Record Snub Throws Him for Big Loss : Pro football: Tarkenton says he has been forgotten by the NFL as Marino approaches many of the Viking great's marks.

Record Snub Throws Him for Big Loss : Pro football: Tarkenton says he has been forgotten by the NFL as Marino approaches many of the Viking great’s marks.

By BILL PLASCHKE

Oct. 3, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When Dan Marino completes four passes in Miami on Sunday to claim the first of several major passing records he soon will hold, it will be a quiet passing of the torch.

Because the man who has held those records for the last 17 years will be absent, and with malice.

Fran Tarkenton said Monday that he has yet to speak to an NFL official regarding the breaking of some of football’s most glamorous records, which he has held since his retirement in 1978.

A plainly irritated Tarkenton said he has not been invited to attend any potential record-breaking game. He said nobody from the league office has contacted him about conducting media interviews concerning the record. He said he has never met Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Tarkenton says this treatment is indicative of a larger problem with a league hierarchy that spends too much time with judges and accountants to remember its former stars.

“These records are similar to Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, yet do you know how many calls I’ve gotten from the NFL about this?” Tarkenton asked from his Atlanta home Monday. “Zero. None. Zilch.”

Added Tarkenton, “I guess the people in New York are more worried about suing Jerry Jones or catching people cheating on the salary cap than about celebrating the players who made this game great. They are cheating Marino more than anybody. It’s comical.”

Marino will almost certainly break Tarkenton’s completion record of 3,686 on Sunday. In the coming weeks, others will fall.

Marino is eight touchdown passes from Tarkenton’s record of 342. He is 755 passing yards short of Tarkenton’s record of 47,003. He is 298 passes short of Tarkenton’s record of 6,467 thrown.

“No quarterback has ever played the game better than Dan Marino,” Tarkenton said. “He is a wonderful player and deserves everything he gets.”

Greg Aiello, NFL spokesman, said his office is still trying to involve Tarkenton. “Dan Marino’s record chase has been one of the themes of this season,” he said. “We’ve sent out releases every week on this topic, and Tarkenton’s name has been in every release.”

Harvey Greene, director of media relations for the Dolphins, said Miami General Manager Eddie Jones hopes to contact Tarkenton and invite him to games in which the touchdown record might be broken. It is the only mark that Marino wants to celebrate.

Tarkenton said he doesn’t mind losing the records. He is just surprised that more is not being made about Marino, and that nobody wants this old quarterback to share in the excitement.

“I’m a fan now, and this is great stuff for the fans,” he said. “Did you watch Cal Ripken’s night? Did you enjoy that? Of course you did.

“Does football ever think of things like that? Of course not. The heads of the commissioner and most of the owners are completely in the sand.”

Tarkenton said he was struck by the “hilarity” of the situation while watching Marino lead the Miami Dolphins to a comeback victory over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday.

“I’m watching it on . . . TV and all of a sudden they say Marino needs just six completions to break one of my records and it’s like, an afterthought,” Tarkenton said. “Don’t they realize that it’s players like Marino who stir the soul? Don’t they realize that the fabric of this league is still human beings?”

Tarkenton acknowledged that the football hierarchy emphasizes team accomplishments over individual achievement--unlike baseball or basketball--because the average NFL career is only four years.

“That’s fine, but that doesn’t mean you forget about the fans,” he added. “That doesn’t mean you don’t make time for great players and their accomplishments.”

Tarkenton, a business consultant and motivational speaker, said he feels worse for other former stars who are even more forgotten.

“How many people in this country do you think have ever heard of Sammy Baugh? How many?” he asked. “Not many. And that’s just not right.”

Tarkenton said an incident typical of his treatment by today’s NFL was a recent phone call from the Minnesota Vikings, with whom he spent 13 of his 18 seasons, leading them to three Super Bowl appearances.

“They wanted me to come back for a 35th reunion, but they had an assistant from the publicity office call me, some kid I never even heard of,” he said. “All I did for that organization . . . I was insulted.”

Tarkenton said he has never met the president of the Vikings, Roger Headrick.

“Roger Headrick is the Pillsbury Doughboy,” he said, referring to Headrick’s business background. “What love does he have for the game? He’s not even a football guy. There’s too many guys like that owning teams.”

Tarkenton, however, is scheduled to appear in the Twin Cities in November for a team charity function.

Tarkenton also said a former Viking publicity director, Merrill Swanson, phoned him recently with word that the league would like him to participate in a media conference call.

“I was surprised the league didn’t call me themselves, but I said fine, have the league call me, I’ll set it up,” Tarkenton said. “I haven’t heard from them since.”

The Dolphins’ Greene said the team has had difficulty contacting the sometimes reclusive Tarkenton, who was recently sued in Minneapolis by investors who claim he gave them misleading information.

“We, the Dolphins, want him here, and as soon as we can talk to him, we’ll invite him,” Greene said. “It’s not like we’re going to have Danny do a lap around the field or anything, but we will stop the game.”