Chester Pitts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Houston Texans — No. 69 | |
| Offensive guard | |
| Date of birth: June 26, 1979 | |
| Place of birth: Inglewood, California | |
| Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | Weight: 322 lb (146 kg) |
| National Football League debut | |
|---|---|
| 2002 for the Houston Texans | |
| Career history | |
| College: San Diego State | |
| NFL Draft: 2002 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50 | |
Teams:
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Stats at NFL.com | |
Chester Morise Pitts II (born June 26, 1979 in Inglewood, California) is an American football offensive lineman in the NFL for the Houston Texans. He played college football at San Diego State University. Pitts was the focus of the NFL SuperAd commercial shown during Super Bowl XLII relating the story of how his career began.
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[edit] High School Years
Pitts attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science in Carson, California. His school did not have a football program, so he threw the shot put and the discus on the track and field team and won All-League honors and set several school records. He plays the oboe.[1]
[edit] College career
Pitts attended San Diego State University, where he was an accomplished oboist and worked bagging groceries at a Ralph's supermarket. After a chance encounter with Ephraim Salaam, Pitts joined the university football team as a freshman walk-on. As a sophomore, he saw action in nine games and graded out at 83% for blocking consistency, made 60 knockdown blocks, and allowed only 1 sack throughout his sophomore season. He started for three seasons before being drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round. This story was publicized by a NFL commercial during Super Bowl XLII (the music during the commercial, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, was played by Pitts).[2]
[edit] Arrest
In January 2008, a grand jury declined to indict Pitts on allegations stemming from his November 2007 arrest after a traffic stop in southwest Houston. Prosecutors gave grand jurors two options to indict Pitts: a felony charge of evading arrest or a misdemeanor charge of fleeing. Pitts was arrested after driving away from a traffic stop on November 29, 2007. He was pursued and stopped about a half-mile away but later called the incident a "huge misunderstanding." A police officer involved in the incident said that Pitts was uncooperative and initially refused to step out of his BMW after police chased him. Officers were targeting drivers making illegal left turns off Kirby onto West Bellfort and had stopped four other motorists besides Pitts when the incident occurred. Pitts, who lives in Pearland, pulled over as instructed and waited a minute or two before driving away, police said. Officers then chased him down the block, where he pulled over again, but initially refused an officer's order to step out of his car. Pitts was the only one among the five motorists stopped by police who drove away. The son of a police officer, Pitts apologized for his actions afterward and said he did not intend to defy the officers' orders.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Chester Pitts bio and stats, nflplayers.com, <http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=33026>. Retrieved on 2008-02-07
- ^ Markazi, Arash (2008-01-28), Story time: Pair of Texans reminisce at filming of Super Bowl ad, Sports Illustrated, <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/arash_markazi/01/28/on.scene/>. Retrieved on 2008-02-03
- ^ Rogers, Brian (2008-01-18). Police said Pitts tried to evade arrest. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
