PSU Connections to Interesting People
Penn State Football’s Ties to Interesting People—
The Inventor of the Big Mac
Michael James “Jim” Delligatti, the man who invented the “Big Mac” hamburger that became the ultimate signature food item for McDonald’s restaurants, was the grandfather of former Penn State football player Dan Delligatti (DE/LB 1982-84) and great-grandfather of PSU football player Nick Delligatti (LB 2009-10)… Jim Delligatti created the “Big Mac” for his Uniontown, PA McDonald’s location in 1967 in response to customers who wanted a larger burger… It went national in 1968… Jim opened his first McDonald’s in 1957 and would eventually operate 47 locations in the greater Pittsburgh area… He also co-founded the Pittsburgh Ronald McDonald House in 1979…
Dan Delligatti followed into the family McDonald’s business and would be appointed to the PSU Board of Trustees in 2017 by Governor Tom Wolf…
Early 20th Century Baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler
George Sisler was a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame 1st baseman with the St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and Boston Braves (1915-1930) who also played baseball for the University of Michigan (1913-15)… George was the uncle of Penn State Right Halfback Cassius Carl “Cass” Sisler who was one of the “one year wonders” of the 1943 Nittany Lions football team thanks to the WWII Navy V-12 Training program located at State College… Cass Sisler began at Ohio’s Western Reserve University in 1942, but he joined the Marines and was shifted to V-12 training at Penn State in the fall of 1943… He began as a reserve player, but after a number of his teammates departed for other military assignments in mid-October, Cass became the starting RHB for the final 4 games of the ‘43 season during which the Lions went 3-1 (wins came vs. West Virginia, Temple, and at Pitt)… Cass won a letter at Penn State before leaving for military service… After the war, Cass returned to Western Reserve for the 1945 and ‘46 football seasons playing FB/WB/LB and he is enshrined in their Hall of Fame…
Cass Sisler is also one of the 79 Penn State varsity athletes (and associated fields) who served in WWII to be honored in a trading card series issued from 2022 to 2025 by the Penn State All-Sports Museum… Interestingly, Cass has the only card (#11 of 60) in the set to not have a photo of him on front… Instead, the card front features his warship, the USS San Saba, and a naval patch…
The Last General Manager of the Baltimore Colts
Ernie Accorsi is remembered as the last GM of the Baltimore Colts (1982-83) and as the GM of the New York Giants (1998-2006)… He was, at one time, the Assistant Sports Publicity Director for Penn State under Jim Tarman in the late 1960’s… Ernie left PSU after the 1969 football season to join the Colts as their Publicity Director in 1970… He is best remembered for being caught in the middle of the 1983 Colts/John Elway NFL Draft debacle as the Colts then newly appointed GM under famously difficult owner Bob Irsay… A better memory for Accorsi was the 2004 Giants NFL Draft Day deal involving QB Philip Rivers whom he traded to the San Diego Chargers for QB Eli Manning… Eli would, of course, lead the Giants to 2 Super Bowl titles… Eli would endear himself to the Penn State fan base in 2022 with his “walk-on” quarterback TV persona, Chad Powers…
The First African-American Head Coach of the Detroit Lions
Jim Caldwell was the first African-American Head Coach of the Detroit Lions (2014-17)… He was also previously the Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts (2009-2011) where he replaced Tony Dungy, and coached Peyton Manning in his final two years with the Colts reaching Super Bowl XLIV in 2010… At Penn State, Caldwell was the Quarterbacks coach under Joe Paterno (1986-1992) where he worked with John Shaffer, Matt Knizner, Tony Sacca, Kerry Collins, etc… Caldwell played at Iowa where he was a four-year starter at DB (1973-76) and he actually saw action against Penn State in 4 games during that span… PSU won 3 of those 4 in ‘73 thru ‘75… Iowa only managed to win the 1976 game at Beaver stadium, 7-6, thanks to a shaky Nittany Lion kicking game that afternoon…
The First TV Football Rules Analyst
Mike Pereira became the Rules Analyst for Fox Sports coverage of NFL and college football in 2010… And he was actually the first person to assume this type of role at one of the major sports networks… Pereira was a collegiate referee from 1982-95 and an NFL ref from 1996-2010… While refereeing in the WAC during his college officiating days, Mike led the crew at a Penn State bowl game—the 1994 CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl vs. Tennessee… PSU won 31-13 over the 6th ranked and heavily favored Vols after coming back from 10-0 down… It was the Lions first bowl win as a Big Ten member… Kerry Collins threw 2 TD passes and Ki-Jana Carter ran for 2 TDs… The defense sacked Heisman trophy runner-up Heath Shuler 4 times and picked him off once (Lee Rubin)… 14 penalties were called in the game by Pereira and his group—10 on Tennessee… It was Joe Paterno’s 15th career bowl victory tying Alabama’s Bear Bryant in that department… And it would set the stage for the juggernaut 1994 season that was to come…
A Former First Lady of the United States—
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former First Lady with President Bill Clinton and former US Senator from New York is related to two former Penn State players—her father and brother…
Hugh E. Rodham, Hilary’s dad, was a reserve End out of Scranton in the early 1930’s… His bio in the 1935 LaVie yearbook mentions both Freshman & Varsity football and the Media Guide lists him among the Lettermen in 1934 (his Senior season)…
Hilary’s brother, also named Hugh Rodham, was listed as a Junior DHB on Penn State’s 1970 roster… He was also a reserve quarterback although he never appeared on the depth chart… He is known to have come off the bench for mop-up QB duty in the 1970 blowout win over Navy in the season-opener at Beaver Stadium (55-7)… Rodham rushed once in that game for either 1 yard or 2 yards depending on the media source… The younger Rodham never lettered…
Note: the Hugh Rodham Memorial Scholarship in the College of Education at Penn State is named for Hilary’s father…