# Gary Cuozzo

Gary Samuel Cuozzo (born April 26, 1941) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers. After football, he had a career as an orthodontist, and spoke publicly to youth about the dangers of drug abuse, after the death of his son in a drug related shooting.

## Early life

Cuozzo was born on April 26, 1941, in Montclair, New Jersey, and grew up in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He lettered in football, basketball and track at Glen Ridge High School. As a senior, he received All-State recognition as a football and basketball player, and he led both teams to state championships. In 1959, Cuozzo won state titles in discus and shot put.

## Football career

Cuozzo was widely recruited and received a scholarship to the University of Virginia. Cuozzo played quarterback at the University of Virginia from 1960 to 1962. He was named the UPI “Back of the Week” on multiple occasions in 1961 and 1962. He was a pre-med student, had a 3.68 grade point average, was a member of the Dean's list, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
An undrafted quarterback after the University of Virginia, Cuozzo played in 10 NFL seasons from 1963 to 1972. He began his NFL career on the Baltimore Colts as a backup to NFL legend Johnny Unitas. In 1963, he roomed with childhood hero, future Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Raymond Berry, with whom he would later hold summer camps for children along with Green Bay Packers receiver Carroll Dale.
When Unitas was injured in 1965, Cuozzo replaced him and in his first start set a new NFL record for most touchdown passes in one game, with five (two to Jimmy Orr, one to Berry, one to hall of famer Lenny Moore and one to Willie Richardson). After he was sidelined by injury as well a few games later, coach Don Shula resorted to using running back Tom Matte as quarterback, all the way to the 1965 NFL championship game against the Packers.
After being Unitas's backup again in 1966, Cuozzo asked to be traded. On March 6, 1967, the Colts traded Cuozzo to the expansion New Orleans Saints, as part of a deal that also sent offensive lineman Butch Allison to the Saints in exchange for a 1967 first round draft pick (#1-Bubba Smith), a 1967 third round pick (#54-Norman Davis), a 1969 seventh round pick (#163-Gary Fleming) and center Bill Curry. Cuozzo became the first starting quarterback in the franchise's history. However, the trade was disastrous for New Orleans, which gave away the first overall pick in the 1967 NFL draft to the Colts, who used it to select Michigan State All-American Bubba Smith, who became an All-Pro three times and was Baltimore's starting left defensive end in Super Bowl III and V. Curry was an All-Pro center for the Colts in 1971 and 1972, and was the starting center for the Colts in Super Bowls III and V.
After losing the Saints' starting job later in 1967 to Billy Kilmer, Cuozzo was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in January 1968. He became the Vikings' starting quarterback in 1970 when Joe Kapp, the team's Most Valuable Player in 1969, held out and was traded to the Boston Patriots. In his first game as a Vikings, Cuozzo lead the team to a 27–10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of Super Bowl IV. Cuozzo was named the NFC Player of the Week in a week 7 game against the Detroit Lions.
The 1970 Vikings posted the NFL's best regular season record at 12–2, but lost in an NFC Divisional playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers at home. In 1971, Cuozzo could not hold on to his starting job, sharing duties with Norm Snead and Bob Lee (who was the team's punter as well as its number 3 quarterback). The Vikings went 11–3 in the regular season and lost in the divisional playoffs at home to the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. Prior to the 1972 season, the Vikings reacquired Fran Tarkenton from the New York Giants, with Snead and the Vikings' leading receiver from 1971, Bob Grim, going to the Big Apple. Tarkenton played his first six seasons (1961–66) in Minnesota, coinciding with the Vikings' first six seasons in the NFL.
Cuozzo was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in the deal which sent fleet wide receiver John Gilliam to the Vikings. Cardinals coach Bob Hollway was familiar with Cuozzo, having served as Minnesota's defensive coordinator under Bud Grant prior to leaving for St. Louis in 1971. Cuozzo was part of a chaotic four-quarterback rotation with Jim Hart (started three games), Pete Beathard, and Tim Van Galder (started five games) in 1972, with Cuozzo starting six games, but when Don Coryell took over as Cardinals coach in 1973, he named Hart the undisputed starter, and he would hold the job fulltime to 1980, and then part time until 1983.

## After football

Cuozzo's father Pasquale was a dentist, and his brother Jack would become an orthodontist. In between NFL seasons, Cuozzo studied dentistry at the University of Tennessee and orthodontics at Loyola University of Chicago. Following his retirement from football, Cuozzo moved to Middletown Township, New Jersey, to start an orthodontics practice, which he operated for 28 years.
In 1990, his oldest son Gary Jr., a/k/a Chip, was murdered in Miami during a drug deal, and Cuozzo later began speaking to teens in high schools about avoiding drugs. Much of what he said came from what he learned spending time with Raymond Berry, and Berry's faith and deep care for others. Cuozzo served as national chairman of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes from 1995 to 1998.