View source for Gino Torretta

{{Short description|American football player (born 1970)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Gino Torretta
| image       = Gino.torretta.jpg
| alt         = Head-and-shoulders photo of Gino Torretta, 23-year-old white male, in sweat-stained heather grey athletic t-shirt.
| caption     = Torretta in 1993
| number      = 13
| position    = [[Quarterback]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1970|8|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Pinole, California]], U.S.
| death_date  =
| death_place = 
| height_ft   = 6
| height_in   = 2
| weight_lb   = 215
| high_school = [[Pinole Valley High School|Pinole Valley]]
| college     = [[Miami Hurricanes football|Miami]] (1989–1992)
| draftyear   = 1993
| draftround  = 7
| draftpick   = 192
| pastteams   =
* [[Minnesota Vikings]] ({{NFL Year|1993}})
* [[Detroit Lions]] ({{NFL Year|1994}})
* [[Rhein Fire (NFL Europe)|Rhein Fire]] ({{NFLE Year|1995}})
* [[San Francisco 49ers]] ({{NFL Year|1995}}–{{NFL Year|1996}})
* [[Seattle Seahawks]] (1996–{{NFL Year|1997}})
* [[Indianapolis Colts]] (1997)
* [[Kansas City Chiefs]] ({{NFL Year|1999}})*
| highlights  =
* 2× [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|National champion]] ([[1989 Miami Hurricanes football team|1989]], [[1991 Miami Hurricanes football team|1991]])
* [[Heisman Trophy]] (1992)
* [[Maxwell Award]] (1992)
* [[Walter Camp Award]] (1992)
* [[Chic Harley Award]] (1992)
* [[Davey O'Brien Award]] (1992)
* [[Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award]] (1992)
* [[List of unanimous All-Americans in college football|Unanimous All-American]] ([[1992 College Football All-America Team|1992]])
* 2× [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East]] Player of the Year (1991, 1992)
| statlabel1  = Passing attempts
| statvalue1  = 16
| statlabel2  = Passing completions
| statvalue2  = 5
| statlabel3  = Completion percentage
| statvalue3  = 31.3%
| statlabel4  = [[Touchdown|TD]]–[[Interception|INT]]
| statvalue4  = 1–1
| statlabel5  = Passing yards
| statvalue5  = 41
| statlabel6  = [[Passer rating]]
| statvalue6  = 35.4
| pfr         = ToreGi00
| CollegeHOF  = 2247 
}}

'''Gino Louis Torretta''' (born August 10, 1970) is an American former [[American football|football]] player who was a [[quarterback]] for five seasons in the [[National Football League]] (NFL). He played [[college football]] for the [[Miami Hurricanes football|Miami Hurricanes]], where he won the [[Heisman Trophy]] in 1992 and was a member of the [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS|national championship]] teams of 1989 and 1991. He was selected by the [[Minnesota Vikings]] in the seventh round of the [[1993 NFL draft]] and was a member of several NFL teams, but never became a regular starter as a pro. He was inducted into the [[College Football Hall of Fame]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=4116674 | title=Brown, Torretta in new Hall class | work=ESPN.com | date=April 30, 2009 | access-date=December 17, 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Torretta was born in [[Pinole, California]]. He graduated from [[Pinole Valley High School]], where he was a standout [[high school football]] quarterback for the Pinole Spartans.

==College career==
Torretta accepted an [[athletic scholarship]] to attend the [[University of Miami]], where he played for the [[Miami Hurricanes football]] team from 1989 to 1992.

===1989 and 1990 seasons===
{{see also|1989 Miami Hurricanes football team|1990 Miami Hurricanes football team}}
As a quarterback for the Hurricanes, Torretta spent his first two seasons mostly on the bench behind then starting quarterback [[Craig Erickson]], with his only significant playing time coming with three starts in 1989 after Erickson injured his throwing hand. During that span, however, the then-unknown Torretta lit up [[San Diego State]] for 485 yards, setting a school record for most passing yards in a game that was only broken on September 29, 2012, by Stephen Morris.

====Sebastian the Ibis incident====
Prior to an October 28, 1989, game against long-standing rival [[Florida State Seminoles football|Florida State]] at [[Doak Campbell Stadium]] in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]], University of Miami mascot [[Sebastian the Ibis]] was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out [[Osceola and Renegade]]'s flaming spear. Sebastian was wearing a fireman's helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer attempted to grab the fire extinguisher, the officer was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by four officers and detained but ultimately released. Torretta, who started that game for Miami, later told [[ESPN]], "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'"<ref>{{cite web | last=Adelson | first=Andrea | title=The true story of Sebastian the Ibis, a fire extinguisher and a near arrest | website=ESPN.com | date=2019-10-30 | url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27949666/the-true-story-sebastian-ibis-fire-extinguisher-arrest | access-date=2025-06-14}}</ref>

===1991 season===
{{see also|1991 Miami Hurricanes football team}}

In his first year as a starter, Torretta garnered further attention by stealing the show in a nationally televised 1991 game versus the [[Houston Cougars football|Houston Cougars]] and their Heisman-frontrunning quarterback, [[David Klingler]]. As Miami's defense stymied Houston's run-and-shoot offense with relentless blitzing, Torretta put on the performance that many expected out of Klingler en route to a 40–10 victory; Klingler's lone touchdown pass in the game came with three seconds left in the fourth quarter against Miami's third-string defense, long after the game was decided.  Torretta went on to lead Miami to a fourth-quarter comeback win on the road versus #1 [[1991 Florida State Seminoles football team|Florida State]] and ultimately to an undefeated season and a co-national championship.

===1992 season===
{{see also|1992 Miami Hurricanes football team}}

Torretta passed for more than 3,000 yards his senior year in 1992 on his way to winning the [[Heisman Trophy]] and the [[Davey O'Brien Award]] that season. He also won the [[Walter Camp Award]], the [[Maxwell Award]], the [[Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award|Johnny Unitas Trophy]], and the [[Chic Harley Award]]. One of the key games of the season came against [[West Virginia Mountaineers football|West Virginia]] when he threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns in the 35–23 victory. His career as quarterback at Miami was hugely successful, with Torretta leading the team to 26 wins and only one loss, which came in the [[1993 Sugar Bowl]] where the Hurricanes were dominated by the [[1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama Crimson Tide]]'s defense. Torretta was flummoxed by Alabama's 11-man fronts, and threw three interceptions after only throwing four all season. Alabama won the game, 34–13, and the national championship.

===College statistics===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! Season !! Team !! Cmp !! Att !! Pct !! Yds !! TD !! Int
|-
! [[1989 NCAA Division I-A football season|1989]] || [[1989 Miami Hurricanes football team|Miami]]
| 101 || 177 || 57.1 || 1,325 || 8 || 8
|-
! [[1990 NCAA Division I-A football season|1990]] || [[1990 Miami Hurricanes football team|Miami]]
| 21 || 41 || 51.2 || 210 || 0 || 1
|-
! [[1991 NCAA Division I-A football season|1991]] || [[1991 Miami Hurricanes football team|Miami]]
| 205 || 371 || 55.3 || 3,095 || 20 || 8
|-
! [[1992 NCAA Division I-A football season|1992]] || [[1992 Miami Hurricanes football team|Miami]]
| 228 || 402 || 56.7 || 3,060 || 19 || 7
|}

==Professional career==

===1993–1994===
{{NFL predraft
|    height ft = 6
|    height in = 2
|       weight = 219
|     vertical = 31.0
|     arm span = 29 3/8
|    hand span = 9 3/8
}}

Despite his collegiate-level success, Torretta was not regarded as a high-level NFL prospect, and his NFL career was unremarkable. He was selected by the [[Minnesota Vikings]] in the seventh round in the 1993 NFL Draft. Torretta did not appear in an NFL game that season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1993 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1993/draft.htm |access-date=2023-03-31 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> In 1994, Torretta was on the Vikings' roster, and then was picked up by the [[Detroit Lions]]. Again, he did not play at all that year, serving the entire season in a backup role with the Lions.

===1995–1999===
In 1995, Torretta moved to [[NFL Europa|NFL Europe]] and was also on the roster for the [[San Francisco 49ers]] and [[Detroit Lions]] but was again relegated to backup roles. He was cut by the 49ers in 1996 and subsequently picked up by the [[Seattle Seahawks]]. His only chance to play in an NFL game came in the 1996 season finale when he came off the bench for the Seahawks against the [[Oakland Raiders]]. He immediately threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to [[Joey Galloway]] that put Seattle ahead, leading the team to victory.

In 1997, Torretta was on the roster for Seattle and later the [[Indianapolis Colts]] but again did not play. After a brief stint with Kansas City in 1999, he retired from the NFL.

==Post-football career==
Torretta followed his NFL career with a position at [[Wachovia Securities]] as a senior financial advisor. He is chairman and CEO of Touchdown Radio, broadcasting an NCAA game of the week on national radio. He is also an NCAA football expert on [[Sirius XM]] channel 91, College Sports Nation.

Torretta is vice president for GAMCO Asset Management, working with institutional clients nationwide and working out of the firm's [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] office.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Twitter}}
* {{College Football HoF|2247}}
* {{Heisman|gino-torretta}}
* {{Footballstats |nfl=gino-torretta |espn= |cbs= |yahoo= |fox= |si= |pfr=T/ToreGi00 |rotoworld= }}

{{Miami Hurricanes quarterback navbox}}
{{Rhein Fire quarterback navbox}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Gino Torretta—championships, awards and honors
| list1 =
{{1989 Miami Hurricanes football navbox}}
{{1991 Miami Hurricanes football navbox}}
{{Heisman Winners}}
{{Walter Camp Award}}
{{Maxwell Award Winners}}
{{Johnny Unitas Award winners}}
{{Davey O'Brien Award}}
{{1992 NCAA Division I-A College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Vikings1993DraftPicks}}
}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Torretta, Gino}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:All-American college football players]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:College football announcers]]
[[Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Detroit Lions players]]
[[Category:Heisman Trophy winners]]
[[Category:Indianapolis Colts players]]
[[Category:Maxwell Award winners]]
[[Category:Miami Hurricanes football players]]
[[Category:Minnesota Vikings players]]
[[Category:People from Pinole, California]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:Rhein Fire players]]
[[Category:San Francisco 49ers players]]
[[Category:Seattle Seahawks players]]
[[Category:Walter Camp Award winners]]