Mickey Marvin Kept Raiders Line Moving

When the greatest offensive line of all-time members began to retire late in the 1970s and early in the 1980s, the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders had to rebuild.

One of the players who stepped in and kept the line rolling was guard Mickey Marvin.

The 6-4, 270-pound Marvin was drafted by the Raiders in the fourth round (No. 112 overall) of the 1977 NFL Draft out of Tennessee after helping the Volunteers beat Maryland, 7-3, in the 1974 Liberty Bowl, being selected second-team All-American as a senior, making the All-Southeastern Conference team three straight years and playing in the 1977 East-West Shrine Game.

Marvin was a backup as a rookie, but he watched and learned from players such as left guard Gene Upshaw, a Future Hall of Famer, and in his second season he took over as the starting right guard and stayed there for nine years.

Despite playing at a high level for all those seasons and starting 108 of the 120 games, Marvin was like numerous other Raiders who didn’t receive the recognition they deserved because of the other great players around them.

However, Marvin saved perhaps his best performances to the biggest games.

In the 1980 AFC Championship Game, Marvin helped control the middle as the Raiders rushed for 138 yards and passed for 261 in a 34-27 upset of the San Diego Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium.

That sent the wild-card Raiders to Super Bowl XV, where Marvin outplayed nose tackle Charlie Johnson and also got in his shots against inside linebackers Bill Bergey and Frank LeMaster, as the Silver and Black rushed for 117 yards and passed for another 261 in a 27-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

During the 1983 AFC Championship Game, Marvin manhandled nose tackle Joe Nash plus inside linebackers Joe Norman and Keith Butler as the Raiders rushed for 205 yards and passed for 209 in a 30-14 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Then the Raiders routed the favored Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII, 38-9, at Tampa Stadium as Marvin overpowered heralded defensive tackle, Dave Butz, as the Silver and Black rushed for 231 yards and passed for 172 as Marcus Allen ran for 191 yards and touchdowns of five and 74 yards.

On Thursday before that Super Bowl, offensive line coach Sam Boghosian felt the Raiders weren’t practicing with enough intensity, so he went to linebacker Matt Millen and told him to start a fight.

Marvin jumped right in there.

“Sam Boghosian, our offensive line coach, said to me, ‘Come in on a blitz and start a fight,’” Millen recalled. “He told me, ‘I want to get something going.’ So I did it. I picked on Mickey. I was hoping Shelby Jordan wouldn’t pick me up—he’s 6-7 and 285—but Mickey jumped in there and got me, so I started a fight. All Mickey knew was that all of a sudden he was fighting for his life. It’s childish, I know, but it worked. It livened up the practice.”

Whatever it was, the Raiders didn’t let up for the rest of the week and took it to the Redskins.

After retiring from the Raiders after the 1987 season, Marvin joined the front office the following year and worked as a scout for the Silver and Black for 29 years.

Marvin passed away on March 6, 2017, in his hometown of Hendersonville, N.C., after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

“Mickey Marvin will be missed dearly by the Raider family and the entire NFL community,” Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie said in a statement. “He was a great man of faith, an exemplary teammate and co-worker for four decades, and was truly a Raider for life. Mickey was a tremendous asset to the Raiders, but most importantly he was a true friend. Our prayers are with his family at this time.”

Mickey Marvin was overlooked at times, but he won’t be forgotten by Raider Nation.

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