Peter A. Carlesimo

Who was Peter A. Carlesimo?

Peter A. Carlesimo was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and cross country running, and a college athletics administrator. He coached football, basketball, and cross country at the University of Scranton and served as athletic director there and at Fordham University. He is sometimes credited with being the person most responsible for keeping the National Invitation Tournament alive in the late 1970s.

Carlesimo was born in Newark, New Jersey and graduated from Saint Benedict's Preparatory School. Then he attended Fordham University, where he played football alongside Vince Lombardi. He graduated from Fordham in 1940, and from there went back to his alma mater, Saint Benedict's, to be a history teacher and assistant football coach. Carlesimo then moved on to the University of Scranton, where he was the football coach, basketball coach, cross country coach, and the school's athletic director from.

Carlesimo went on to become the athletic director at Fordham University from 1968 to 1978. As a member of the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, Fordham was part of the committee that ran the National Invitation Tournament.