MORRISTOWN, N.J. -- Friday is Red and Black day at Morristown High School in support of a once-unassuming 1989 graduate who surprised some of his former teachers and coaches by becoming the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
Ask anyone about Dan Quinn and his reputation is rock solid. He was quiet but full of personality. He was the homecoming king and the class secretary. He wore No. 53 for the Colonials and also participated in spring and winter track among a myriad of activities.
"What a nice, nice young man," John Bodnarchuk, one of Quinn's old gym teachers and former football assistant coaches told me Thursday. "Unassuming. Just, that's what I remember about Danny. A nice, quiet young man who went about his business. You'd never think he'd have the personality to rise to the position he's in now because of his low key-ness, but God bless him, I'm as proud of him as anyone."
Teachers who filtered in and out of the Morristown High School gym on Thursday called him "Quinny" and said that, unfortunately, the school reacquainted themselves with one of their most famous graduates just before he came back to the Meadowlands as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. That year, his legion of boom thrashed Peyton Manning in one of the most lopsided Super Bowls in NFL history.
Quinn still managed to reach out to as many former coaches and teachers as he could.
Thanks to the wonderful staff at Morristown High School, we also have some visuals. With less than a day's notice, the school's library team annotated Quinn's high school yearbooks for NFL.com to take a look at just ahead of the big game.
Here's the Dan Quinn you probably don't know ...
School officials expect a few bad eggs to show up in Patriots gear for their Black and Red day. Thank goodness Quinny wasn't back there patrolling the hallways, because it looks like 80s Dan could do some serious damage to troublemakers.
