Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Ted Aceto led Villanova to a pair of bowl games during his collegiate playing career, including the 1961 season when the Wildcats defeated Wichita State in the Sun Bowl. He later went on to be the Director of Athletics for 19 years and oversaw Villanova’s transition into the BIG EAST Conference during his tenure. Aceto graduated from Villanova in 1963 and was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1987.
 
Born on December 26, 1938 in Camden, N.J., Aceto was an only child and had an affinity for football which got him noticed while attending Gloucester Catholic High School and St. Francis Prep. He attended from 1959-63 and played here seasons for the Wildcats during an era when freshmen were not allowed to compete. Aceto got his first taste of collegiate action in 1960 for a Villanova team that tallied just two wins under first year head coach Alex Bell.
 
The next two years would be impressive ones for the Wildcats, who were a combined 15-5 during the 1961 and 1962 seasons with Aceto and Richie Richman sharing quarterback duties in each of those seasons. The pair complemented each other as a combined dual threat, with Aceto considered the better passer and Richman the better runner. Villanova averaged 21.5 points per game spanning the 1961 and 1962 campaigns.
 
Aceto had been 7-of-18 as a passer for 89 yards and a touchdown in 1960 before coming into his own a year later. He was 30-of-63 through the air in 1961 and passed for 386 yards with five touchdowns. The Wildcats steamrolled through the regular season winning seven of their nine games, with only road losses to Boston College and Detroit along the way. Villanova made its first bowl game appearance in 13 years and played Wichita State in the Sun Bowl on December 30 in El Paso, Texas.
 
On the day that the Sun Bowl was played, it was claimed that the contest drew the largest television audience to ever view a football bowl game. Villanova set the tone with its confidence right out of the gate when it won the coin toss and elected to kick off. The Wildcats defense finished the year ranked seventh in the country and it was up to the early test, as was that of Wichita State.
 
It was late in the first quarter when Villanova got the ball at the Shockers 43-yard line. Aceto recorded a first down – the first of the game for either team – and four plays later Billy Joe scored on a 19-yard touchdown run which opened the scoring in what would eventually become a 17-9 Wildcats victory. The game is one of two bowl game victories in Villanova history, with the first coming 13 years earlier when the Wildcats defeated Nevada in the 1949 Harbor Bowl in San Diego, Calif.
 
Villanova had similar success in 1962 and again went 7-2 during the regular season. Aceto finished his senior season of college football with 39-of-83 passing for 464 yards and four touchdowns. The Wildcats were selected to play in the fourth annual Liberty Bowl at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia against a highly favored Oregon State team which was led by that season’s Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker.
 
The game was played on December 15 and broadcast live on NBC to an estimated 27 million viewers. The two most pivotal moments of the game occurred in a span of three plays in the opening minutes of the contest. Villanova’s William Sherlock punted the ball away and it was downed at the Beavers one-yard line by Larry Glueck. On the first play of the Oregon State drive however, Baker got to the outside and ran 99 yards for a touchdown with 9:24 left in the first quarter. A two-point conversion was unsuccessful and Baker’s touchdown improbably became the only points scored the entire day.
 
After the touchdown the Wildcats returned the ensuing kickoff to the Beavers 12-yard line. Billy Joe appeared to tie the game on a 12-yard touchdown run on the very next play, but a holding penalty against Villanova nullified the score. The Wildcats would eventually outgain Oregon State, 246-176, in the game while recording 20 first downs compared to giving up only 11. Villanova was done in by six turnovers despite the stalwart defensive performance.
 
In all, Aceto thew for 939 yards with 10 touchdowns during his Wildcats career. He earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Villanova and later completed his PhD at Bowling Green in 1971. He noted during his life that having his teammates forever hail him as a great leader and friend were more important to him than his notable academic achievements.
 
Aceto returned to Villanova to become the Director of Athletics and he served in that capacity from 1974-93. During his stewardship, the Wildcats entered the BIG EAST Conference in 1980 and won the 1985 NCAA Men’s Basketball championship. Villanova won five BIG EAST Commissioner Trophies under Aceto’s watch, with that honor presented to a school for the best overall performance in conference-sponsored sports during a given academic year. Aceto chaired the BIG EAST Television Committee and was the Interim Commissioner of the Yankee Conference from December 1991 until the summer of 1992.
 
The conference room in the Athletic Director’s office suite in Jake Nevin Field House was named in honor of the Aceto family in 2019. Aceto passed away at the age of 82 in 2021.