don Shula and a buddy at the Downtown Athletic Club when he became short of breath and asked to stop. After stumbling, Campanella said he had to get off the court. He never made it, dying in Shula's arms. At the time doctors thought it was a heart attack. Rosenbloom and the entire Colt organization were in shock.

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

tearfully remarked, "He was just a wonderful human being; one of my closest friends."

was overcome with grief at Campanella's funeral, saying: "If I live to be 100, I will never meet a better friend. He showed me the right directions to go: in business, and spiritually by bringing me back to the church. He meant to me what air means to the body. If you want to know what a real man is like, well man, he was!"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campanella, Joe 1930 births 1967 deaths American football linebackers American football offensive tackles Baltimore Colts announcers Baltimore Colts executives Baltimore Colts players Dallas Texans (NFL) players National Football League announcers National Football League general managers Ohio State Buckeyes football players Players of American football from Cleveland Sportspeople from Cleveland Sports deaths in Maryland