PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For eight years, Scott Fitzkee snagged footballs and ran pass patterns in front of thousands of fans in State College and Philadelphia.
A star with the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1975-78, the York native was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles and played for Hall of Famer Dick Vermeil’s 1980 NFC champions, before going on to two highly productive years with the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL and one more year with the Stars after their move to Baltimore.
1-on-1 with Matt Leon caught up with Fitzkee to look back at his football career, including what his first training camp was like after being drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round in 1979.
“Tough, especially with Dick Vermeil,” Fitzkee said about the camp at what is now known as Widener University in Chester.
“We worked our butts off. Three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon, and we'd meet for two or three hours. Camp was tough.”
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Fitzkee shared how hard the transition can be from a college football star to the uncertainty of whether you’ll make an NFL team’s opening day roster and fulfill a lifelong dream.
“As a rookie, fifth-rounder, you don't know whether you're going to make it," he said.
"It's kind of stressful the whole time. Now you're jumping from college to the pros, you're going into the locker room and there's 35, 36-year-old guys, a couple of guys smoking in the locker room, stuff like that. So it was a lot. It was an eye-opener.”
You can listen to the entire interview with Scott Fitzkee, including his experience of life in the old USFL, by checking out the new episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast “1-on-1 with Matt Leon” below.
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