Dan Pastorini

Pastorini played college football at Santa Clara University and received second-team honors on the 1970 Little All-America college football team.^[1]

Pastorini also played college baseball and was drafted straight out of high school by the New York Mets in the 32nd round of 1967 MLB draft (599 overall)^[2] along with future Saints quarterback Archie Manning, but ultimately decided to play football.

Pastorini was drafted by the Houston Oilers^[3] in the first round (third overall) of the 1971 NFL draft out of Santa Clara University. The draft was dubbed "The Year of the Quarterback" with Pastorini taken third behind Jim Plunkett (first) and Archie Manning (second).

Pastorini was known as a tough quarterback throughout his career.^{[citation needed]} From 1971 through 1979, Pastorini missed only five regular season games, playing through broken ribs and even a punctured lung at times. He was the first player to wear the now ubiquitous "flak jacket" under his uniform to protect broken ribs. He did not play behind what would be considered a quality offensive line until 1977, when the Oilers hired Joe Bugel as offensive line coach and brought in players like Greg Sampson and, later, Leon Gray. By 1978, the Oilers had a running game with the drafting of future Hall of Famer Earl Campbell.

Pastorini was also named to the 1975 AFC Pro Bowl Team. Pastorini's best season came in 1978 when he threw for a career-high 2,473 yards and 16 touchdowns. In the 1978 playoffs, Pastorini fared very well, helping lead the Oilers to wins over the Miami Dolphins and AFC East division champion New England Patriots.

Pastorini's last game as a Houston Oiler was the 1979 AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game which many Oilers fans contended was decided when the officials blew a call on a Mike Renfro touchdown reception. Instant replay rules were not in effect at the time, so the play could not be reviewed as it would be in the present day. The best replay angles NBC could provide of the play show Renfro clearly catching the ball and getting both feet in the endzone with no juggling. It was not clear to the referees but was clear to some viewers of the game that Renfro had complete control of the ball when he hit the ground. His feet according to the replays were both in bounds when he had possession of the ball. The play was a major turning point in the momentum of the game, which resulted in a Steeler victory.

Later in 1980, Oilers owner, Bud Adams, traded Pastorini to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for an aging Ken Stabler who was three years Pastorini's senior.

Five weeks into the 1980 season with Oakland, after posting a 2–2 record, Pastorini broke his leg against the Kansas City Chiefs. The fans, who had been unhappy with his performance and wanted to see backup Jim Plunkett, cheered when they realized he was hurt. Plunkett, a Heisman Trophy winner out of Stanford, and former starting quarterback for the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers, had been with the Raiders as a backup quarterback since 1978. He took over and led the Raiders to a Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in January 1981.

Pastorini raced hydroplanes, drag-raced cars, judged wet T-shirt contests, starred in a 1975 movie called Weed: The Florida Connection (with then -wife June Wilkinson), and co-starred in a 1979 Lee Majors movie Killer Fish. He also played a role in the TV series Voyagers! as a gladiator, and posed nude in 1980 for Playgirl magazine. Dian Hanson reported that Pastorini frequented Plato's Retreat at the height of his career in the 1970s.^[4]

Pastorini drove a Top Fuel dragster as part of the NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series in the mid-1980s. He won many individual races at national events, but claimed only one event championship in 1986 at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, finishing seventh in NHRA Championship Points that year. He was the third man to break the 270-mph barrier in a Top Fuel Dragster.^[5] He also participated in the 2009 Lamborghini Race located at Sebring International Raceway.^[6]

Pastorini met glamor model June Wilkinson in 1972. She was nine years older, and British, and appeared in Playboy magazine in the 1960s. They married in 1973, had one child, a daughter named Brahna, and divorced in 1982. Wilkinson died on July 21, 2025.^[7]

An April 2013 resolution by the Texas State Legislature declared Pastorini an Honorary Texan.^[8] In January 2012, on The Jim Rome Radio Show, Pastorini recalled a story how then-Raider owner Al Davis completely blew him off in the locker room after a game. "He sneered at me" said Pastorini. Pastorini then went on to say that, "when he (Davis) passed away, I wasn't sad to see him go."^[9][10] Pastorini currently lives and works in Houston. His autobiography, Taking Flak: My Life in the Fast Lane, was released in November 2011.^[11]