Villanova Univeristy Athletics

The first player in school history to reach the milestone of 1,000 career rushing yards and the program record holder in career yards, attempts and touchdowns when he graduated, Ralph Pasquariello played three seasons in the NFL after his stellar collegiate career. Along with teammate Joe Rogers, he was one of the first great running backs in Villanova history. Pasquariello played for the Wildcats from 1946-49 and graduated in 1950 with a degree in Education. He was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1981.
 
Pasquariello rushed 380 times for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns during his Villanova career. All three of those marks were school records when he graduated, and they still ranked in the top three of the program record book at the time of his Hall of Fame induction more than 30 years later. Pasquariello’s record of 28 rushing touchdowns was not surpassed until Wildcats legend Brian Westbrook’s career from 1997-01.
 
Pasquariello also set single season Villanova records with 12 rushing touchdowns in 1948, 771 rushing yards in 1949 and an average of 77.1 yards per game during the 1949 season. The record for yards per game lasted only one season until being broken by Pete D’Alonzo a year later, but the record of 12 touchdowns stood for 43 years. When Pasquariello was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1981, his 771 rushing yards in 1949 was still one of only five seasons in school history of over 750 yards.
 
During his career Pasquariello was named to six all-star teams, including the All-America College Selection in 1948 and 1949, the All-America Catholic and All-East elevens, and the Associated Press All-Pennsylvania team. He was selected to play in the North-South Shrine Game in 1949 and was named the MVP after scoring the winning touchdown.
 
Villanova’s dominant running game during Pasquariello’s career – first under Hall of Fame coach Jordan Olivar and later under James Leonard in his senior year in 1949 – translated into teamwide success. The Wildcats were 28-10-2 (.725) during Pasquariello’s career and notched the first bowl game win in school history at the end of the 1948 season. The offense averaged 22.4 points per game over the four-year span from 1946-49.
 
As a freshman in 1946, Pasquariello rushed for 234 yards and four touchdowns on 56 carries. It was Rogers who led the team in rushing that season – with 620 yards and seven touchdowns – but Pasquariello added 92 yards on kickoff returns to go along with a two-yard reception and a two-yard punt return during the year. By their junior seasons in 1948, Pasquariello reached the 1,000-yard milestone just ahead of Rogers. Pasquariello punted against Florida State in 1946 and had three attempts for a total of 96 yards.
 
Villanova went 6-3-1 in 1947 and played in the Great Lakes Bowl in Cleveland where it was narrowly defeated by Kentucky. Pasquariello ended the season with 80 rushes for 330 yards and three scores to go along with 54 kickoff return yards. He kicked a 44-yard punt in the San Francisco game.
 
In 1948, the Wildcats went 8-2-1 and tallied their first-ever bowl game win in a 27-7 win over Nevada in the Harbor Bowl in San Diego on New Year’s Day in 1949. Pasquariello recorded the first of his five career 100-yard rushing games that season when he had 21 carries for 180 yards and a career-high tying three touchdowns in a 36-7 win over Georgetown at Shibe Park. Pasquariello had opened the season with his first career three-touchdown game in a 34-14 win over Texas A&M at Franklin Field. His totals for the season ended up being 112 carries for 480 yards and a record 12 touchdowns to go along with 92 kickoff return yards.
 
Villanova went 8-1 under first year head coach Jim Leonard in 1949 and Pasquariello rushed for a record 771 yards and nine touchdowns on 132 carries. He was a part of history in his final collegiate game on November 19, 1949 when he had 182 yards on 22 carries in a 45-21 win over North Carolina State at Franklin Field. The game made Pasquariello the first player in school history, and the only player until Pat Kennedy in 1991, to have two career games with over 180 rushing yards.
 
That was not the biggest piece of history from the game, however. The contest remains the only one in school history in which Villanova had three different players (Pasquariello, future Hall of Famer Dominic Frinzi and John Geppi) top 100 rushing yards in the same game, while the team’s total of 627 yards on the ground that day are also still the program’s single game mark.
 
Pasquariello topped 100 rushing yards in each of the final four games of his career, beginning against Duquesne on October 22, 1949 when he had 19 carries for 110 yards. He also had 128 yards against Boston College on October 28 and ran for 102 yards versus Georgetown on November 4 in the leadup to the North Carolina State contest. In the four-game stretch, Pasquariello ran 81 times for 522 yards.
 
A bona fide professional prospect by his senior year, Pasquariello was selected by the Los Angeles Rams with the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1950 NFL Draft. He played for the Rams in 1950 and the Chicago Cardinals from 1951-52. His career NFL totals included 411 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go along with 10 receptions for another 39 yards. Pasquariello played 29 games with 10 starts in his NFL career.
 
Pasquariello was born in Everett, Mass. and was an all-scholastic athlete at Everett High School. He served in the US Army during World War II before coming to Villanova. His roots in the Boston area led to the creation of the Annual Ralph Pasquariello Award which was given for many years by the Villanova Club of Boston to the outstanding backfield player in each year’s Villanova-Boston College game.
 
Pasquariello’s son, Ralph Jr., also attended Villanova and was a member of the 1977 graduating class. He rushed for 512 yards and two touchdowns during his varsity career. The older Pasquariello passed away in Plantation, Fla. in 1999 at the age of 72.