Dan Sileo

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Dan Sileo (born March 1, 1966 in Stamford, Connecticut) is a sports radio personality. Before his current career, he was an American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions and briefly with the Dallas Cowboys. The latter two teams saw him participate only in preseason games.

Sileo transferred many times during his college career starting at Maryland, then Cincinnati and finally to University of Miami Hurricanes. He teamed with Bill Hawkins, Danny Stubbs, and Jerome Brown to form one of the best defensive lines in the history of college football. He was All-American honorable mention.

Sileo ran out of his five-year eligibility for NCAA play after the 1986 season. On September 6, 1987, two days after the NCAA deemed him ineligible, Sileo claimed he was a free agent (since he was not in the 1986 NFL Draft) and signed with the Buccaneers. The NFL declared the contract invalid and put him in the 1987 NFL Supplemental Draft. Although Sileo initially sued the NFL and the Bucs to honor his original contract [1], he eventually submitted to the Supplemental Draft, where the Bucs selected him in the third round. Sileo spent his entire NFL career as a backup and special teams player. The only regular season games he played in were during the 1987 season.

Sileo is an admitted former anabolic steroid user, and this is a highly probable reason his production never lived up to expectations at the NFL level. Drug testing in the NFL has since become highly aggressive and effective. He eventually played for the Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football in 1992, and the Las Vegas Sting of the Arena Football League in 1994 to wrap up his pro football career.

Sileo proudly proclaims his Italian heritage. Other notable Italian American athletes from his era include Dan Marino, Ray Mancini, and Mark Bavaro.

[edit] Radio career

Sileo's radio career includes working in San Francisco on KNBR 680 and The Ticket 1050. He then moved back to Tampa and hosted a morning sports talk show on WDAE. In 2001, he moved to Fox Sports Radio, where he hosted a short-lived 4am-8am program.

In September 2002, Sileo moved back to Florida, and debuted on WQTM in Orlando. His program, The Dan Sileo Show airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. EDT, featuring hot topic issues such as race, drugs, and other sports scandals. Callers make up a significant part of the show. He frequently references his collegiate football past with the University of Miami and NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, readily admitting mistakes he made during both school and his career, and is particularly tough on current players whom he believes are going down the same path he did. In 2004, his program on WQTM began syndication on 620 WDAE in Tampa, and for a short time in 2004, it was syndicated on WINZ 940 AM in Miami. On weekends, Sileo also has worked as an analyst on Westwood One radio.