Martin Francis Domres ( ; born April 17, 1947) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Domres played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in the AFL and NFL for nine seasons with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, and the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. Domres played college football at Columbia.

Early life

Marty Domres was born on April 17, 1947 in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. He and his family moved to

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

before settling in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

where he attended Christian Brothers Academy. Domres played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and football at Christian Brothers. Domres received several football scholarship offers, but and chose to attend

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in New York City.

College career

At Columbia, Domres joined a football team in the midst of a down period. The Lions went 2-7 in each of Domres' seasons, despite his record-breaking play. In 1966, he made his first start at quarterback as a sophomore against

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

opponents

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. Domres set an Ivy League passing record in the game with 326 passing yards and went 18 for 31 with three touchdowns. However, his performance was overshadowed by the 44-21 loss and Yale's Pete Doherty throwing for five touchdowns. In 1967, Domres earned All-Eastern Honorable Mention and set Columbia school records in total offensive yards (1,752), number of plays on offense (404), and total pass completions (121). He finished seventh overall in offensive yards and eighth overall in completions in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

. His stats for the season were 121 completions on 229 attempts for 1,378 yards. As a senior in 1968, Domres led the Ivy League in passing yards with 1,868 and finished his collegiate career as the league's career passing yards leader with 4,492 yards from 1966-1968. He was named to the 1968 All-Eastern Second Team and was seen as one of the top quarterbacks available in that year's professional draft.

Professional career

Domres was drafted with the ninth overall selection in the first round of the 1969 NFL/AFL draft by the

of the AFL. He was the second quarterback taken in the draft after the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

selected Greg Cook fifth overall. In his lone season in the AFL with San Diego, Domres served as the backup to established quarterback John Hadl. Domres replaced Hadl in fourth quarter the opening game of the season, a 27-9 loss to the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

, where he completed six of 14 passes. Domres earned his first professional start in a rematch with the Chiefs later that season after Hadl went down with an arm injury. He and the Chargers lost 27-3, with Domres throwing five interceptions. He earned a second career start two weeks later, winning 45-24 against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. Domres threw his first career touchdown, going 11-20 on passes with 235 yards and one touchdown. He split time with Hadl the rest of the season, and the Chargers missed the AFL playoffs with an 8-6 record. In 1970, the

AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, wh ...

became official and the Chargers joined the newly formed

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

in the NFL. Domres continued to backup Hadl, and in two starts he went 28-55 with 491 yards and two touchdowns. The Chargers went 5-6-3 and again missed the playoffs. The following season Domres only appeared in four games, with no starts, and threw one touchdown. With limited playing time behind Hadl, Domres requested a trade and was acquired by the

for John Andrews and a

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

first-round pick (25th overall–

Johnny Rodgers Johnny Steven Rodgers (born July 5, 1951) is an American former professional football player. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and won the Heisman Trophy in 1972. Rodgers played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) w ...

) on August 7, 1972. In Baltimore, Domres replaced

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Nicknamed "J ...

as the Colts starting quarterback beginning in week six of the 1972 season. John Sandusky had succeeded Don McCafferty as head coach and was ordered by general manager Joe Thomas to bench the veterans in favor of the younger players. Domres compiled his best professional season, with nine starts going 115-222 with 1,392 yards and 11 touchdown passes, adding 30 rushes for 137 yards and one touchdown. Domres left the week 12 game of the 1972 season against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

, appearing to be injured, but later claimed it was to allow Unitas to make his final appearance as a Colt. Unitas threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to

Eddie Hinton Eddie Hinton (15 June 1944 – 28 July 1995) was an American songwriter and session musician, best known for his work with soul music and R&B singers. He played lead guitar for Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section from 1969 to 1971 and after leaving t ...

, his final scoring throw with the team. The Colts won 35-7, and despite Unitas's brief return, Domres was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Week with three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in the game. Baltimore drafted

Bert Jones Bertram Hays Jones (born September 7, 1951) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. He was named the NFL Most Valuable Player ...

in the first round of the

1973 NFL draft The 1973 NFL draft was held January 30–31, 1973, at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Houston Oilers selected defensive end John Matuszak. Player selections Round one ...

, leading to an offseason quarterback controversy. Jones was named the starter for the season opener against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and remained at the helm for the first four weeks of the season. After a poor start, Colts' head coach Howard Schnellenberger made the switch to Domres, who led the team for the remainder of the season. The Colts finished 4-10 on the season, and Domres went 93-191 with 1,153 yards and nine touchdowns. Domres spent the next two seasons as the backup to Jones. In the weeks before the 1976 season began, the Colts traded Domres to the

for a 1978 draft choice (which became

Ernie Hughes Ernest Loyal Hughes Jr. (born January 24, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive lineman for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants. He was selec ...

). In San Francisco, Domres served as the third-choice quarterback behind Jim Plunkett and Scott Bull. Joe Thomas, the former Colts general manager who had traded away Domres, took over in the same role for the 49ers prior to the 1977 season. Thomas cut Domres from the 49ers roster in June 1977 and he subsequently signed with the

the next month. Domres played with the Jets for one season where he served as the back up to Richard Todd.

Personal life

Domres settled in the

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

area after his NFL career where he became a financial advisor. Despite only playing together for one year, he maintained a close relationship with Unitas until Unitas's death in 2002. Domres was inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Christian Brothers Academy LaSallian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He was inducted into the Columbia University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

References

External links