Villanova Univeristy Athletics

One of the top backs in school history and the first Villanova player to rush for over 200 yards a game, Pete D’Alonzo was a three-year standout for the Wildcats who still ranked in the top six in school history in career and single season rushing yards when he was selected for Hall of Fame induction 37 years after he graduated. D’Alonzo played for Villanova from 1948-50 and graduated in 1951. He was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1988.
 
D'Alonzo rushed for 1,560 career yards in three seasons despite sharing the bulk of the workload with fellow Hall of Famers Ralph Pasquariello, Bob Polidor and Dominic Frinzi in his first two years on the active roster. His career total of 1,560 yards was second to Pasquariello when D’Alonzo graduated and still ranked sixth in school history when he was inducted to the Hall of Fame. D’Alonzo set a Villanova career record by averaging 53.8 rushing yards per game for his career. That figure would still rank third in the program record book nearly 40 years later, while his career average of 5.51 yards per carry remained in the Wildcats top-10 more than 70 years after D’Alonzo graduated.
 
Villanova was a combined 16-3-1 in D’Alonzo’s first two collegiate seasons, success that was fueled in part by a dominant backfield. The 1948 team was the first in school history to win a bowl game when the Wildcats defeated Nevada, 27-7, in the Harbor Bowl in San Diego. The team averaged 184.5 rushing yards per game for the 1948 season, then blew that mark out of the water by averaging 294.9 yards per game in 1949. D’Alonzo rushed 87 times for 450 yards during the 1949 season when Villanova had four future Hall of Famers (D’Alonzo, Pasquariello, Frinzi and Joe Rogers) combine for 1,810 rushing yards, not to mention another 528 yards on the year from junior standout John Geppi.
 
After the graduation of Pasquariello following the 1949 season, the bulk of the running workload belonged to D’Alonzo in 1950 and he responded with a season for the ages. He rushed 145 times for 833 yards as a senior while averaging 5.7 yards per carry and 92.6 yards per game. His total yards and average per game each set single season school records. The yardage still ranked fourth in school history when D’Alonzo was inducted to the Hall of Fame, while his 92.6 yards per contest had been surpassed on just two occasions in the 37 years that followed his graduation.
 
D'Alonzo had one of the greatest games in school history on September 23, 1950 in the season opener against Duquesne. He rushed 23 times for 201 yards and two touchdowns while also returning three kickoffs for 121 yards, including a 79-yard return that did not result in a score. D’Alonzo’s record of 201 rushing yards in a game was not surpassed for 41 years until 1991 and it remained one of only eight 200-yard games in school history more than 70 years after the feat. His 322 all-purpose yards on the day were also a school record at the time.
 
All four of D’Alonzo’s career games with over 100 rushing yards came during the 1950 season. He and Pasquariello were the first two Wildcats ever to have four 100-yard games in a single season. It would be another 26 years until Vince Thompson in 1976 that anyone joined them in reaching that accomplishment. In addition to his prolific rushing totals in 1950, D’Alonzo averaged 23.8 yards on kickoff returns while returning 13 kicks for a total of 310 yards.
 
D’Alonzo came to Villanova after being an all-state scholastic player at Orange High School in New Jersey. He developed into a professional prospect during his collegiate career and was selected by the Detroit Lions with the 44^th overall pick in the fourth round of the 1951 NFL Draft. He would play parts of the 1951 and 1952 seasons with the Lions and record 22 total yards (18 rushing, four receiving) in 16 games played.
 
At the end of his playing career, D’Alonzo served his country in the Army during the Korean War. He would go on to become an educator and was principal of Netcong (N.J.) Elementary School until his retirement in 1986. D’Alonzo passed away in 2001 at the age of 72.