Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

August 28, 2020

Football

With St. Joe's Prep's season in doubt, Jeremiah Trotter Jr.'s comeback may have to wait until college

by Joseph Santoliquito

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. won’t have to look far. One inward rotation of his right arm and it’s there, a jagged, somewhat twisted reminder that runs over a foot long, from his elbow to the top of his triceps.

August 11, 2020

Flyers

Flyers goalie Carter Hart was built for pressure of Stanley Cup playoffs

by Joseph Santoliquito

Right now, the Flyers are poised to do something that they haven’t done in 45 years — win a Stanley Cup. If they do, it’s because of the uncanny poise and focus of a 6-foot-2, 190-pound goaltender who’s going to turn 22 on Thursday, with a penchant for cheesesteaks, the Eagles and Philadelphia.

August 1, 2020

Flyers

Are the Flyers dangerous in the bubble? Experts say yes

by Joseph Santoliquito

Just like that, in the sweeping wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it went away. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the Flyers were the hottest team in the National Hockey League on March 12, when the NHL decided to “pause” its season. Prior to the break, Philadelphia had won nine of its last 10 games and 10 of its last 12. The Flyers carried a 41-21-7 record during the truncated regular season, good for 89 points, one point behind the Metropolitan Division-leading Washington Capitals.

July 25, 2020

Phillies

In an empty Citizens Bank Park, one man is responsible for the cheers of 40,000 Phillies fans

by Joseph Santoliquito

If anyone knows the sounds of Philadelphia, it has to be Mark DiNardo. The veteran audio/visual operator was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and interned at PRISM.

July 21, 2020

NFL

St. Joe’s Prep, Penn grad Kevin Stefanski up to task of turning the Cleveland Browns around

by Joseph Santoliquito

The family meeting would take place in the car ride home from church. That was only one way he could do this, Kevin Stefanski thought. He had to be direct. It had to be face-to-face. That’s the way he’s always done things.

March 13, 2020

Penn State

Penn State left feeling 'devastated,' 'mad' and 'bitter' after seeing NCAA dreams dashed by coronavirus

by Joseph Santoliquito

The tremors were heard throughout the plane even before the wheels bounced on the runway apron. Pat Chambers just didn’t think the timing was right Thursday night. Though, the murmurs and disgruntled aahs on the Penn State men’s basketball team plane said something. It told Chambers, the Nittany Lions head basketball coach, that his players knew.

March 6, 2020

College Football

LSU's Joe Burrow ghosts Maxwell Club, will be first award winner in 83 years to skip ceremony

by Joseph Santoliquito

Joe Burrow made history this past season by becoming the first player from LSU to win the prestigious Maxwell Club College Player of the Year Award.

March 6, 2020

Football

Eagles fan Chase Young may soon become an Eagles’ nightmare

by Joseph Santoliquito

Midnight green adorns his Hyattsville, Maryland, bedroom. It’s a Philadelphia Eagles shrine in semi-Southern parts. There are pictures of him as a kid, running around wearing a Michael Vick jersey.

February 28, 2020

XFL

Finally, Shawn Oakman’s pro football journey begins (in the XFL)

by Joseph Santoliquito

The lone sound of Shawn Oakman’s cleats clip-clapping down the entrance tunnel of Houston’s TDECU Stadium was greeted by an early-February sun that caused him to squint when he looked up. Before then, there weren’t many high-blue skies he could peer into. Oakman almost had the place to himself. There were some maintenance people milling around, a few from the grounds crew, some network personnel pulling cables together on the sideline.

February 25, 2020

MLB

South Jersey's Devin Smeltzer continues journey with the AL Central-winning Twins

by Joseph Santoliquito

Devin Smeltzer, now 24, survived childhood cancer when he was 10. When he pitched for Bishop Eustace, he would sign the names of each of the young cancer patients he was with who did not survive under the bill of his cap.