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>> before attending the Nassau school. A na- tive of Naples, Italy, he migrated to East Meadow, N.Y., when he was 16 years old, arriving with his mother, three siblings and his grandfather to reunite with his fa- ther, who had relocated five years earlier. "We had an enclave of people from my town residing in East Meadow, Vitello said in a telephone interview. "My first year in high school was rough because of the language barrier. I had no knowledge of the English language, zero. I went into a high school setting where some kids were very friendly and some not so friendly. They liked to make fun of people who spoke little English. But it was a good learning experience." Vitello was a talented soccer player and was introduced to football accidently. The high school football coach was Lou DeFil- ippo, an All-America center at Fordham in 1940 who had played with the New York Giants for four years before and after World War II. "I was playing soccer, and the football kicker broke his leg," Vitello recalled. "So, Coach DeFilippo asked me if I could kick. I said I would try." Vitello fell in love with football, but when he enrolled at Nassau as a physical education major, he went out for just the soccer team. Penn State connection By 1970, Nassau's new football team had turned into one of the best in the junior college ranks. Because of Jim Weinman's relationship with Penn State, Joe Paterno scheduled some scrimmages against Nas- sau for his freshmen and some sopho- mores. "We'd play one game down there one year and then come up [here] the next year," Weinman said. "Nassau also was becoming well known from coast to coast academically. All the courses the students took were transferrable. So, when they came out, they were full-fledged juniors." Vitello was one of the stars of the soccer team as a freshman, and at Weinman's in- vitation he also became the kicker on the football team. Soccer-style kickers were then coming into style after the first one in the NFL, Pete Gogolak, made his debut with the Buffalo Bills in the then-rival American Football League in 1964. Gogo- lak was still playing for the New York Gi- ants when Vitello was at Nassau, and Jan Stenerud was making his name as a soc- cer-style kicker for Kansas City. Timing continues to be everything in life. Vitello's instance of perfect timing came in 1970, his sophomore year, when he set a junior college field goal record with a 60-yard kick against Baltimore Community College. "I started to get calls from recruiters," Vitello recalled. "At that time, I was getting offers from everybody, pretty much all the major schools, like Al- abama, Colorado, South Carolina, Mary- land and others." Paterno was looking for a player who specialized in field goals. He had not been satisfied with his team's place-kicking performance since taking over as head coach in 1966. For decades, field goals and extra points had been handled by Nittany Lion players as a secondary re- sponsibility. Starting fullback Don Abbey and two sophomore linemen had been the place kickers since 1967, and they were not accurate, particularly on field goals, collectively hitting 16 of 42 attempts, while also missing 17 extra point tries. Penn State's freshman coach, John Chuckran, was already recruiting the Long Island area, and he made the first contact with Vitello. Weinman also called Paterno. Former assistant Tor Toretti, who had been assigned to oversee re- cruiting full-time, stepped in. "Then Joe came to visit me and my parents, and that was it," Vitello said. By the time he graduated, Vitello held Penn State records for most extra points in a game (nine), season (59 in 1971) and career (98). His 97.5 percent success rate on PATs in '71 was also a school record, as was his streak of 43 consecutive makes. Vitello tied Pete Mauthe, captain of the great 1912 team and a future Hall of Famer, for most field goals in a season (eight in 1972) but he fell seven field goals short of Larry Vorhis' career record of 20, set from 1906-09. That record is hardly visible nowadays, with Kevin Kelly's 78 (2005-08) and Sam Ficken's 54 (2011-14) topping the list. Vitello's kicks of 21, 37 and 22 yards in his first season set a Cotton Bowl record in Penn State's 30-6 upset win over Texas in the '71 game, helping the Lions pull away in the second half after trailing 6-3 at half- time. He also booted three extra points in the game. Paterno said years later he didn't "think we've ever had a game that we had to win more than this one." With his kicking days behind him, Vitello opened his own business on Long Island in the late 1970s, Albert Vitello Decorators, which makes upholstered furniture and window treatments. The facility is in Bethpage, N.Y., about 4 miles from his home in Plainview. The COVID- 19 pandemic restrictions forced him to shut down the business for three months last spring. After reopening, he had to close it again "just before Christmas, as we all got COVID," he said. "We're back to normal now." There are seven employees, including his wife, Gena. Albert and Gena have two children – Adrianne, 32, a spe- cial education teacher, and Andrew, 28, a project manager for a major travel corpo- ration. Vitello keeps in contact with such team- mates as defensive end Greg Murphy and running back Tom Donchez and gets back to campus when he can for football games and golf outings. "We're still a tight group," Vitello said. "We're planning for a reunion this year if we can do it." A familiar name Nassau also produced Penn State's sec- ond junior college transfer. He may be more familiar to today's Nittany Lion fans be- cause his two sons followed him more than 30 years later. That would be father Rich Mauti and his sons. Pat, a reserve wide re- ceiver, lettered in 2009 and was one of the leaders of the football team's rare-disease charity, Uplifting Athletes, which now has more than two dozen chapters around the nation. Then there was Michael, the pop- ular All-America linebacker who helped save the football program in 2012 after the NCAA levied its sanctions. In early 1974, Paterno contacted Wein- man about filling a need on the Nittany

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