BEYOND THE SCOREBOARD
An occasional sports feature highlighting the unique stories of local athletes.
Tom Cillo straps on his helmet and waits for his chance.
A defensive line coach calls him over at practice. The Lycoming College nose guard gets in formation and faces players 40 pounds heavier — and 40 years younger.
The hits feel harder and the recovery longer for the 58-year-old.
“It's a little more challenging than what I had anticipated, and I didn't come into this naive … Whether you're 18 or 58, you better have a little bit of crazy in you to step out on this field,” he said. “This is college football, and it's real, and it's live contact, and it's physical, and it's tough.”
Cillo spent 33 years plowing streets, fixing roads and maintaining parks in Williamsport before retirement. He’s sore now, but the criminal justice major is living his dream that took four decades to achieve.
If Cillo plays a snap this season, he’ll be one of the oldest to ever play in a college football game. The NCAA has no age limits for Division III sports. In 2009, a 61-year-old kicked an extra point for Austin College in Texas. A 59-year-old played linebacker for Sul Ross State University in Texas in 2007.
“I know there's people all over this world that are talented, that have dreams and desires and something holds them back. And it might be themselves. It was for me for years,” the Williamsport resident said. “But if something falls within the framework of your talents and your abilities, and you have a dream and a desire to do it, do it. Go for it.”
Finding his way
As a child, Cillo loved football, baseball and basketball. At 15, he signed up to play football at Williamsport Area High School. He didn’t play for long.
He started drinking alcohol. Then he turned to illegal drugs. He went down a path he never expected — and needed a way out.
He got a job with the city in his 20s. He began working out and lifting weights, and his fitness routine helped keep him sober. He competed in Strongman competitions and last year, set a world record for the deadlift in the 55-59 age group at the International Powerlifting Association contest in Indiana. He lifted 580 pounds.
As a young boy, Cillo would walk from his home, through the Lycoming College campus, to the YMCA. As a city employee, he plowed the streets around campus. He always wondered what it would be like to be a student there. As he got older, he wondered if he could play football there, too. If there was any chance of that happening, he needed to do it now.
He had a conversation this spring with Mark Sitler, a member of the college’s board of trustees. Sitler then told head coach Mike Clark, 54, about the 58-year-old who wanted to play for the Warriors.
“The initial reaction is like, ‘Really?’ But I trust Mark, and so if Mark is telling me someone's a good person, well, I was interested in at least hearing Tom out,” Clark said.
Clark and Cillo scheduled a meeting.
“We met one time for coffee, had a really good talk, and here we are,” Clark said.
Clark never promised him playing time, but gave Cillo a chance. Now, Cillo is training with teammates younger than his three children: 32, 28 and 21.
“It's surreal sometimes, honestly, but the bond with my teammates, it's amazing,” Cillo said. “I'm just Tom at this point. I'm not the older guy. It's just Tom, and it's getting better all the time.”
'This isn't a joke'
Before the season started, Michael Sipps heard about his new, much-older teammate.
“I thought it's a joke, in all honesty,” said Sipps, 21, a graduate of Cowanesque Valley High School and a member of the defensive line.
Then the team had a Zoom meeting, and Cillo’s face popped up on the screen.
“I was like, ‘Whoa. No, this isn't a joke,'” Sipps said. “They ain't messing around.”
The new teammate was older than most of the players’ fathers.
“He's a great influence in the weight room. He's been a good influence with his experience in life,” said veteran defensive line coach Steve Wiser, who taught Cillo in ninth grade civics at the former junior high school down the street from the stadium. “I think he's having an influence, in a positive way, for the players on the team, and they've been very, very receptive to him.”
Lycoming started the season 0-3, losing two of the games by only three points. Cillo, listed as 227 pounds on the roster, hasn’t played yet.
“Do I think he can get into a game? Ultimately, yes. Is he there right now? No,” said Clark.
While Cillo’s strength is an asset, he’s never really played football before, Clark said. He lines up across from the other team’s center. He has to hear the play, think about his techniques and use his strength.
“In fairness to the guys that are at that position and ahead of him … I'm not going to put him in just so that it's the story, because then that just contradicts everything we're trying to accomplish,” Clark said. “If it's late, and the guys ahead of him have played some, would I love to reward that? Yeah. Our guys will love it. He will love it. That’s the ultimate goal, but it has to fit the circumstances during the game.”
Sipps hopes Cillo can eventually play a couple snaps during a home game.
“It's gonna be like an earthquake erupting,” he said. “The crowd’s gonna go nuts. I'd be so excited to see that happen.”
Cillo wears No. 40 on the sidelines, with the hope of time on the gridiron — but also happy to provide high-fives and encouraging words.
Off the field, he’s ready to listen or offer advice. He hosted an on-campus watch party for the team this month, after his 21-year-old son won a challenge from YouTube star Mr. Beast.
“Having Tom on the team is exceptionally awesome. He's a great role model,” Sipps said. “Whenever you need something, he's there for you. He’d give a shirt off his back for you … I wouldn't trade him for anybody in the world.”
No free time
Cillo’s day started before sunrise on Wednesday. After a 7 a.m. meeting with the team, he attended three classes and helped care for his 90-year-old mother, before heading to practice that afternoon.
He arrives late to practice on Wednesdays, getting to the field as quickly as he can after his class on the power and politics of coffee.
His bruised ribs from training camp have healed, but he wraps his left quad and his hands. He begins to stretch on the sidelines, as the team goes over plays and scenarios in advance of Saturday’s game against Rowan University.
He gets in formation and tries to make the tackle. Helmets clack, a light rain begins to fall, the sun starts to set. After two hours, practice ends with a team huddle.
Now it’s time to study. Free time no longer exists.
“After 41 years of not being in the classroom, there's things I'm trying to prove to myself in this process,” he said. “I have moments where I'll get in my car and I have to remind myself to take a breath … There's so much reading involved and preparation for the classroom.”
And then there’s football.
“I'm trying my hardest to get out on that field, and it just hasn't played out that way yet,” he said. “I want to get out there at some point.”
National recognition for Cillo, the Warriors
Cillo’s story has put a spotlight on Lycoming College, with about 1,200 students. About 1 in 10 students play football.
“Did you see you’re in The New York Times?” a player asked Cillo at practice.
He's also signed a NIL (name, image, likeness) deal with Aspecreme, an over-the-counter topical relief cream.
Cillo has juggled inquiries from reporters across the country, who want to share his story. A CBS Sports video included a message from former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who called Cillo an “inspiration.”
“When they say 'never too late,' you’re taking it to another level,” Cowher said in the video. “Stay healthy, don’t be afraid to get low and get down, and stay out of the piles … you are 58.”
Cillo has received messages from people in Bosnia, Australia, England, Germany, Mexico and across the U.S. In one message, a 73-year-old woman said she had been apprehensive about joining her church choir, since she didn’t want to be the oldest in the group. Learning his story made her join the choir.
“That's the stuff that is probably the most powerful to me, just people reaching out from all over the world,” Cillo said. “Don't hold yourself back. Don't let somebody else hold you back. Do it.”
