Michael Jonathan Pagel (born September 13, 1960) is a former 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 was selected by 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 ...

in the fourth round of the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 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 27–28, 1982, at the New York She ...

. A 6'2",

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, Pagel played in 12 NFL seasons from 1982–1993. Drafted the same year as

Art Schlichter Arthur Ernest Schlichter (, born April 25, 1960) is an American former gridiron football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Colts franchise. He also played one Can ...

, Pagel was drafted to be groomed as a backup. Generally he out-played Schlichter. Pagel bounced in and out of the starting quarterback job for the Colts in his four seasons with the team, alternating with Schlichter,

Matt Kofler Mathew Joseph Kofler (August 30, 1959 – December 19, 2008) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1982 to 1985. He played for the Buffalo Bills and the Indianapolis Colts. ...

, and

Mark Herrmann Mark Donald Herrmann (born January 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Herrmann played college football for the ...

. He was the last Colt to wear #18 before

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...

. He was traded to Cleveland for the 1986 season and served for the next five years there strictly as a backup. In 1988, he took over for an injured

Bernie Kosar Bernard Joseph Kosar Jr. (born November 25, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played collegiately at the University of Miami where he led the team to a national championship in 1983. He subsequently played professionally in ...

and

Don Strock Donald Joseph Strock (born November 27, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins (1973–1987), Cleveland Browns (1988), and Ind ...

and played well in a playoff loss to the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

. Pagel finished up the last three years with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, never garnering more than mop-up duties. Pagel now resides in suburban

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and is a project manager for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. He also serves as analyst for the pregame, halftime and postgame shows on

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and carries a news/talk/sports format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio ...

and

WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock st ...

during Browns games and offers television color commentary on college games on Fox Sports Network. Pagel also provides video commentary on his own sit
Pagel On Point
In addition, he presently is the quarterback coach at Normandy High School in Parma, Ohio. Sports is part of the family bloodline; Mike's brother

Karl Pagel Karl Douglas Pagel (born March 29, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played for five seasons. He played for the Chicago Cubs from 1978 to 1979 and the Cleveland Indians from 1981 to 1983. In nine minor league seasons, Pag ...

played baseball for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

. His brother Rick was a starting defensive end for the United States Naval Academy and served over 20 years as a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps. Two of his other brothers also played junior college sports. His brother, Bruce, played offensive line at Glendale (AZ) Community College, and is now a professor of political science at

Santa Fe College Santa Fe College is a public college based in Gainesville, Florida, with satellite campuses in Alachua and Bradford counties. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1965 as Santa Fe Junior College by the Florida Legisl ...

. His brother, Ross, played quarterback for Phoenix College, and later played first base for the college baseball team. Washington High School in Phoenix Arizona named their football field after Mike Pagel

References

1960 births Living people People from Douglas, Arizona Baseball players from Arizona Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Players of American football from Arizona American football quarterbacks Arizona State Sun Devils football players Baltimore Colts players Indianapolis Colts players Cleveland Browns players Los Angeles Rams players Massachusetts Marauders players {{quarterback-1960s-stub