Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
) is a retired
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 wit ...
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, pl ...
Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...
Linwood, New Jersey
Linwood is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 7,092,Mainland Regional High School in Linwood. Buttle was a 4-sport letterman in football,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
and
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
, and was also a champion oarsman while on the Margate City Beach Patrol, as well as participating in musical theatre. He is a member of the Ocean Rowing Hall of Fame.
Penn State
A 1975 Consensus All-American, Buttle was also the captain of the Nittany Lions that year. Considered by Penn State coach Joe Paterno "as fine a linebacker as any prospect produced by this school," he still holds the school records for tackles in a game (24), and season (165). He stood atop the Penn State career tackles list for over 30 years, until Paul Posluszny surpassed his mark of 343 versus
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
on November 4, 2006. In 2000 Buttle was honored with the Butkus Silver Anniversary Award, which honors the top college linebacker from 25 years ago. He has been named a Penn State All-Time NFL Player.
New York Jets
Buttle was selected in the 3rd round (#67 overall) of the 1976 NFL Draft by the New York Jets for whom he would play 9 seasons
(1976–1984) at starting outside linebacker. Two interceptions in the Jets' 1981 playoff game against the
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...
helped fuel a comeback effort, which ultimately fell short, in the franchise's first playoff game since the 1969 season. He was a member of defensive coordinator Joe Gardi's Swarm defense which included fellow Nittany LionLance Mehl, as well as the New York Sack Exchange defensive line. Buttle was cut in August 1985 by Joe Walton.
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, alongside play-by-play man Ian Eagle, for Jets preseason games, and hosts ''Jets Gameday'' on the Jets Radio Network and
ESPN New York
WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ''ESPN New York'', is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agre ...
alongside Don La Greca. He also serves as an analyst on the
SNY
SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications ...
studio show ''Jets Nation''. He was the temporary fill-in host on WABC radio in NYC, in the 10:00 AM – noon slot, until Geraldo Rivera took the chair permanently on Jan. 3, 2012. On August 7, 2018 it was announced that Buttle would no longer work alongside Eagle for Jets preseason games, having been replaced by former Jets tight end Anthony Becht.
Personal life
Buttle has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of his commitment to the community including National Spokesman for the
United Way
United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016.
United Way o ...
. He holds a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in general arts and sciences from Penn State University. He lives in Northport, New York with his wife, Rita, son Greg Jr. and two daughters, Christina and Allegra.
In 1983, Buttle opened a fitness center in East Meadow, New York.