FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The Jets’ first-round draft pick comes from a family of athletes.
Sam Darnold, 20, is getting all the attention right now as a future starting quarterback in the NFL, but everything started with his famous grandfather, Dick Hammer.
Better known as the Marlboro Man (one of several), Hammer was a cowboy-hat wearing model on those billboard and magazine ads for Marlboro cigarettes in the 1960s and ’70s. One little-known fact: Hammer didn’t smoke and ended his association with the campaign when the surgeon general put warning labels on cigarette packs.