LB doesn’t fall far from tree
“That would be pretty awesome,” Anthony said. “To be a part of that would be phenomenal. Not a lot of people can say that.”
The Matthews and Pyne families are the only others to have three generations of fathers and sons play professionally.
The Matthews family has placed seven players in the NFL since 1950. Clay Matthews Sr. was a defensive end and defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers in the early 1950s. He had two sons who played in the NFL — linebacker Clay Matthews Jr. and offensive lineman Bruce Matthews. The latter is enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Bruce and Clay Jr. also produced two sons who play or played in the league.
The Pynes are not as well known. George Pyne II played for the Providence Steamrollers in 1931. His son, George, played for the Boston Patriots in the AFL in 1965 and his son, Jim, played for four NFL teams from 19942001.
(The Higgins-Suhey family also had three generations to play professionally, but not in father-son succession. Bob Higgins was the maternal grandfather of former Chicago Bears fullback Matt Suhey).
The Chickillos are not a household football name, but they have some unique stories to tell. Nick’s is of a career unfulfilled while Tony’s spanned three decades in three leagues, including a short stint in the XFL when he was 41.
Nick Chickillo spent a training camp with the Steelers in the mid-1950s. After playing for the Cardinals in 1953, he had to honor an ROTC commitment and entered the army in the aftermath of the Korean War.
A second lieutenant, Nick played service football in Fort Monmouth, N.J., where he injured his shoulder and had part of his collarbone removed. He tried to resume his career with the Steelers upon his discharge, but could not return to his previous form.
“He had all the right stuff,” Tony Chickillo said. “He was an All-American at Miami, only the third All-American there at that point. He’s in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, from West Scranton High School. I gave the speech for him when he was inducted in 2001 after he had passed.”
Driven in part by his
KEY
KEY
father’s misfortune, Tony continued to play football when most of his peers had hung up their cleats long before. After being out of the NFL for six years, Tony made a comeback and played in the Arena Football League from 1993-95. He was out of football for another six years before he made another comeback. He played for six weeks in the XFL, the short-lived professional league founded by wrestling promoter Vince McMahon in 2001, and the New Jersey Gladiators of the Arena League later that year.
“That made me love the game again, and Anthony got to see a little bit of that,” Tony said of his final comeback. “He saw what it took for me to get back into shape. He got a good idea from that about what it was going to take for him to succeed.”
Anthony followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps when he chose to play college football at Miami, where he started 47 consecutive games but played out of position as a defensive end 7 p.m. at Latrobe Stadium
campus closed and defensive tackle Post-Gazettefor most of his career.
Chickillo is trying to make the transition to outside linebacker with the Steelers on the fly. It’s no easy task, but his position coach, Joey Porter, is a converted defensive end who made a seamless transition from college end to linebacker with the Steelers.
“I believe Anthony Post-Gazetteshould have been an outside linebacker from day one,” Tony Chickillo said. “He’s hoping for an opportunity to be that player, and Joey Porter is the perfect coach to guide Anthony for his career.”
Chickillo has his work cut to make the roster. In front of him on the depth chart are starters Jarvis Jones Post-Gazetteand Arthur Moats, plus rookie first-round pick Bud Dupree and veteran James Harrison.
Making the team won’t be easy, but if he does, the Chickillo family will have many more stories to tell.