Sal Paolantonio

Reporter

Sal Paolantonio joined ESPN as a SportsCenter correspondent in August 1995, primarily reporting on the National Football League. Beginning with the 2004 season, he also serves as host of NFL Match-Up, a weekly “Xs and Os” football show produced by NFL Films. He was awarded Sports Emmy Awards in 1996, 1997 and 2005 for his contributions on SportsCenter and in 2001 and 2004 for his contributions to Sunday NFL Countdown.

In addition to reporting for ESPN since 2002, Paolantonio has served at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia (2002 to present) as a professor in the English department, teaching courses in political and sports journalism and communications.

Prior to joining ESPN, Paolantonio was a political reporter (1985-93) and beat reporter for the Philadelphia Eagles (1993-95) for the Philadelphia Inquirer.  In 1994, he won the Associated Press Sports Editors Award for Reporting.

Paolantonio also served as a reporter for Philadelphia’s WPHL-TV nightly newscast, Inquirer News Tonight (1994-95), and hosted Saturday Morning Sports Page, a weekly call-in show on Philadelphia’s WIP-AM all-sports radio (1993-95).

Previously, Paolantonio was a contributing reporter for the Albany Times Union, where he received the Associated Press Managing Editor’s Award for Enterprise Reporting (1985).

In 2007 he co-wrote The Paolantonio Report, the Most Overrated & Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches & Moments in NFL History with Reuben Frank. His biography of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, The Last Big Man in Big City America, was published in 1993.

Paolantonio, a native of Queens, N.Y., was graduated from the State University of New York at Oneonta in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in history.  He also received a master’s degree in journalism from New York University in 1980.

After receiving his master’s degree, Paolantonio served in the U.S. Navy (1979-83), where he was awarded the United Nations Meritorious Service Medal in 1983. Paolantonio is married with three children.