Dan DiMartino, left, and Scott McGhee, football teammates at Eastern Illinois University in the late 1970s, shared some memories at DiMartino’s home in Batavia on Saturday. Photo by Mike Pettinella/For Video News Service.
BY MIKE PETTINELLA
For Video News Service
Before forming a Hall of Fame connection with wide receiver Andre Reed during the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl era, Jim Kelly was slinging passes for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League.
One of his top wideouts during the 1984 and 1985 seasons was a 5-foot-9, 180-pound Chicago area native by the name of Scott McGhee, who was signed out of the Canadian Football League after an All-American career at Eastern Illinois University.
While at EIU, McGhee’s roomed with the squad’s kicker, Batavian Dan DiMartino, a Notre Dame High School graduate who kicked a field goal and extra point in the Panthers’ 10-9 win over Delaware in the 1978 NCAA Division II national championship game.
The former teammates – and lifelong friends – got together this weekend at DiMartino’s home before McGhee took part in the annual Kelly for Kids Foundation festivities, which will be capped off by the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic on Monday at Terry Hills Golf Course in Batavia.
Terry Hills has hosted the fundraiser for disadvantaged and disabled youth in Western New York since 2006.
For those who remember the USFL, Kelly was the “gunslinging” rookie QB out of the University of Miami who feasted on opposing defenses by throwing to a talented receiving corps known as “The Mouseketeers.”
They were given that name in honor of the team’s offensive coordinator, Darrel “Mouse” Davis, who is widely regarded as the godfather of the run-and-shoot offense.
“The name just came up, somebody wrote it, obviously, because we were little guys,” McGhee said. “We were all small. Ricky Sanders was a little bit taller than us – maybe 5-foot-10. One of the newspapers came out with this Mouseketeers thing and it just stuck because of Mouse Davis.”
McGhee was the third-leading receiver for the Gamblers in 1984, catching 40 passes for 637 yards and five touchdowns. In 1985, he snagged 47 passes for 671 yards and three touchdowns.
Two members of that unit, Richard Johnson and Sanders, caught 115 and 101 passes, respectively, in 1984, helping the Gamblers to become the first pro football team ever to have two receivers with more than 100 receptions in a single season.
Both Johnson (Detroit Lions) and Sanders (Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons) went on to have exceptional careers in the NFL, as did Clarence Verdin (Indianapolis Colts) and Gerald McNeil (Cleveland Browns).
For McGhee, his road to Houston followed four years at EIU, a few months with the Chicago Bears and two years with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
“I was looking to get back to the NFL and that’s when the USFL started – and that’s where I met Jim (Kelly),” he said. “They put together a great football team – Ricky Sanders, Richard Johnson, Gerald O’Neil and myself. We had a fantastic ballclub.
“It was a great time with the run-and-shoot offense with Mouse Davis and Jack Pardee as our coach, from the Bears. I was kind of sorry to see the end of it but everybody went back and played in the NFL … and Jim (Kelly), of course, came to Buffalo.”
With Kelly behind center, the Gamblers scored 618 points in 1984, shattering the USFL record set the previous season by 162 points. In Kelly’s two USFL seasons, he passed for 9,842 yards and 83 touchdowns.
Unfortunately for McGhee, a knee injury prevented him from resuming a career in the NFL with the Bears, who held his rights.
McGhee has gone on to find success in the entertainment industry, working alongside such notable acts as Motley Crue, The Scorpions, Bon Jovi early in their respective careers before signing Skid Row to his first management deal.
A Nashville, Tenn., resident, he also has managed Blues Traveler, Liz Phair, Tracy Bonham, Darius Rucker, Clay Walker and Chris Cagle.
He said he considered it “a privilege and honor” to be invited to participate in the Kelly for Kids Foundation event.
McGhee also said he was fortunate to have such a great teammate in DiMartino, whom he called “special.”
“I’ve been around a lot of athletes my entire life, but he had a whole special program; truly a kicker’s program,” he recalled. “From preparation to – all he wanted to do was kick. A great friend to the family and team and probably one of the most reliable kickers I ever played with.”
Great story! I am pretty sure Danny led the nation in kicking. You gotta get a hold of former Batavian Tom Lowe. And do a story on his sion. His son is playing professional baseball.