View source for Nick Liotta

{{Short description|American football player (1928–1951)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Nick Liotta
| image       =
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| position    = [[Guard (American football)|Guard]], [[Linebacker]]
| birth_date  = January 28, 1928
| birth_place = [[Everett, Massachusetts]]
| death_date  = November 28, 1951 (aged 23)
| death_place = [[Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania]]
| height_ft   = 5
| height_in   = 11
| weight_lbs  = 225
| high_school = [[Everett High School (Massachusetts)|Everett (MA)]]
| college     = [[Villanova Wildcats football|Villanova]]
| pastteams   =
| highlights  =
* First-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1951 College Football All-America Team|1951]])
* First-team All-Eastern ([[1951 All-Eastern football team|1951]])
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'''Domenic A.''' "'''Nick'''" '''Liotta''' (January 28, 1928 – November 28, 1951) was an [[American football]] player.
A native of [[Everett, Massachusetts]], he attended [[Villanova University]], where he played [[college football]] as a guard and linebacker.  He developed a reputation as a 60-minute player and served as co-captain of Villanova's 1951 football team.<ref name=WMS/><ref name=Time>{{cite news|title=Death of an Iron Man|publisher=Time|date=December 10, 1951|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815716,00.html}}</ref> He was selected by the [[Football Writers Association of America]] as a first-team guard and by the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' (based on votes of fellow players) as a first-team linebacker on their respective [[1951 College Football All-America Team]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Look Picks Two Teams|newspaper=Long Beach Press-Telegram|date=December 5, 1951}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Arch Ward|title=Players Name 1951 All-America Teams: Football Stars Who Rate as Nation's Best Offensive Group--Their Opponents Say So!|newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=December 9, 1951|url=https://secure.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/498371282.html?dids=498371282:498371282&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+09,+1951&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=PLAYERS+NAME+1951+ALL-AMERICA+TEAMS&pqatl=google|access-date=February 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303122401/https://secure.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/498371282.html?dids=498371282:498371282&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+09,+1951&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=PLAYERS+NAME+1951+ALL-AMERICA+TEAMS&pqatl=google|archive-date=March 3, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Prior to the end of the 1951 season, and shortly after accepting an invitation to play in the [[East–West Shrine Game]], Liotta committed suicide by hanging himself with telephone wire from a pipe in the basement of his dormitory. He was reported to have been ill and depressed prior to his suicide. Villanova cancelled the final game of the season following Liotta's suicide.<ref name=WMS>{{cite news|title=22-Year-Old Nick Liotta Takes Life; Villanova Cancels Game|newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star|date=November 29, 1951|page=1|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19511129&id=MF5gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K3INAAAAIBAJ&pg=1662,4502144}}</ref><ref name=Time/> Liotta had returned three days earlier from a loss against [[1951 LSU Tigers football team|LSU]] in Louisiana, and some called for curtailing extensive travel schedules for college athletes, noting that Liotta was "dog tired" from the travel, playing 60 minutes a game, and maintaining the highest academic ranking of any player on the Villanova team.<ref>{{cite news|title=Liotta Death Brings Probe|newspaper=The Cornell Daily Sun|date=November 30, 1951|url=http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19511130.2.50#add}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liotta, Nick}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:1951 suicides]]
[[Category:American football guards]]
[[Category:American football linebackers]]
[[Category:Villanova Wildcats football players]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Everett, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Suicides by hanging in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Sportspeople who died by suicide]]