Anthony Palmisano
Content Creator
Born and raised in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. He attended three high schools, first Paramus Catholic where he was teammates with Jabrill Peppers from the New York Giants. After heavy consideration, he and his family thought it was best to transfer to his public school. At Cedar Grove, Anthony was bullied, harassed and intimidated by 7 adult football coaches. Believe it or not, those days were not the hardest part. Anthony’s darkest days came later on, when people discovered the bullied player was him and the coaches breached confidentiality. The coaches turned his teammates against him. Like a herd of sheep, students in the school followed their actions and Ant was regarded as the villain; all for standing up for myself and my morals. It took strength to ignore the hateful messages and not respond back to them. Anthony felt isolated and alone. When he needed the support of friends, he had none.
Seven weeks into Anthony’s junior year of high school (a pivotal year for being recruited for football), he transferred to DePaul Catholic High School because his parents were concerned about his physical and mental well-being. His dream was to play D1 football, but having to sit out for transferring high schools, he missed his entire junior football season.
Alexander Graham Bell’s quote,
“When one door closes another door opens,” defined his situation.
Anthony discovered a new passion, running track, and realized he excelled at it. Fast-forward to June 2015, he was honored as the 2015 DePaul Catholic High School scholar-athlete for the Passaic County All-County Coaches’ Association, as well as attending the 2014 New Balance Indoor and Outdoor Track Nationals with his sprint medley team. Anthony committed to Saint Joseph’s University as a member of their Division 1 Track Team. Although he stopped running halfway through his sophomore year, he felt that he had gained many positives from all of these life experiences.
Quitting track allowed Anthony to put his concentrations into career ventures that included three internships with the New York Giants, his favorite sports team. Although he is no longer with the Giants, he has a strong enthusiasm for speaking out on bullying, mental health, and being an advocate for others. Anthony is esthetic and humbled to be joining Alston For Athletes, where he plans to host podcasts, personal blogs and other useful content to help others in need.