Nicholas Vincent Pietrosante (September 10, 1937 – February 6, 1988), commonly known as Nick Pietrosante, was an

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 with ...

fullback. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

team and professional football 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 ...

(NFL) for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

from 1959 to 1965 and the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

from 1966 to 1967. He was selected as a first-team All-American in 1958, as the

NFL Rookie of the Year Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official ...

in 1959, and as a

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

player in 1960 and 1961. Between 1959 and 1965, he set a Lions franchise record with 3,933 rushing yards.

Early years

Pietrosante was born in

Ansonia, Connecticut Ansonia is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. Located on the Naugatuck River, it is immediately north of Derby, and about northwest of New Haven. The population was 18,918 at the time of the 2020 census. The ZIP code for ...

, in 1937, and attended Notre Dame High School in

West Haven, Connecticut West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the coast of Long Island Sound. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 55,584. History Settled in 1648, West Haven (then known as West Farms) ...

. In his senior year at Notre Dame High School, he scored 23 touchdowns in nine games, became the school's first all-state athlete in any sport, and led the 1954 football team to an undefeated season, outscoring opponents 332–12.

Notre Dame

Pietrosante attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

where he played

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 ...

as a fullback for the

Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

team from 1956 to 1958. As a junior in 1957, he recovered a fumble, delivered a key block on Notre Dame's touchdown, and was the leading rusher in a 7–0 victory that broke

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

's record 47-game winning streak. For the 1957 season, he rushed for 449 yards on 90 carries and was selected by the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

as a third-team All-American. As a senior in 1958, he rushed for 556 yards on 117 carries and was selected by the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

and

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

as the first-team fullback on the

1958 College Football All-America Team The 1958 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1958. The six selectors recognized by the N ...

Professional football

Pietrosante was selected by the

in the first round, sixth overall pick, of the 1959 NFL Draft. As a rookie in 1959, he rushed for 134 yards against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

on Thanksgiving Day, the best rushing total recorded by a Lion since Bob Hoernschemeyer rushed for 198 yards in 1950. After the game, Green Bay coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

said, "That boy shall be a great one some day. He is very tough to bring down." He also led the NFL with an average of 5.9 rushing yards per carry and won the 1959

National Football League Rookie of the Year Award Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official ...

. In 1960, Pietrosante had three 100-yard rushing games, including a career-high 142 yards and two touchdowns against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. For the 1960 season, he rushed for 872 yards, a Lions single-season record and the fourth highest total in the NFL that year. He was also selected to play in the

and was named the most valuable player on the 1960 Lions team. In 1961, Pietrosante rushed for 841 yards, again the fourth most in the NFL, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the second consecutive year. Between 1959 and 1965, Pietrosante set a Lions' franchise record with 3,933 rushing yards. In September 1966, shortly before the start of the 1966 NFL regular season, the Lions' head coach

Harry Gilmer Harry Vincent Gilmer Jr. (April 14, 1926 – August 20, 2016) was an American football halfback and quarterback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and Detroit Lions. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of F ...

placed Pietrosante on waivers. Days later, he was signed by the

, who had lost the services of

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...

after the 1965 season. However, Pietrosante saw limited action for the Browns, carrying the ball only 17 times for 93 yards during the 1966 and 1967 seasons. In July 1968, Pietrosante announced at age 30 that he was retiring from the NFL.

Family and later years

Pietrosante was married to Geraldine Marie Cox, a nurse from Connecticut, in 1957. They had two daughters, Stacy and Cindy, and one son, Nicholas Judd. After retiring from the NFL, he began a business career in the Detroit area. His business interests included an insurance agency (the Schmidt-Barr-Pietrosante Agency) operated with former teammates Joe Schmidt and Terry Barr, a manufacturers representative company (Nick Pietrosante Associates), and a partial ownership interest in the Dearborn Racquet Club. In February 1988, Pietrosante died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

at Beaumont Hospital in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along th ...

, at age 50.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietrosante, Nick 1937 births 1988 deaths American football fullbacks Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Detroit Lions players Cleveland Browns players Western Conference Pro Bowl players People from Derby, Connecticut Players of American football from Connecticut