Gregory Ellis Buttle (born June 20, 1954 in Atlantic City, New Jersey) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the New York Jets. He played college football at Penn State University. He was named a Consensus All-American in 1975. In 2005, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.

High school

Buttle grew up in

Linwood, New Jersey Linwood is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 7,092,Mainland Regional High School Mainland Regional High School is a regional public high school and school district serving students in grades nine through twelve from the communities of Linwood, Northfield and Somers Point in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, ser ...

in Linwood. Buttle was a 4-sport letterman in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, and was also a champion

oarsman Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

while on the

Margate City Margate City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Margate City's population was 5,317, a reduction of 1,037 over the previous decade.Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

that year. Considered by Penn State coach

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2 ...

"as fine a linebacker as any prospect produced by this school," he still holds the school records for tackles in a game (24), and season (165). He stood atop the Penn State career tackles list for over 30 years, until

Paul Posluszny Paul Michael Posluszny (; born October 10, 1984) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at Penn State Universit ...

surpassed his mark of 343 versus

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

on November 4, 2006. In 2000 Buttle was honored with the Butkus Silver Anniversary Award, which honors the top college linebacker from 25 years ago. He has been named a Penn State All-Time NFL Player.

New York Jets

Buttle was selected in the 3rd round (#67 overall) of the 1976 NFL Draft by the New York Jets for whom he would play 9 seasons (1976–1984) at starting outside linebacker. Two interceptions in the Jets' 1981 playoff game against the Buffalo Bills helped fuel a comeback effort, which ultimately fell short, in the franchise's first playoff game since the 1969 season. He was a member of defensive coordinator

Joe Gardi Joseph T. Gardi (March 2, 1939 – June 2, 2010) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Hofstra University for 16 seasons, from 1990 to 2005, compiling a record of 119–62–2.

's Swarm defense which included fellow

Nittany Lion The Nittany Lion is the eastern mountain lion mascot of the athletic teams of the Pennsylvania State University: Penn State Nittany Lions. Created in 1907, the "Nittany" forename refers to the local Mount Nittany, which overlooks the university. ...

Lance Mehl, as well as the

New York Sack Exchange The New York Sack Exchange were the front four defensive line of the American football team New York Jets of the National Football League during the early 1980s. The line consisted of Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam. Orig ...

defensive line. Buttle was cut in August 1985 by

Joe Walton Joseph Frank Walton (December 15, 1935 – August 15, 2021) was an American football player and coach who retired after 20 years as the head coach and creator of the football program at Robert Morris University. Walton played eight seasons in t ...

Broadcasting

Buttle served as an on-air analyst for

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station W ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, alongside play-by-play man

Ian Eagle Ian Eagle ( ; born February 9, 1969) is an American sports announcer. He calls NBA, NFL, and college basketball games on CBS, TNT, and TBS, as well as Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network and French Open tennis for Tennis Channel. Other ...

, for Jets preseason games, and hosts ''Jets Gameday'' on the Jets Radio Network and

ESPN New York WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ''ESPN New York'', is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agreem ...

alongside

Don La Greca Donald Marcievius La Greca (born February 13, 1968) is an American sports broadcaster and analyst. He is the co-host of '' The Michael Kay Show'', heard on ESPN New York WEPN-FM and simulcast on the YES Network. He is also the radio host of the ...

. He also serves as an analyst on the SNY studio show ''Jets Nation''. He was the temporary fill-in host on WABC radio in NYC, in the 10:00 AM – noon slot, until Geraldo Rivera took the chair permanently on Jan. 3, 2012. On August 7, 2018 it was announced that Buttle would no longer work alongside Eagle for Jets preseason games, having been replaced by former Jets tight end Anthony Becht.

Personal life

Buttle has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of his commitment to the community including National Spokesman for the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

. He holds a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in general arts and sciences from Penn State University. He lives in Northport, New York with his wife, Rita, son Greg Jr. and two daughters, Christina and Allegra. In 1983, Buttle opened a fitness center in

East Meadow, New York East Meadow is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population was 38,132 at the 2010 census. Many residents commute to Manhattan, which is away. History In 1 ...

References

External links

Career statistics
at databasefootball.com
Greg Buttle on the MSG Network and SNY.tv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttle, Greg 1954 births Living people American football linebackers New York Jets players Penn State Nittany Lions football players New York Jets announcers Arena football announcers National Football League announcers Sportspeople from Atlantic City, New Jersey Mainland Regional High School (New Jersey) alumni People from Linwood, New Jersey All-American college football players Players of American football from New Jersey People from Northport, New York