WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — One day in late April, Mark Sitler, a Lycoming College Board of Trustees member and football alumnus, received a call from a former weightlifting partner and friend of 25 years. It was 58-year-old Tom Cillo, revealing his plan to become the oldest active player in college football.

“I asked Tommy, ‘Are you serious?’” Sitler, a 1986 graduate who once starred as a defensive lineman for the Warriors, told The Athletic.

One week later, during an annual dinner at a Williamsport restaurant ahead of graduation, Sitler handed Cillo’s phone number to Lycoming football coach Mike Clark.

Cillo, a 6-foot, 227-pound powerlifting champion who missed his first chance to play college football while struggling with alcohol and drug addiction in his teens and 20s, needed to convince Clark that this wasn’t a joke. That he indeed hoped to play football alongside players younger than two of his three children.

“Even though I’m obviously well past my age, I just felt like I was still in good enough physical shape to give this a try,” Cillo said. “So I had a conversation with a good friend of mine, and he said, ‘Tom, go for it, give it a shot. Why not?’ I’m not gonna let someone else write the script or let the seeds of doubt pull me back. So here I am.”

Dreams deferred

Cillo has always dreamed of playing college football. He played basketball at Williamsport Area High and signed up for football. But he quit right away after he began drinking.

“I started doing things at 15 years old that I probably shouldn’t have at that age, and it set me on a different path in life,” Cillo said.

Then he began trying to find his identity. After graduating from high school, he worked in construction, at a hardware store and as a furniture sales associate. After a period of drug usage in his 20s, Cillo was ready to become a different version of himself. The city of Williamsport hired him as a truck driver at 24, and Cillo worked his way up to general manager. He also refereed high school basketball games and worked as a custodian at his alma mater.

Still, as busy as Cillo was, he drank heavily into his 30s. He began powerlifting out of a desire to remain active. That led to trips to the Williamsport YMCA for 5 a.m. workouts and he soon turned his restlessness into a passion.

He ran half marathons, competed in triathlons, strongman contests and bodybuilding competitions, and at one point boxed. He’s even pulled a 30,000-pound firetruck.

In 2024, after a two-decade break from lifting, he broke the International Powerlifting Association World Record in the deadlift for the 55-59 age group, lifting 580 pounds. Although people told him to give up strength sports, Cillo attributes staying physically fit to his dedication to weightlifting.

“I’ve had people say, ‘You’ve got to give this stuff up,’ ” he said. “But I love it. And if my body says you can still do it, I’m still going to do it.

“If I ever had a doctor that said, ‘Don’t deadlift anymore,’ then I’d probably find a new doctor,” he joked.

What Cillo is aiming to accomplish on the football field may seem like a joke to some, but growing up, his daughter, 28-year-old Nicole McIntosh, witnessed her father attempt extraordinary things.

“I want to say that I was surprised, but I don’t know if that would be 100 percent true because I think he’s done a lot of crazy things that people would say aren’t the norm,” McIntosh said. “So, while I might have been slightly surprised, I was more so excited and inspired.”

Tougher than imagined

After meeting with Clark, Cillo aimed to get in the best shape possible to prepare for Lycoming’s preseason training camp in August.

“We talked, set up a meeting, met for coffee, and I could tell he was totally serious,” Clark, 54, recalled.

Training camp began at 7 a.m. with breakfast, followed by team meetings, walk-throughs and lunch. Players would have 60- to 90-minute breaks midday, before afternoon practice, team dinner and more meetings filled the remainder of their time for 11 straight days.

“I trained my ass off to get ready for this,” Cillo said. “And I didn’t come into this blind or naive, but it’s tougher than I even imagined. Just getting through training camp was a win for me.”

During camp, Cillo beat out some of his fellow defensive linemen in conditioning drills. One drill required running up and back from the goal line to the 15-yard line 16 times in just over one minute with short breaks in between.

“He might’ve been in the top half, certainly in the top two-thirds. He wasn’t in the bottom third of defensive linemen in terms of shape that they reported in, so he was prepared,” Clark said.

Another day in camp, the team had a juggling competition and his teammates went wild when they found out Cillo was an “accomplished” juggler. He won the competition among 114 of them.

On Aug. 6, the Landmark Conference held its media day. Cillo didn’t attend, but on the same day, he posted a video to Instagram discussing his journey in trying out for the Warriors.

“At 58 years old, I’ve decided to return to college as a true freshman and live out my dream of playing college football, as well as take a full course load,” Cillo said. “I can assure you that this is not a joke; this is very real. … And I hope to inspire people around the world.”

At media day, players soon noticed that Cillo’s video was gaining traction online.

“Our kids at media day, four or five of our guys are like, ‘You know we’re (going viral), and I’m like, ‘Yeah, what do you think?’ ” Clark said. “And they’re like, ‘Coach, he inclined (bench pressed) 315 (pounds) for nine reps, it’s OK.’ ”

Tom Cillo, a 58-year-old freshman, poses during preseason camp. (Courtesy of Lycoming College Athletics)

As Cillo adjusted from life as a retiree — after a 33-year career working for the city — to spending half of his days on the football field, his next challenge was nailing down the academic side. He is taking courses toward his other goal of obtaining a criminal justice degree, while also sprinkling in business courses.

In the 40 years since Cillo last stepped into a classroom, a lot has changed. He’s reinventing the structure of his life and “learning how to prioritize” the day-to-day classwork. He notes that there’s “no such thing as free time.”

One thing he’s not having to adjust to is the mentoring of Steve Wiser, Lycoming associate head coach and defensive coordinator. Wiser, who’s in his 52nd year coaching at Lycoming, taught Cillo when he was a freshman in high school.

The two shared a cool moment during team introductions, bringing Cillo’s story full circle.

“In our first day of camp, coach had all the freshmen stand up and say (their name and where they’re from), and (Coach Wiser) had a list of them on a screen, and then mine was at the bottom,” Cillo explained. “I stood up and turned around and faced all the guys and said, ‘Tom Cillo, Williamsport Area High School class of 1984,’ and I turned to Wiser and I said, ‘I had him as a teacher in 1980. Here we are 45 years later.’ ”

Cillo has his work cut out for him given Lycoming’s rich history. College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Girardi won 257 games in 36 seasons there, posting 29 consecutive winning records from 1975 through 2003. He led the Warriors to 11 playoff appearances and two national championship games (1990, 1997), and Lycoming’s stadium is named after him. The Warriors are off to a 0-3 start this season, but won eight games and made the postseason as recently as 2021.

If Cillo plays a snap this season, he will become the oldest player to appear in an NCAA game since 2009, when 61-year-old kicker Tom Thompson debuted for Division III Austin College’s final game of the season. Alan Moore was 61 in 2011 when he kicked for Faulkner University, an NAIA school in Alabama.

“I’m just trying to work my way on the field, and there’s no guarantee,” Cillo said. “It’s tough. This is college football.”

Cillo has played in the team’s “development” games on Sundays and is learning the intricacies of his position from Michael Sipps, a senior defensive lineman. In return, Cillo passes on advice and leadership to Sipps and others. They even discuss goals outside of football, such as how to approach life when they hang up their helmets for good.

“This is an unforgettable experience,” Sipps said after a practice earlier this month. “Working with Tom is one of the best things I’ve ever had to do as a football player, as in helping coach somebody. He’s respectful, he listens, he tries hard as hell and does the best he can. It’s awesome because you don’t get many older folks like this.”

“One of my goals is to be a tremendous example to these dudes,” Cillo said. “I want to be the greatest teammate they ever had, in whatever form or fashion that comes.”

Tom Cillo is hoping to join college football history as a defensive lineman. (Courtesy of Dave Kennedy / Williamsport Sun-Gazette)No guarantees

With at least seven remaining games, Cillo could see the field this season. But he and Clark understand learning the game takes time — he’s a freshman with little experience, after all. For now, he’s putting in the work in areas that need developing and shining in places where he has experience. That often involves the running, the heavy lifting and team activities.

“We’ve gotta get him up to a similar talent, expertise and skill-level like the people who are ahead of him right now,” Clark said.

And while there may or may not be external pressure from fans and alumni to get Cillo into a game, Clark considers the margin of error and views the possibility as circumstantial. He understands there are 52 first-year players on the team and that Cillo is one of 11 first-year defensive linemen.

“I don’t feel any pressure, but the margin for error to put him into a game, if we’re winning late, might be smaller than it would’ve been in the past,” Clark said. “If the time is right and we feel good one way, I would try to make that happen sooner than I probably would have in the past.”

Cillo’s initial preference was to play tight end, but Lycoming already has seven of them, including three who play regularly. So ahead of training camp, Cillo asked Clark to put him on the defensive line, and Cillo began camp at nose tackle.

Given his age and lack of experience, Cillo admitted it takes courage to break a huddle and attack offensive linemen in front of him.

“I don’t say that boastfully, but I’m just saying that you got to take a deep breath and say, ‘OK, dudes are 40 years younger and 40 pounds heavier,’ ” Cillo said. “It’s a tough matchup.”

Those challenges are fueling Cillo to develop sharp instincts for the game. As the days move forward and he becomes more in tune with the pace of the game, he’s along for the ride to see where his on-the-job, progressive learning will land him.

“I’m here grinding every day. I had people that didn’t think I’d get through training camp. And that was a challenge,” Cillo said. “I know there’s risks, there’s factors, but I don’t go into it with that mindset. I’m just here to compete and see where it falls.”

(Top photo of Tom Cillo courtesy of Dave Kennedy/ Williamsport Sun-Gazette)