The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Darnold ‘a lot like’ late Marlboro Man grandfather
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Sam Darnold was only 2 years old when his grandfather passed away, so he never got to know the Marlboro Man.
Dick Hammer left behind a legacy of larger-than-life tales, though, and the New York Jets’ newest quarterback has heard them all. Family gatherings have been filled with the stories of Hammer’s athletic accomplishments as a college basketball player and a U.S Olympian in volleyball, his bravery as a firefighter and his creative side as an actor.
“My mom always tells me how much I remind her of him,” Darnold said Friday during his introductory news conference as the No. 3 overall pick of the NFL draft at the Jets’ training facility.
Darnold’s mother Chris, sitting in the front row with her husband Mike and daughter Franki, wiped tears from her eyes as Sam mentioned his late grandfather.
“When Sam was really little, we used to tease him because we would say he got all the DNA because he could do anything,” said Chris Darnold, wearing a Jets cap. “He was big like his dad, got his dad’s girth. He got my dad’s agility and athletic ability. My dad was the type of person that could pick up a game by just watching someone play. “Sam’s a lot like that.” Hammer was 69 when he died in October 1999, just four months after Sam’s second birthday. He played basketball at USC and helped lead the Trojans to the 1954 Final Four. Hammer picked up volleyball after his hoops days were over and ended up making the United
States’ 1964 Olympic volleyball team that competed in Tokyo.
He was a captain in the L.A. County Fire Department and played Captain Dick Hammer — yep, named after himself — in the first season of the 1970’s television drama “Emergency!” Hammer also landed a gig as the cowboy hat-wearing
Marlboro Man in the cigarette company’s advertising campaigns, despite not being a smoker.
It is that innate ability to pick up anything and excel at it that Darnold’s mom has always seen in her son, who was also a terrific basketball player in high school.
“An example was when (Sam) played in a volleyball tournament with my daughter, who was playing in college (at Rhode Island) at the time and she was missing
out on a partner for co-ed doubles,” Chris said. “He was all like, `Uh, sure, OK, I’ll go play some volleyball.’ We’re watching them play and they got to the playoffs and he’s doing all these dinking serves and playing like he’s been playing his whole life. That is a lot of what my Dad was like.”
Dick Hammer would certainly think his grandson is a chip off the old block. And, Darnold now has a chance to create his own
legacy.
Coach Todd Bowles said Thursday night after New York drafted Darnold that the team won’t necessarily throw him into the fire, but also won’t hold him back. That means the rookie could have a chance at starting if he can beat out veterans Josh McCownand Teddy Bridgewater.
“There’s a ton of room for growth, and that’s the thing I’m really excited about,” Darnold said.