The Current - Meet the 58-year-old who made his college football team

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

Tom Cillo had never played football before this fall. But the retiree pushed himself to the limit to make the Lycoming College team. Oh, and he's also back to school for the first time in four decades.

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Tom Sillo is 58 years old. He's a retiree. He's still running. He is an American college football player. 41 years after he graduated from high school, Tom is not just returning to class for the first time. He actually beat out a bunch of young men, decades younger than him, to make this squad.

It's not a novelty act. Busted his butt to make the cut. for the Lecombing College team, went through grueling workouts, and had to learn the ins and outs of a game he'd always loved, but never played outside of a pickup game. Tom is in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Tom, good morning. Good morning.

How does somebody who has retired decide that they want to get bashed around by a bunch of large people, nearly 40 years younger than them, on a football grid? But, you know, that's an interesting question. And I have always loved the game of football. I have loved it since I was a little boy and have always been passionate about it. Never played organized football. But, you know, when I was younger, I had a dream of playing college football and I never

followed through with that. But even after all these years, I have. stayed very active, kept myself in pretty decent shape, I feel. And I just reached a point in life. I thought I was still physically capable of pulling this off. And I kicked the idea off a very good friend of mine. And honestly, he became, I think, more excited than I was. And, you know, he said, if you want to try it, go for it.

And he also serves as my trainer. So, you know, it's here we are today. And I am, yes, I am a 58-year-old American college football player. As these things happen, you know, the craziest ideas get sparked over a few beers. And when you're with your friend, you said, I have some regrets. What were the regrets that you had? Well, you know, in my youth, I did things that kind of curtailed my college dreams at the time. and I always dreamed of being a collegiate athlete

and actually basketball too. I had wanted to play college basketball. Clearly, I never followed through on those dreams and years go by, decades go by in my case, four decades. And, you know, again, I kicked the idea off Dave and we're like, it's now or never, we're going to go for it. And so to go for it, there's a whole process here,

one of which is you have to apply to college, right? You need to get the transcripts out from high school from 1984 and then go back to school. What was that like? I have joked that I had to go find a boarded-up one-room schoolhouse to obtain my transcripts, which really isn't true. But even before that happened, I started getting cold feet. And I called Dave one day and I said, you know, I'm just not sure about this. You know, there's a physical risk. You know, there's definitely a financial risk on my part. And there's an academic risk.

And Dave was really the impetus I needed to really push this forward. He said, you know, if this is something that you want to try, he said, by all means, you know, go for it. I'll help train you. We'll get ready for this. He says, don't worry about the getting hurt part. You could get hurt in the shower. As far as academically, he said, Tom, just listen, it'll come back to you. You'll be fine. Sit up front, take great notes, ask questions, and you'll get through that part of it. You'll be okay. He said, as far as financially, he said, you know, the only thing that has any real value in this life is time. And how are you going to use it? And after that phone conversation, I hung up and I'm like, yeah, you know what? Full esteem. head we're going to go through with this you must have been had a moment or two though when you're

sitting in the classroom you graduated from high school in 1984 yes you must have thought sitting in a classroom with a room of people a whole lot younger than you what am i doing yeah i i've actually thought that yes and more than once and you know again 41 years away that's a long time and so i'm trying to develop study habits and different habits to to help me out academic And that's really important to me. You know, I know this has become a great human interest story and a football story. But academically, there are still things I wanted to prove to myself. And I have had some moments, honestly, in private, where I'm trying to study and I'm struggling.

And, you know, and I question myself, you know, can I get through this? And, you know, the answer keeps coming back. Yes, just keep pushing. You know, do not give up on this. And, you know, and to like coming college credit, everybody that I have dealt with here has been unbelievably helpful. And they have all the measures in place to help me succeed. So, and I appreciate all of that. And that's part of the process of helping push me through this.

You also have to be pushed to get into game shape. You're a strong guy. I mean, I've seen this video of you. you're pulling a fire truck. But your friend Dave put you through the ringer, right? That is correct. Tell me about the Rocky type stuff that he made you do to get you into game shape. First of all, lifting weights has always been a passion mine.

So that wasn't an issue coming into this. And again, you know, 58 years old, you don't just sit in a recliner and come to a decision that, you know, I'm going to try college football. I was in a, you know, a decent level of shape coming into this. But so we backed off the weights and Dave put me through a lot of soft tissue work, a lot of stretching, a lot of flexibility type stuff and a lot of conditioning work. And I'm telling you, man, it was grueling. Some of that was grueling, you know. But it was all worth it.

It got me as prepared as I could possibly be coming into training care. you had to earn a spot on the team yes nothing's guaranteed you do all the work and it's a as you said it's a great human interest story but they're not a charity they make you work to get that spot when you got the call to say that you'd made it onto the team what was your reaction i was euphoric you know um they they put us through certain lifting tests uh conditioning tests and you know i never I'm older than my coach by a few years but I never went to coach one time and said look you know

can you cut me a little slack here can you back off of this never did that never wanted that I wanted to prove my worth and you know it was a good feeling when that jersey number was hanging at my locker your teammate Goodwin Edie spoke with CBS Sports about what you have created

on the field with players that are a whole lot younger than you. Have a listen to this. I would die on that field with time any day. This man has put everything on the line for us boys. Us boys just met three, four weeks ago, so I would do the exact same thing. What does it mean to hear that from one of your teammates?

It's unbelievably powerful. And honestly, he's one of my favorite teammates. I love each and every one of the guys. I really do. But Godwin's just, there's something special about him and he you know he also had talked to me in regard to his father he talks very highly of his father and he told me point blank he said you know you remind me of my father and you know there's been numerous parts of this process where i get emotion i really do you can hear it in

your voice yes well i appreciate that and uh you know i haven't been that great to be honest on the football field. I thought, honestly, I would make more of an impact from a football perspective, but I kind of understand my role. You know, I can be a leader in the weight room. I can be a leader in the locker room. I can be a leader off the field. And I'm very intentional about a lot of those things, you know, until I get a better grasp of the football part of it. But I'm trying. I mean, I'm really trying. But, yeah, Godwin's a special man, and I'm happy to have him as a teammate. Just before I let you go, you talked earlier about regret and how there are some things that you regretted that, and this is an opportunity to kind of act on those things that you didn't do, perhaps.

There's a great message here to people who feel like time has passed them by. What would you think that message would be to people who are listening? Well, probably a couple of things. You know, number one, being over 50 is not an athletic death sentence. I appreciate you saying that. And honestly, and, you know, I know there are people all over this world that are very talented or have different gifts. And they have different goals and different dreams and different desires. And if they're anything like me, they may.

be holding themselves back. They may have this fear of doubt, this fear of failure, this fear of, you know, I'm just not good enough. And they could have somebody else putting those ideas into their head as well. And I finally came to the conclusion that, you know what, I'm going to write the script. I'm not going to let somebody else write the script for me. If I'm not good enough at this, I'm not good enough. So be it.

But I won't know unless I try. So I want to encourage people, honestly, worldwide, that if you have a dream, if you have a desire, and, you know, if you feel you have the ability and the talent or the desire to pull it off, then, you know, by all means, go for it. This is an amazing story. I wish you the best out on the field. But Tom, I'm really glad to talk to you. And I think that message, there are a few parts to it there, but that message is a really powerful one.

Thank you very much for speaking with us. You're welcome. I appreciate it. is a college freshman football player. He's 58 years old. We reached him in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday

on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.

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