Media Contributor
Sal Paolantonio, National Correspondent for ESPN since 1995, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the All Sports Museum of Southern New Jersey on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at the Ramblewood Country Club in Mt. Laurel, NJ.
Sal Paolantonio, a national correspondent for ESPN since 1995, is the longest serving reporter at the network. He has been the host of the NFL Matchup Show for 20 years, currently the longest serving host of an NFL studio show at ESPN.
On the ESPN national radio network, Paolantonio calls NFL games as a booth analyst. He is a voting member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee in Canton, Ohio. In 2018, he was awarded the Jack Newfield Courage in Journalism Award given by the New York Daily News. Including his tenure at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Paolantonio has been a NFL reporter for 30 years.
Sal has been honored with seven Emmy’s for his contributions to SportsCenter (1996, 2003, 2005 and 2020-21) and Sunday NFL Countdown (2001, 2003 and 2006). Sal is the author of four books: Philly Special: The Inside Story of How the
Philadelphia Eagles Won Their First Super Bowl Championship (2018), How Football Explains America (2008) ; The Paolantonio Report: the Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Coaches, Teams and Moments in NFL History (2007) and Frank Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America (1993), the all-time No. 1 local bestseller in the Philadelphia region and adapted for the stage by
playwright Bruce Graham, running for two years at the Suzanne Roberts Theater on the Avenue of the Arts.
From 1985 to 1995, Sal was a sportswriter and national political correspondent at the Philadelphia Inquirer, covering the 1988 and 1992 presidential campaigns, and the 1991 race for mayor of Philadelphia. In 1994, Philadelphia Magazine named him the best sportswriter in Philadelphia. In 1993, Philly Mag named Paolantonio the city’s top author. In 1985, while at the Albany Times Union, Paolantonio received an Associated Press Enterprise Reporting Award for his writing and photography of the
famine in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Paolantonio was a Surface Warfare Officer, serving as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans from 1978-83. In 1981, he was awarded the United Nations Meritorious Service Medal for his role in the rescue of Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea.
Paolantonio has a bachelor’s degree in history from SUNY Oneonta, named one of the 100 most prestigious graduates for the college’s Centennial Celebration. He has a Master’s degree in journalism from NYU. In 2013, he received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from SUNY.
Sal has lived in South Jersey with his wife, Lynn, for 38 years. They have three married children and four grandchildren.
Presented by
The All Sports Museum of Southern New Jersey
March 11, 2023
