Villanova Univeristy Athletics

A well-regarded lineman who was a key contributor for Villanova both offensively and defensively during his career, Nick Liotta played guard and tackle for successful Wildcats teams. He was a member of the team’s varsity squad from 1949-51 and was inducted into the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1985.
 
Liotta was considered a “60 minute player” at a time when college football utilized a two-platoon system which allowed for mass substitutions between plays. He was a force on both sides of the ball however and was thought of as Villanova’s iron man throughout his career. Liotta played for Wildcats teams that went 17-9 (.654) in his three seasons. As a senior in 1951 he played for first-year head coach Art Raimo who hailed from the same hometown of Everett, Mass. as Liotta did.
 
In his first year on the active roster, Liotta was part of an 8-1 season for Villanova which featured consecutive road wins over Texas A&M, Penn State and Detroit to start the year. Later in the season, the Wildcats tallied back-to-back road wins over Boston College and Georgetown before coming home to beat North Carolina State, 45-21, at Franklin Field in the season finale.
 
Villanova rushed for a school record 627 yards in the N.C. State contest, which is the only game in school history to feature three different 100-yard rushers. The offense averaged 29.4 points per game during the 1949 campaign and finished the season with a dominant plus-18.0 scoring margin over its opponents. In 1950, for the second straight season the Wildcats played seven of their nine games on the road and tallied a 4-5 record in the final season of James Leonard’s coaching tenure.
 
Liotta’s senior season was in 1951 under Raimo and Villanova bounced back from the year before with a 5-3 mark on the season. The team averaged just over 20 points per game and began the season with three straight impressive wins over Army West Point, Penn State and lastly in a stirring 41-18 victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Later in the season the Wildcats won at Houston and defeated Detroit at Connie Mack Stadium.
 
Late in the 1951 season Liotta accepted an invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game and was chosen to the Football Writers’ Association All-America team. A star both on and off the field, he also had the highest grade-point average of anyone on the 1951 squad.
 
Liotta tragically passed away one week before what would have been the Wildcats final game of the regular season. His memory and contributions lived on and he continued to receive first team All-America honors for the 1951 season from Colliers All-America, Look Magazine, Grantland Rice, the NCAA Football Guide and the American Football Coaches’ Association.
 
Liotta was posthumously inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1985. At halftime of a Villanova game against Delaware in 1994, he was among the first group of former Wildcats to have his jersey number – 60 – retired on the brand-new Wall of Fame in Villanova Stadium.