NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 87 - Chuck Prezioso, East

The 87th player on this list followed the Rex Enright pipeline to South Carolina - and never left.

Chuck Prezioso was a triple-threat running back - run, pass and kick - who didn't get to show off much of his talents because of a polio epidemic in 1945. The E-Rabs were limited to just three games, winning them all. Chuck was so impressive, though, that he was named honorable mention All-State on several lists.

Prezioso's career as a big-time athlete appeared to be over at that point. He didn't appear in the Rockford newspapers at all in 1946 and just once in 1947 when he appeared in an alumni basketball game.

In 1948, though, Enright, a former Rockford High School and Green Bay Packers star, convinced Prezioso to put the pads back on and play for him at South Carolina. Prezioso played on the freshman team in 1948 and then took over the starting fullback job and place kicker in 1949. A knee injury knocked him out during the 1950 season and for the early part of 1951. Still, he perservered and got back in the lineup for the final half of the year.

In the end, Prezioso was a three-year starter for Gamecocks teams that went 12-14-2. Perhaps more importantly to the locals, South Carolina was a perfect 3-0 against Clemson those three seasons.

Prezioso met and married a South Carolina cheerleader. They ended up having three sons, one played golf at South Carolina and another became a South Carolina linebacker. As of 2018, Prezioso and his wife of 65 years were still thriving when this video was shot.

No. 87 - Chuck Prezioso, East
Year	Level	School	Accomplishments	Points
1944	High School	East	Winning Team	1
1945	High School	East	Winning Team	1
			Honorable Mention All-State	.5
	No all-conference team named because of Polio outbreak
1948	College	South Carolina	Freshman on Power 5 Team	2
1949	College	South Carolina	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
1950	College	South Carolina	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
1951	College	South Carolina	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
Total				20.5

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players

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