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Mark Eric May (born November 2, 1959) is a former American college and professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player who was a
guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...
in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. May played
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
for the University of Pittsburgh and earned All-American honors. He was selected in the first round of the
1981 NFL Draft The 1981 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1981, at the New York She ...
, and played professionally for the Washington Redskins,
San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...
, and
Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...
. May became involved in broadcasting following his retirement from the NFL in 1993. Most notably, he was employed by ESPN between 2001 and 2017.


High school and college careers

At Oneonta High School in
Oneonta, New York Oneonta ( ) is a city in southern Otsego County, New York, United States. It is one of the northernmost cities of the Appalachian Region. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Oneonta had a population of 13,079. Its nickname is "City of the Hil ...
, May earned eight varsity letters in football, basketball, and track. He was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2007. May attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played for the Pittsburgh Panthers football team from 1977 to 1980. As a senior in 1980, he was a unanimous first-team All-American and received the Outland Trophy as the nation's top collegiate interior lineman. As a part of the
1980 Pittsburgh Panthers football team The 1980 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh as an independent during the 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season. Despite losing one game, the Panthers were named national champion by NCAA-designated major ...
, he played with future NFL players
Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. (born September 15, 1961) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. After a successful college career at Pittsburgh and be ...
, Dwight Collins, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, Jimbo Covert, Bill Maas, Hugh Green, and Tim Lewis. As a junior and a senior, May did not allow even one
quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in th ...
. He earned the nickname "May Day" for "wreaking havoc on the opposing defensive ends." After his senior season, May played in the Hula Bowl and Japan Bowl all-star games. Under the tutelage of head coach
Jackie Sherrill Jackie Wayne Sherrill (born November 28, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Washington State University (1976), the University of Pittsburgh (1977–1981), Texas A&M University (1982–1988), a ...
, May and his teammates led Pitt to a 39–8–1 four-year record, which included three top-10 finishes and four bowl games. The university retired May's jersey number (73) in 2001, and May became the eighth Pitt player to be so honored. He was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
in 2005, becoming the 23rd Pitt player or coach to earn the honor. In 1981, May donated $10,000 to Pitt's alumni sports fund to give back to the university.


Professional career

The Washington Redskins drafted May with the 20th pick of the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft, and he played
guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...
for the Redskins from to . He was a member of the famed " Hogs" offensive line, which was instrumental in the Redskins' victories in Super Bowl
XVII 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...
and
XXII 22 (twenty-two) is the natural number following 21 and preceding 23. In mathematics 22 is a palindromic number and the eighth semiprime; its proper divisors are 1, 2, and 11. It is the second Smith number, the second Erdős–Woods numb ...
(though May was injured for Super Bowl XVII). He was named one of the 70 greatest Redskins of all time. May started 115 games for the Redskins. He missed the 1990 season due to a knee injury. Following his tenure with the Redskins, May became a Plan B free agent. He signed with the
San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...
, playing as Dave Richards' backup during the 1991 season. He later played for the Phoenix Cardinals (1992–93), where he reunited with
Joe Bugel Joseph John Bugel (March 10, 1940 – June 28, 2020) was an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL). For many years, he was acknowledged as the greatest offensive line coach in the league, particularly with the Washington ...
, the Redskins' offensive line coach from 1981-89, before his retirement in 1993. For three years during the offseason, May took classes and sold cars at a Ford dealership. In 1983, he co-wrote "Mark May's Hog Cookbook" which features recipes like "Hog Balls" (a mixture of pork sausage and cheddar cheese) and "Aunt Jeannette's Sweet Potato Pie." The last entry is for "Hog Quiche" (which reads, simply, "Hogs don't eat quiche"). In 2005, he co-wrote with author and close friend Dan O'Brien ''Mark May's Tales from the Washington Redskins'', a book detailing his experiences with the Washington Redskins.


Broadcasting career

In 1994, May served as a color commentator for University of Pittsburgh football games for WTAE Radio in Pittsburgh. In 1995, he was hired by TNT as a studio analyst on its ''
Sunday Night Football Sunday Night Football may refer to: * ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games by NBC since 2006 * ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games from 1987 to 2005 by ESPN * ...
'' broadcasts. In 1997, May became a game analyst for the ''Sunday Night Football'' broadcasts on TNT. After TNT lost the broadcasting rights to ''
Sunday Night Football Sunday Night Football may refer to: * ''NBC Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games by NBC since 2006 * ''ESPN Sunday Night Football'', the Sunday night broadcast of American NFL games from 1987 to 2005 by ESPN * ...
'' following the 1997 season, May joined CBS Sports in 1998 as a game analyst for its
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
coverage from 1998 to 2001. He also spent the 2000 season calling Arena Football League games on the original TNN Cable Network alongside Eli Gold and
Jill Arrington Tiffany "Jill" Arrington (born July 27, 1972) is an American sportscaster and reporter. She previously was a sports anchor at KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles for three years. Before that, she was in the same position at Fox Sports 1 and Fox Spor ...
, which culminated with the inaugural
af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...
Arena Cup The ArenaCup was the af2's championship game. For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, the 2005 ArenaCup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana. The 2006 Aren ...
in 2000 between the
Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
and the Quad City Steamwheelers. In 2001, May joined ESPN as a football analyst and commentator on
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
. Along with
Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...
, he was a regular on the popular ''
College Football Scoreboard ''College Football Scoreboard'' is a program on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC that provides up-to-the-minute scores, highlights, pre-game and post-game interviews, and check-ins of games of interest through 'bonus coverage' during the college football sea ...
'' and ''
College Football Final ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...
'' as well as appearing on pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage during the season, and on '' College Football Live'' in the off-season, and offers analysis on ESPN2 and ESPNews. He was also present in the ''
NFL Live ''NFL Live'' (stylized as ''NFL Live presented by Autotrader'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American National Football League (NFL) studio show, currently airing Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m ET on sports cable channel ESPN. Formerly know ...
'' studio throughout the entire 2007 NFL Draft. While not a regular game analyst, he does occasionally broadcast games, as he did for ESPN's coverage of the
2011 Poinsettia Bowl The 2011 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the seventh edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 21, 2011 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California as part of the 2011–12 N ...
. On June 1, 2015, ESPN announced that May would be leaving College Football Final and moved to another show on one of the other ESPN Networks. He was replaced by
Joey Galloway Joseph Scott Galloway (born November 20, 1971) is an American former professional football player who is an analyst with ESPN. He was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Galloway was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the ...
.


Personal life

In 2001, May resided in San Diego, California and Ocean City, Maryland. He has a wife named Kathy and two daughters, Abra and Bryce.


Legal troubles

In January 1979, as a sophomore at Pitt, May was arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, inciting a riot, and making terroristic threats. May reportedly was jumping on top of parked cars, threatening police officers and encouraging a crowd of onlookers to fight the officers. He was found guilty of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, while the other charges were dismissed. As a member of the Redskins, May was twice arrested for
DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
. The second instance occurred in March 1990, and the first in 1985 in Arlington, Virginia.Reading Eagle
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References


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Mark 1959 births Living people All-American college football players American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles College football announcers College Football Hall of Fame inductees ESPN people National Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League announcers People from Oneonta, New York Phoenix Cardinals players Pittsburgh Panthers football announcers Pittsburgh Panthers football players San Diego Chargers players Washington Redskins players Ed Block Courage Award recipients