Retired National Football League tight end Marco Antonio Battaglia was born on Jan. 25, 1973, and raised in Howard Beach, Queens. After capping a stellar football career at Rutgers University as a consensus first-team All-American in 1995, Battaglia played for five pro teams in eight seasons.

He retired from the NFL after playing for the Carolina Panthers team that reached Super Bowl XXXVIII. The former football star still resides in Queens with his wife and two children and works in the athletics department at his alma mater in New Jersey. Battaglia is a friend and personal trainer of fellow Queens native and radio “shock jock” Howard Stern.