September 19, 2024
Writing His Own Ticket: Pete Abitante ’78
Pete Abitante ’78 to Receive 2025 Award of Excellence from the Pro Football Hall of Fame The former vice president of special projects at the NFL enjoyed a 46-year career in communications at the organization.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Awards of Excellence program announced Pete Abitante ’78 as a 2025 recipient in the public relations category. Abitante will be honored during a ceremony June 25-26, 2025, in Canton, Ohio, along with fellow honorees Jason Jenkins, former Miami Dolphins senior vice president of communications and community affairs, and Bill Keenist, former Detroit Lions senior vice president for communications.
In the fall of 1976, Abitante wrote letters to all the New York City-area sports teams and leagues explaining his desire for a summer internship, and his inquiry caught the attention of then-National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Pete Rozelle. That summer internship extended into a 46-year career with the NFL.
He began his career in the NFL Communications Department (1978-2006), where he learned from NFL PR icons Don Weiss, Jim Heffernan and Joe Browne, then continued as special assistant to Commissioner Roger Goodell (2006-2017). In 2017, Abitante took on a special projects role and, among other initiatives, he led the NFL’s 100th season celebration in 2019 that included the selection of the NFL 100 All-Time Team. He told W&L: The Washington and Lee Magazine he again took out his pen to write a note to each person he worked with while planning the festivities.
“It’s all about the people,” he said. “It gives me great satisfaction to help someone else who might benefit in some way.”
As the last NFL employee to work with Rozelle, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Goodell, Abitante’s career highlights include 46 Super Bowls (XIII through LVIII), the growth of the game internationally and five USO tours with players to visit American servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abitante served as the communications point person for international media requests from 1986 to 2005 as the sport spread overseas with American Bowl preseason games and the establishment of NFL Europe. His travels to promote the game included more than 20 trips to Japan, numerous visits to Berlin shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and 40 games in eight countries over four continents. He retired in April 2024.
“It’s unbelievable what I’ve been able to be a part of,” he said in the summer 2024 issue of the W&L magazine. “It’s been quite a ride.”
The Pro Football Hall of Fame established the Awards of Excellence in 2022 to recognize significant contributors to the game in behind-the-scenes roles. In addition to public relations personnel, the program honors career assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers and film/video directors.
Photo: Pete Abitante ’78 is flanked by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and current Commissioner Roger Goodell at Abitante’s retirement party on May 6, 2024. (AP photo)
