Peter A. Carlesimo
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Peter A. Carlesimo (September 2, 1915 in Newark, New Jersey - June 22, 2003 in Montclair, New Jersey) was a longtime coach and athletic director at the University of Scranton and Fordham University. He is sometimes credited with being the person most responsible for keeping the NIT alive in the late 1970s.
Carlesimo was born in Newark, New Jersey and graduated from Saint Benedict's Prep. School. Then he attended Fordham University, where he played football alongside Vince Lombardi. He graduated from Fordham in 1940, and from there went back to his alma mater to be a history teacher and football coach. He then moved on to the University of Scranton, where he was the football coach (1944-60), basketball coach (1944-46 and 1951-55), and cross country coach (1961-68), as well as being the school's athletic director from 1953 to 1968.
Afterwards, he went on to become the athletic director at Fordham University from 1968 to 1978. It was there that Carlesimo made his most lasting mark. As a member of the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA), Fordham was part of the committee that ran the National Invitation Tournament. The tournament began to lose luster in the mid-1970s following the implementation of a rule (the so-called "Al McGuire rule") forbidding schools from declining bids to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. This had led to a dwindling in talent and interest in the NIT, which Carlesimo sought to fix by rules changes implemented in 1977. He proposed moving the early round games to campus sites, and having only the final four teams play at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This move is seen as the reason the NIT has survived, as more interest is garnered by the schools participating, as they now have more of a financial stake from ticket sales.
Carlesimo went on to become the first full-time commissioner of the NIT from 1978 to 1988, and in 1985, under Carlesimo's leadership, the NIT began a preseason tournament which was comprised of many of the country's best teams along with teams which have used the tournament as a springboard to much better seasons. He is sitll considered to be one of the most influential persons in the long and storied history of the NIT. He is a member of the University of Scranton's Athletic Hall of Fame, the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the NCAA Athletic Director's Hall of Fame. He also won Scranton's Pro Deo award, a Pop Warner Father of the Year award, and was a member of the Jesuit Honor Society.
Carlesimo was known as a humorous speaker, having appeared at countless sports-related dinners and conferences, and was once a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
He was married to Lucy Rogan and had ten children (including P.J. Carlesimo, the eldest, who was a longtime coach at Seton Hall University and was in the NBA).
Peter Carlesimo died in 2003 at his home in Montclair, New Jersey.
