When the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl in February, Tom Pitzer joined Hall of Fame lineman Russ Grimm as the only two Southmoreland High School graduates to receive a Super Bowl ring.
Many people know about the legendary Grimm, who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2010. A 1977 Southmoreland graduate, Grimm won three rings as an offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins. He won a fourth ring as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s nerve racking when someone asks me to try on my ring,” Pitzer said, noting the ring features 178 diamonds, 40 sapphires and one emerald. The ring is valued at $20,000.
Pitzer’s achievement could perhaps better serve as a trivia question for those who are unaware that he is the second Southmoreland grad to receive a Super Bowl ring as an employee of an NFL champion. He works for the Seattle Seahawks and is the Director of Guest Services.
Pitzer is a 2008 Slippery Rock University graduate. He majored in Sports Management. He needed 800 hours of internship and worked with professional sports teams in the Pittsburgh area.
Pitzer said he “buckled down” in college and graduated in three years. “I was anxious to get into my profession,” he said.
Pitzer has worked for numerous professional sports teams across the country, including the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders of the NFL, and the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. He said he usually “lasts about 18 months” at a job before another team seek him out.
“I really don’t have to go looking,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity out there, they just find me.”
Pitzer said he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, attending seminars and meeting people – “networking,” he said – that got him to where he is today.
Pitzer looks back at his time at Southmoreland with humility.
“In high school I was a mediocre student,” he said. “As an athlete I was nothing special.”
Yet, here he is today, continuing to strive to be the best in his profession and getting a Super Bowl ring along the way.
“Opportunities knock at the weirdest times,” Pitzer said, adding that he eventually would like to be a General Manager and “run the show.”
“I never have two days that are the same,” said Pitzer. He said spends all week getting events ready for game day on Sunday.
Pitzer said one of his favorite memories in his professional career in the sports world – besides going to the Super Bowl with his father, Glenn of Scottdale – is “getting hit with confetti knowing that they won the game (NFC Championship) to go to the Super Bowl.”
Pitzer has never been to New York City, so when the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl, he got to sight see the city and “be treated as a fan.” He said that “it was nice to just relax and not have to run the event.”
Pitzer said once he learned he was going to the Super Bowl, he called his father “and told him he was going with me.” He said his father was planning a Super Bowl party, but “I called him and told him to pack his bags, because we’re going to the Super Bowl!”
One of Pitzer’s favorite quotes is from Seattle’s quarterback, Russell Wilson: “ ‘The separation is in the preparation.’ I think that says it all.”