Joe William Valerio (born February 11, 1969) is a former

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 ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

. He was in the second round (50th overall) of the

1991 NFL draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott ...

by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

. He played college football at

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

College football career

Valerio attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

, majoring in economics. In 1987, he was named the Offensive

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(MVP) of the freshman team. In 1988, he was the only sophomore to letter on offense for a team that went 9-1 and won the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

championship. As a junior in 1989, he was named First-team All-Ivy League, and received the schools Bagnell Award, an award given to the most improved player. As a senior in 1990, he was named a

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, and a pre-season

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n. After the end of his senior season, he was awarded the Bednarik award for the team's top lineman, the Munger award for being the team's MVP, as well as first-team All-Ivy League for a second time, first-team All- ECAC, first-team All-America (

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

and

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the syste ...

). He was also selected to play in the

East-West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

Professional football career

Valerio was selected in the second round (50th overall) of the

by the

. During his time with the Chiefs, he was occasionally placed as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...

in the Chiefs "jumbo" formations in short yardage situations. He recorded 4 receptions for 7 yards, and 4

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s. He was released by the Chiefs on August 25, 1996. In September 1996 he joined the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

. While with the Rams, he appeared in just one game. In 2005, Valerio was inducted into the University of Pennsylvania Athletics Hall of Fame.

Post-football career

Valerio retired after the 1996 season and began working in the insurance industry by serving as a Regional Operations Officer at Willis North America, Inc. He then served as the Managing Director for

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and inter ...

Insurance Services in Philadelphia. Then in 2011, he began to work at TD Insurance/USI Insurance Services, as the Senior Vice President of Regional Sales Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Region. In June 2013, he joined Lyons Companies as the Vice President of Business Development. He also served as an assistant football coach at

Garnet Valley High School Garnet Valley High School is a four-year public school in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. It is part of Garnet Valley School District. Hi-Q Garnet Valley's Delco Hi-Q team won the championship in the 2010–2011, 2011–2012, and 2013– ...

Glen Mills, Pennsylvania Glen Mills is an unincorporated community in Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States about 27 miles west of Philadelphia. The ZIP code for Glen Mills is 19342. History The area around Glen Mills was part of the original ...

Personal life

As of 2011, Valerio was married to his wife Jennifer, and had triplet daughters.

References

External links

Penn Quakers bio

The 7 best NFL revenge games of the last 25 years, ranked

Fat guy glory: Watch 11 offensive linemen scoring touchdowns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerio, Joe Living people 1969 births Penn Quakers football players Kansas City Chiefs players Birmingham Fire players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Delaware County, Pennsylvania American football centers Ridley High School alumni