A Love for Poker, Football and Golf Runs Through the Harrington Veins

Joey Harrington was a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon where he then moved onto Detroit Lions where he was drafted in 2002. Harrington went onto play quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, in that order. He played in the NFL for a measly 6 seasons in which the majority of them where anything but noteworthy. But like aforementioned, that’s not what makes the whole Harrington story interesting – although playing in the NFL is a feat in itself.

Harrington has two very successful relations. First, Padraig Harrington the extremely successful professional golfer who has three major championships wins to his name. In 2008, Padraig Harrington won his second successive PGA Championship and became a household name.

But that’s not the most interesting relative that ex-pro footballer Joey Harrington has. Stand up Dan Harrington, a poker Hall of Famer and certified legend of the sport. He first came to prominence around the time when poker first started to hit our television screens. During this time Johnny Chan, the enigmatic cult hero of poker won his back-to-back world titles, where Dan Harrington made the final table. And then the poker boom began, as everyone in America gradually got bit by the poker bug. Following this, Intercasino, the first online casino site was launched, followed by thousands more, and the poker craze became unrivalled during that time. Later that year, Harrington would go on to win a world title himself and cement his name in the record books forever. His haul at the world’s biggest stage took his lifelong earnings to a reported $6.6 million upon his retirement as per PokerDB.

The most interesting thing about Dan “Action” Harrington is that he always considered himself a businessman while at the poker table, which led him to be one of the most influential poker authors of our generation. Watch the video below as Harrington discusses his books and some techniques during poker.

Hopefully, what this installment of Alumni Files has shown us is that even if we aren’t drawn to a professional sportsman/woman, maybe sometimes it’s worth checking out their family tree. Because sometimes, like in the case of Portland Alumni Joey Harrington, it can make for some very interesting reading.

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