Chad Levitt (born November 21, 1975) is an American former NFL

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He is Jewish, was born in Melrose Park, Pennsylvania, is 6–1, and had a playing weight of 231 pounds. He played high school football, and wrestled and competed in track and field, for

Cheltenham High School Cheltenham High School is a public high school in the Wyncote neighborhood of Cheltenham Township, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, located from the border of the City of Philadelphia and from Center City. Serving grades 9 through 12, Chelt ...

, from which he graduated in 1993. In football his in his senior year set a new Cheltenham High School single season rushing record, and he was First-team and Outstanding Player of Suburban One Liberty League, Academic All-League, and a Montgomery County All Star. In wrestling, he was a Suburban One All-Star. In shot put and in the 4x100 relay, he was First-team All-League. He was awarded the 1993

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

Sports Lodge Ted Domsky Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award. Levitt played college football for

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He was three-time All-Ivy, and an Associated Press All-American selection as a senior. He set a Cornell and Ivy League career record for most rushing attempts (922), and a Cornell-best record for rushing games in a career (24). In 1996, he rushed for and was the ECAC Division I-AA Player of the Year, and the Ivy League Player of the Year. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 4th round of the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

. He played two seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. In 1999, he played for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

, and in 1997 for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. In 1997, he was named the Marty Glickman Outstanding Jewish Scholastic (college) Athlete of the Year by

US Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish figures who have distinguished themselves in sports. Its objective is to foster Jewish identity through athletics, and to commemo ...

. In 2008, he was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitt, Chad 1975 births Living people Jewish American sportspeople Players of American football from Pennsylvania Oakland Raiders players St. Louis Rams players Cornell Big Red football players People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 21st-century American Jews