Joseph Michael Bellino was born in March 13, 1938 in the Boston suburb of Winchester, Massachusetts. He batted over .400 on the Winchester High School baseball team, and was offered a contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He led its basketball team to a 55-game winning streak, including State Championships in his sophomore and junior years (1954 and '55).
Football was his best sport, but 1955 was the year of both the Salk polio vaccine and the last major outbreak of polio in America, which hit Massachusetts hard enough that the high school football season was cut short.
He was in high demand. Notre Dame wanted Joe Bellino -- naturally, since he was a great high school football player and a Catholic. Big Ten schools wanted him -- probably because their non-conference neighbor, Notre Dame, did. And both the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland wanted him.
He chose Navy, who (this was legal, and it still is) first sent him to the Columbian Academy in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. He spent the 1956-57 schoolyear there, and then entered the Academy, playing both baseball and football. In his senior year, 1960, he rushed for 834 yards, caught 15 passes for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns, threw 2 option passes for touchdowns, and averaging 47.1 punting yards.
Navy went 9-2, including victories away to Boston College and Washington (which was then ranked Number 3 in the country), and trips to Municipal Stadium (later John F. Kennedy Stadium) in Philadelphia to beat both Notre Dame and Army, his interception at the goal line ensuring the latter. Their only regular-season loss was 19-10 away to Number 15 Duke. They were ranked Number 4 and invited to the Orange Bowl. Despite a Bellino touchdown, they lost 21-14 to Number 5 Missouri.
Cover issued after the Army-Navy Game,
but before the Orange Bowl. Jinx?
The Heisman Trophy voting was not close: Bellino received over 1,000 more votes than the runner-up, Minnesota offensive lineman Tom Brown (who never played pro ball). Other contenders were Mississippi quarterback (and later Yankee catcher) Jake Gibbs, UCLA running back (turned Washington Redskin quarterback) Billy Kiler, Pittsburgh tight end (and later Chicago Bears player and coach) Mike Ditka, and Ohio State quarterback (turned Baltimore Colts running back) Tom Matte.
Bellino also received the other major player of the year award, the Maxwell Award. He was Navy's 1st Heisman winner, and has since been followed only by Roger Staubach in 1963. Army won it with Doc Blanchard in 1945, Glenn Davis in 1946 and Pete Dawkins in 1958. The Air Force Academy has never won it. And there is no separate academy for the Marine Corps: The Department of the Navy assigns it officers who've graduated from Annapolis, in addition to the enlistees it gets.
The Academy retired his Number 27, and later named Bellino Auditorium for him, which he called his greatest honor. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
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Upon his graduation in 1961, Ensign Joseph W. Bellino married high school classmate Ann Tansey, and began to fulfill his service obligation. Because it was known he would do so, he wasn't selected in the NFL Draft until the 17th round, by the Redskins. Since the Draft now has only 7 rounds, this guarantees that he will remain the lowest-drafted Heisman Trophy winner ever. He was also drafted in the 19th round of the AFL Draft by his hometown team, then known as the Boston Patriots. (They took the "New England" name when they moved to Foxboro in 1971.)
The early AFL was an administrative and commercial mess, and its teams often sought out hometown and home-State heroes. But that wasn't the only reason the Pats wanted him. Their head coach was Mike Holovak, a former Boston College star who became their head coach. In 1959, Holovak was coaching BC when Navy beat them thanks to a 50-yard run by Bellino that Holovak called "the greatest do-it-yourself run I ever saw."
Bellino served during the Vietnam War, but, unlike Dawkins, who was born just 5 days before him and eventually rose to the rank of Brigadier General, he did not serve in combat. He rose to the rank of full Lieutenant having served on the minesweeper USS Albatross, and was discharged in 1965
He signed with the Patriots, playing 3 seasons for them, specializing in kick returns. But an ankle injury and a hamstring injury curtailed his pro career. He scored just 1 touchdown, a 25-yard reception in a 20-10 win over the Buffalo Bills in 1966.
He became a high school head coach, raised money for veterans' causes, and never missed a Heisman Trophy presentation. Doug Flutie, New England's next Heisman winner (Boston College, 1984) said, "He loved being a part of that fraternity. He was a class individual who gave back."
One of the assistant coaches at Navy while Bellino was there was Steve Belichick, father of Patriots coach Bill. "Joe was my first hero and football inspiration," Bill said. "His standard of excellence was a great example for me." (Apparently, Bellino and Steve Belichick never told Bill Belichick that the Academy frowned on cheating. Or, if they did, Bill didn't listen.)
He lived in Bedford, Massachusetts, and was an executive with automobile auction company ADESA Boston. He and wife Ann had a son John, who also graduated from the Naval Academy and has the rank of Captain, and a daughter Therese. They had 3 grandchildren.
Joe Bellino died of stomach cancer on March 27, 2019, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. He was 81 years old.
The 1st Navy Heisman winner inspired the 2nd. No less than Roger Staubach, a Cincinnati native who had his pick of schools as a high school quarterback, said that Bellino was the reason he wanted to go to the Naval Academy: "He was as good as it gets as a person. I idolized him."
UPDATE: Bellino's final resting place is not publicly known.
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