Thomas Paul Caterbone (June 29, 1964 – April 29, 1996) 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 ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and coach. He played 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 ...

as a

replacement player In professional sports, a replacement player is an athlete who is not a member of the league's players association and plays during a labor dispute such as a strike or lockout, serving as a strikebreaker. Instances of replacement players Nation ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

College career

Caterbone played four seasons at

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Fran ...

as a defensive back, return specialist and running back. He was named an

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location fro ...

All-Star and All-

Centennial Conference The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Eleven private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Five of ten members of the Centenn ...

as a senior. Franklin & Marshall awards the Thomas Caterbone '86 Memorial Award annually to the Diplomat player who "best exemplifies Tom Caterbone's love of football, the spirit of competition and enthusiasm for the game".

Professional and coaching career

Following graduation Caterbone played for Harrisburg Patriots, a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

team. He was signed by the

in October 1987 as a

during the

1987 NFL players strike The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director De ...

and played in two games, returning two punts for 13 yards. Caterbone became a coach at

J. P. McCaskey High School J. P. McCaskey High School is a public high school located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. Located on the east side of Lancaster, it is named after John Piersol McCaskey, a local educator. The McCaskey campus consists of two buildings ...

in Lancaster and later returned to Franklin & Marshall as a wide receivers coach. He also continued to play semi-professional football until 1995.

Personal life

Caterbone's older brother,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, also played defensive back at Franklin & Marshall and was also a replacement player during the 1987 season as a member of the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

as well as in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. The Caterbone brothers are the only Franklin & Marshall football players to play in an NFL game since 1950. Caterbone died of an apparent suicide on April 29, 1996. "Tommy's Field", part of Amos Herr Park in

East Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania East Hempfield Township is a township (Pennsylvania), township in west-central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 26,350. East Hempfield is one of the six immediate ...

, is named in honor of Caterbone.

References

External links

Franklin & Marshall's Thomas Caterbone '86 Memorial Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caterbone, Thomas 1964 births American football defensive backs Franklin & Marshall Diplomats football players National Football League replacement players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Franklin & Marshall Diplomats football coaches 1996 deaths Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Suicides in North Carolina