Bob Talmini, an offensive lineman on the New York Jets’ Super Bowl winning team in 1969, died on May 30 after eight seasons with the Houston Oilers. He was 83 years old.
Citing his family, the Jets announce Talamini’s death Saturday night on their website. No cause of death was provided, but there was an obituary posted by Getz Funeral Home. In Las Cruces, New Mexico, said a service to Talamini would be held Monday at the St. Albert the Great Newman Center.
Talamini was a six-time AFL All-Star selection for Houston, helping the Oilers win the championship in the league’s first two seasons after dropping out of Kentucky in 1959. He ended his career playing one season with New York, helping Joe Namath and the Jets win the franchise’s first – and still only – Super Bowl.
“Without Talamini, we don’t win,” Namath told the Associated Press in an interview last year. “Maybe we didn’t even get there. But we can’t win without Bob Talmini.”
Talamini was born on January 8, 1939, in Louisville, Kentucky, where he became a football standout at Xavier High School before playing in Kentucky. He was among the first draft picks in Oilers history and established himself as a dependable and durable blocker, anchoring a line in front of a pair of future Pro Football Hall of Famers at quarterback George Blanda and halfback Billy Cannon. .
A three-time All-AFL First Team selection with the Oilers, Talamini asked for his release after the 1967 season after he refused a request for a new contract. His playing career appeared uncertain until the Jets sent the Oilers a third-round draft pick to acquire Tlamini.
“The first day I saw Bob Talmini, he came to training camp in late July or early August, and we’re going to play our first exhibition game and we’re loading the buses and he comes out with a turtleneck. Have to wear a sweater,” Namath said with a laugh. “I just couldn’t believe it. It was like 90, 95 degrees and he made that turtleneck look like a fake turtle because it didn’t have a neck.
“She had just shoulders and a short neck—and a boy’s bull.”
Tlamini played in every game for the Jets during the 1968 season and started on left guard during the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Colts—a 16-7 victory driven by the offensive line and New York’s running game, which ran for 142 yards.
“He was one of the best kept secrets for us,” Namath said. “And he doesn’t get much recognition for what Tlamini did that year.”
Talmini’s playing career ended with a Super Bowl victory, and he worked in the financial consulting business for several years after football. He also served as the president of the Houston Touchdown Club and the president of the NFL Alumni Association.
Talamini is survived by his wife Mary Will, children Robin, Bob Jr., Tina, Tony, John, Juliana and Migne’, 14 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, sister Nancy Raterman and first wife Charlene Talamini Legler.
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