Evo Peter Perini (February 10, 1928 – September 11, 2008) 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 wi ...

fullback who 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 ...

with the Chicago Bears and

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 (A ...

. Born in the New Village section of

Franklin Township, Warren County, New Jersey Franklin Township is a township in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 2,968, a decrease of 208 (−6.5%) from the 2010 census count of 3,176, which in turn reflecte ...

, he played at Washington High School, a predecessor to

Warren Hills Regional High School Warren Hills Regional High School is a four-year public high school located on Jackson Valley Road in Washington Township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Warren Hills Regional School District. The school of ...

. He played college football at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Early years

Perini participated in

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

, baseball and wrestling at Washington High School. In football, he was a three-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

as a fullback and was a team captain in 1945. He earned First-team All-State honors in 1945. Perini was a four-year letterman and a four-time New Jersey state finalist in wrestling. He won the state championship in the 175 pound weight class in 1944 and in the heavyweight class in 1945. He also earned second place in the heavyweight class in 1946. In baseball, Perini earned four letters as a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

and pitcher. He was inducted into the Blue Streak Wall of Fame in 2001.

College career

Perini played football and baseball for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

from 1946 to 1950, earning four letters in each sport. In baseball, he became the only pitcher in school history to lead the team in wins and innings pitched in each of his four years as a starter. He had a career record of 30 wins and 13 losses. Perini set school records with a 1.45

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

his freshman year and a career ERA of 2.88. He was a punter and

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, ...

on the football team, helping the Buckeyes win the 1950 Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

Professional baseball career

Perini was drafted by the Boston Braves of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

after his college career. He played for the

Hagerstown Braves The Hagerstown Owls were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. The team played in the Inter-State League (1941–1952) and the Piedmont League (1953–1955). Their home games were played in Municipal Sta ...

of the

Interstate League The Interstate League was the name of five different American minor baseball leagues that played intermittently from 1896 through 1952. Early leagues Earlier versions of the Interstate League, with years active: *1896–1901: an unclassified ...

as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

from 1950 to 1951.

Professional football career

Perini played in fourteen games for the Chicago Bears from 1954 to 1955. He played in six games for the

during the 1955 season. His career was cut short due to a knee injury.

Personal life

Perini served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He worked in the Ohio Department of Corrections for nearly three decades. He was also the superintendent of the Marion Correctional Institution until his retirement.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perini, Pete 1928 births 2008 deaths Players of American football from New Jersey American football fullbacks American football linebackers American football punters Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players Chicago Bears players Cleveland Browns players Baseball pitchers Baseball outfielders Hagerstown Braves players United States Army personnel of the Korean War Sportspeople from Warren County, New Jersey