Primetime Pards presents Tom Villante '49

Join Tom Villante '49, a longtime sports publicist, for Primetime Pards on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m. 

An electrical engineering major, Tom Villante '49 came to Lafayette in 1945. For the better part of the 20th century, Villante was a staple within America’s pastime. Some of the stars he called friends were: Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Jackie Robinson. Villante has an incredible wealth of baseball stories that start in the locker room and end up in a fancy hotel room with Jimmy Stewart. During his time on College Hill Villante wrote about sports for The Lafayette student newspaper, which had just restarted publication after pausing for the war. 

After leaving College Hill, Villante landed a job in BBDO’s public relations department. By the time he’d left Lafayette he’d begun doing sports publicity work. He produced games in Brooklyn for the Dodgers from 1952 to 1957. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, he moved out to the West Coast with the team. He’s the only one who worked with both long-time Dodger commentator Vin Scully, who retired in 2016, and the legendary play-by-play man Walter “Red” Barber, who called Dodgers’ games from 1939 to 1953. 

Primetime Pards is a virtual presentation featuring alumni presented by the Department of Athletics in partnership with the Communications and Development divisions of the College. Each edition is hosted by Gary Laubach of the Lafayette Sports Network.