Miami Dolphins Jimmy Cefalo Interview (November 5, 1980)

James Carmen Cefalo (born October 6, 1956) is an American journalist, news broadcaster and sports broadcaster, radio talk show host, Voice of the Miami Dolphins, businessman, wine enthusiast and former professional football wide receiver and game show host.
Biography
High school career
Cefalo attended Pittston Area High School in Pittston, Pennsylvania. It was his performance there that led to his inclusion on The Pennsylvania Football News All-Century Team.[1]
Listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds during his senior year for head coach Bob Barbieri's Patriots, Cefalo was one of the nation's most highly recruited running backs.[2]
Cefalo is one of 50-plus people on Pittston's Inspiration Mural, which celebrates prominent figures in the Pittston community and is Pennsylvania's third-largest mural.[3] Cefalo returned to Pittston Area for a football game as recently as September 2015.[4]
Penn State
Cefalo was a standout at Penn State University from 1974 to 1977. He led the Nittany Lions in all-purpose yards his senior season. He was instrumental in Penn State's 41-20 victory over Baylor in the 1975 Cotton Bowl Classic. He was named most valuable player of the 1976 Gator Bowl.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1978.
National Football League
Cefalo was a third round draft choice (#81 overall) of the Miami Dolphins in the 1978 NFL Draft. He would play six seasons for the Dolphins, including Super Bowls (XVII and XIX), earning a reputation as a sure-handed, dependable receiver. In Super Bowl XVII, Cefalo replaced receiver Nat Moore out as the result of an ankle injury. He proved to be one of Miami's few bright spots in a 27-17 loss to the Washington Redskins. He caught the team's only offensive touchdown and averaged 41 yards per catch. Cefalo's 76-yard touchdown reception from quarterback David Woodley still ranks as the fifth-longest in Super Bowl history.
In 1984, Cefalo caught the Dan Marino pass that broke the record for most touchdown passes in a season. The play in itself was unique, as the ball landed in Cefalo's facemask. [5]
He played in one of the most famous games in NFL history: the AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins on January 2, 1982 at the Orange Bowl.[6] The Pro Football Hall of Fame named it the "NFL's Game of the '80s."
Personal life
He currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida, with his wife Janice. The couple has three daughters: Mia, and twins Ava and Katie.
Cefalo is a well-known oenophile, with over 1,200 bottles in his personal wine cellar. His family has been in the wine business for several generations.[10] The Cefalo family has been involved in the making and selling of wine for the past 150 years. Jimmy's great grandfather was a wine maker and inn keeper in Central Italy. His grandfather came to this country in 1908. Michael Cefalo became a coal miner, land owner, and wine maker in Northeastern Pennsylvania. One of his 7 sons, Charlie, continued the tradition with a bonded Pennsylvania winery producing Italian varietals until his passing.
Cefalo's Wine Cellar began in 2002 with a 3400-square foot retail/liquor store located in South Miami. The store specialized in hard-to-find, highly allocated wines. In 2005, Jimmy Cefalo and Brenda Bassett formed their company, Cefalo's International, which continues to grow with the launch of their new food wine and travel show, Cefalo's - Eat This Drink That Go!, as well as serving as the Wine Ambassador for Martini & Rossi, owned by Bacardi.
Until it closed in October 2008, Cefalo's Wine Cellar was a 7,000-square foot facility that included several components - a historic bar (The Taurus, built in 1911), a retail wine store (Cefalo's Wine Cellar) with tasting room and a private membership wine cave serving 99 members, with their private lockers (Cefalo's Cave Club). For Cefalo's Cave Club, a ridge was found under the aquifer where 36 feet was dug to create a two-story wine cave.
In 2007, Cefalo received an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration in Food and Beverage Management from Johnson & Wales University.
In 2008, Jimmy Cefalo and Cefalo's International became the Wine Ambassador for Martini & Rossi, the wine/vermouth portfolio for Bacardi. In March 2012, Jimmy Cefalo and Brenda Bassett launched Cefalo's - Eat This Drink That Go!, a radio show dedicated to food, wine and travel on Clear Channel's WIOD-AM, covering South Florida from Palm Beach down to the Florida Keys, and also streamed nationally through IHeartRadio and their websites, www.WIOD.com and www.EatThisDrinkThatGo.com and www.JimmyCefalo.com.

[@johnh1932]

I was a year behind him at Pittston Area High School. Always a good guy and a phenomenal athlete.