Tony Pittman
 Tony Pittman in action at Beaver Stadium for the Penn State Nittany Lions | |
| Date of birth | August 5, 1971 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | CB |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Weight | 178 lb (81 kg) |
| College | Penn State |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Awards | 1994 2nd Team All-Big Ten. First Team Academic All-America. 1993 Jim O'Hora Award |
| Honors | 1994 College Football Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete |
Tony Pittman (born August 5, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American former college football player. He was a 2nd Team All-Big Ten cornerback at Penn State after graduating from Phillips Academy in 1990. Pittman grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and also attended McDowell High School, where he would have been in the 1989 graduation class had he not transferred to Phillips Academy.
Collegiate career
Recruited out of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Pittman was a member of Joe Paterno's 1990 recruiting class, which also included Kerry Collins and Kyle Brady.
Pittman was the 1993 recipient of the Jim O'Hora Award. Each year, the award is presented to a defensive Penn State Nittany Lions football player for "exemplary conduct, loyalty, interest, attitude, and improvement" during spring practice each year. The award honors former Nittany Lion assistant coach Jim O'Hora who served the team for 31 years before retiring in 1977.
Pittman led the Nittany Lions in interceptions in 1993 with 5 and started all 12 games at cornerback for the undefeated, Rose Bowl championship team in 1994.
Father/son connections
Pittman's father Charlie Pittman starred as an All-American running back on the undefeated Penn State teams of 1968-1969.
Father and son were both starters for the Nittany Lions. Despite playing on three of Joe Paterno's five undefeated teams, both were denied national championships that could have been awarded their teams, but were given to other squads.
Neither Tony Pittman or Charlie Pittman ever lost a game they started while at Penn State. Their combined college records are 45-0-1. In the sports world, that is almost a miraculous number. In elite college football, there is no father-son tandem better at their game, record-wise, than the Pittmans.
New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who spent decades guiding NFL teams notes, “it’s unprecedented; it’s hard to believe,” Accorsi said. “That record for a father and son at the same university—and the son played in the Big Ten—that is something mind-boggling.”
Personal
Pittman is currently a Supply Chain executive at Hewlett Packard. In 2007, he teamed up with his father Charlie to write Playing for Paterno, ISBN 1-60078-000-8, about their shared experiences as the first father/son to play for the legendary coach.[1]
Pittman is the host of two podcasts. Pittman and co-host Phil Collins have been creating, producing and hosting "The Penn State Football Podcast"[2] since July 2005. He has also been co-hosting and starring in the "Real Tech for Real People"[3] podcast since September 2009.
Trivia
Pittman wore jersey number 24 at Penn State — the same number worn by his father.
References
External links
- "Pittman, son release book", Daily American, August 25, 2007
- "Lions' Pittman hopes to duplicate father's success", The Daily Collegian, September 19, 1994
- A player's tribute to Joe Paterno's legacy, South Bend Tribune, July 18. 2008
- "Pittman Selected to 1990's All Decade Team",NittanyAnthology.com
- Charles Anthony Pittman at Library of Congress Authorities, with 1 catalog records
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