John "Chick" Louis Chickerneo (March 13, 1917 – October 3, 1995) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player who won a national championship with the Pittsburgh Panthers in 1937 and then played one season with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

Early life

Chickerneo attended

Warren G. Harding High School Warren G. Harding High School is a public high school in Warren, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Warren City School District. Sports teams are called the Raiders, and they compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Associatio ...

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Mahoning River, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, Y ...

where he played football, baseball, basketball and ran track.

College career

Chickerneo then played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

from 1936 to 1938. He helped the team to win the Eastern Championship in 1936 and then the

1937 Rose Bowl The 1937 Rose Bowl, was the 23rd edition of the bowl game, between the independent Pittsburgh Panthers of western Pennsylvania and the Washington Huskies of Seattle, the champions of the Pacific Coast Conference. The game was played at the Rose ...

. Some retroactive systems have named that team a National Champion. He helped the team to another Eastern Championship in 1937 and to its first AP National Championship as well, starting in several games that year. After the 1939 season he played in the East-West and North-South College All-Star Games.

Professional career

Chickerneo was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the

1939 NFL draft The 1939 NFL draft was held on December 9, 1938, at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Cardinals selected center Ki Aldrich. Player selections Round one ...

and played for them in 4 games 1942.

Personal life

Chickerneo graduated with a degree in engineering and later joined the military, where he fought in World War II and the Korean War, rising to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. In 1949, he moved on to coaching. He was an assistant coach at Pittsburgh from 1949 to 1952. He then became the Head Coach at Sharon High School in Sharon, PA from 1952 to 1959 where he led the team to 3 Conference Championships and 1 undefeated season. He moved to Highland Park High School where he was a math teacher and Head Football Coach from 1959 to 1984 and where he led the team to the 1964 Suburban League Football Championship.

References

External links

College statsJohn Chickerneo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chickerneo, John 1917 births 1995 deaths Players of American football from Gary, Indiana American football running backs American football linebackers Pittsburgh Panthers football players New York Giants players Warren G. Harding High School alumni