Dante Anthony Pastorini or popularly known as Dan Pastorini, was formerly an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League. He played for several teams during his career, such as the Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from being a football player, Pastorini is also a Top Fuel dragster driver of the National Hot Rod Association. In this article, we are going to learn more about the career of Dan Pastorini.
Football Career
During the 1971 NFL Draft, Dan Pastorini was chosen by the Houston Oilers as their third overall pick. The draft was hailed as the “The Year of the Quarterback” because Pastorini took third behind Jim Plunket and Archie Manning.
Pastorini had perfect endurance because, throughout his football career from 1971 to 1979, Pastorini only missed five regular-season games. He had to play through broken ribs and even a punctured lung at some point. Pastorini was the first football player to ever wear the now-famous “flak jacket” under his uniform to protect his broken ribs.
Pastorini’s best season was in 1978 when he reached a career-high record of 2,473 yards and 16 touchdowns. During that year’s layoffs, Pastorini helped the Oilers win over the AFC East division champion New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins.
However, in 1979 Pastorini’s played last game as a Houston Oiler in a championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The following year, Bud Adams, the Oilers owner, decided to trade Pastorini to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for Ken Stabler.
Five weeks after Pastroni started the 1980 NFL season with Oakland, he managed to post a 2-2 record. However, Pastorini broke his leg while playing against the Kansas City Chiefs. The fans had been unhappy with his performance during the game, and they wanted to see backup Jim Plunkett instead; that is why they cheered when they saw Pastorini was hurt. Nevertheless, Pastorini still managed to complete 66 of 130 pass attempts of 932 yards, 8 INTS, and 5TDs as a Raider. In 1981, he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, and three years later, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Racing and Acting Career
When he is not playing football, Pastorini liked to race hydroplanes, drag-race cars, and even judge a wet T-shirt contest. Aside from that, Pastorini also starred in two movies, namely Killer Fish and The Florida Connection. He even starred in a TV show on NBC entitled “Voyagers!” and posed nude in an issue of Playgirl magazine.
During the mid-1980s, Pastoriini drove a Top Fuel dragster as a part of the NHRA Winston Drag Racing series. He collected a handful of national event victories and even first came in Atlanta during the NHRA Southern Nationals.
