Joseph Michael Bellino (March 13, 1938 – March 27, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots. He played college football for the Navy Midshipmen, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
Early life
Bellino was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, attended the town's public schools, and was a three-sport star at Winchester High School. In baseball he batted well over .400 and was courted by major league teams. He was offered a contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates after high school.
The basketball team on which he starred won the state championship his sophomore and junior years. They moved up to the Class A (largest schools) tournament his senior year, where the team's 55-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of much larger B.M.C. Durfee High School of Fall River.
He was a dominant halfback on Winchester's outstanding football team, although his senior season was shortened by the 1955 polio epidemic. He was recruited by several Big Ten schools, Notre Dame, Ivy League schools as well as the U.S. Military Academy, but his first choice all along was Navy.
Bellino also played for the Providence Steamrollers semi-pro team in Providence, Rhode Island.
Bellino is the only past Heisman Trophy winning running back to have played for the Patriots. He caught a 15-yard pass from past Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte in the Patriots 38–14 rout of the Houston Oilers on December 11, 1966. Bellino caught a deflected pass on his back that allowed the Patriots to continue a drive that resulted in a touchdown in their 14–3 win over the Buffalo Bills in "The Game" at Fenway Park on December 4, 1966.
He had the Patriots longest kickoff return in 1966 and caught a 25-yard TD pass in the Patriots 20–10 win over the Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium on October 8, 1966.
Bellino was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1968 AFL expansion draft.
After football
Bellino served a total of 28 years in the United States Navy and the Naval Reserve, and retired with the rank of captain.
After the close of his playing career, he was a successful businessman in the Boston area, where he was also active in charitable organizations. He and his wife, Ann Tansey, had two children, Therese and John, and lived in Bedford, Massachusetts. Bellino Park in Winchester was dedicated in his honor in November 2004.
Bellino died on March 27, 2019, at the age of 81. Since the start of the team's 2019 season, Bellino's #27 jersey number is painted upon the field at each 27 yard line of Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in memoriam.