John Cistone (1988) - Hall of Fame - University of Akron Athletics

John Cistone

Induction:
1988
Class:
1956

1952-55, 1951-54
Baseball/ Football
‘56

When you hear John Cistone’s name mentioned these days you automatically think of football and specifically his coaching record at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he has guided the Irish to four Ohio Championships. Although three decades have dimmed the memories. Cistone was also an excellent athlete for The University of Akron in the early 1950’s. A four-year letterman in both football (1951-54) and baseball (1952-55), Cistone played under three different head coaches in football, William Houghton, Hal of Fame Ken “Red” Cochrane and Joe McMullen and in baseball for Hall of Famer Russ Beichly. A quarterback, Cistone was a member of Cochrane’s 1953 Zip squad that captured six of nine games. UA ‘s first winning seasons since 1946. In 1954, Cistone served as team captain along with fellow quarterback and Hall of Famer Marion Rossi, and earned the Fred Sefton Awards for his outstanding performance on gridiron. However, it was in basketball where Cistone excelled and made him eligible for the US Sports Hall of Fame. In 1954, the third baseman led the Zip nine to the Ohio Conference Championship while batting a team-leading .375 average, which more than doubled his averages of 1952 and ’53 seasons. To demonstrate it wasn’t a fluke, he closed out his athletic career at UA by again leading the Zips with a .321 batting average in 1955.