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Bill Osborn

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Bill "Billy" Osborn (born c. 1966) is an American football player who attended the University of Pittsburgh and went on to play in the National Football League, World League and the Arena Football League. Osborn has also worked as an NFL scout, a color analyst, and currently as an executive in the medical device industry.

Amateur career

Osborn attended the University of Pittsburgh where he went on to star at three sports [1] – football, basketball and baseball. While at Pitt, he became the first athlete since Mike Ditka to earn a letter in all three sports.[2] He was awarded nine varsity letters at Pitt – four each in football and baseball, and one in basketball. He finished his college football career in the top-10 all-time receiving list for the Panthers. As a member of the Pitt basketball team, Osborn was part of the 1986-87 Big East Conference championship team.

Osborn grew up in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and attended Wildwood High School, where he was dubbed "The Wizard of Oz". Osborn is one of the most highly respected athletes to emerge from southern New Jersey. Osborn won 11 varsity sports letters at Wildwood High, where he graduated in 1984.[3] He won all-league first-team honors nine times, and is the only person to win first team all CAL, all 4 years in baseball playing three different positions. He also won all-state honors in football and baseball, and scored 1,148 points in basketball.

In 1990, Osborn was named the 1980s South Jersey Male High School Athlete of the Decade and a core part of Wildwood High School's football tradition by The Press of Atlantic City,[4] and was selected to the All Decade baseball and football [5] teams. In November 1996, he was inducted into the South Jersey Basketball Hall Of Fame and in 1999 his high school #12 was officially retired [6] by the Wildwood Board of Education.

Professional football career

Osborn played professionally in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He also played for the Barcelona Dragons of the World League and in the Arena Football League with the Pittsburgh Gladiators (now the Tampa Bay Storm). As a starting WR/LB for the Gladiators in 1990 he caught 11 passes for 159 yards and made 3 interceptions.[7] After retiring because of head and neck injuries, Osborn became a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs for two years [8]

Broadcast career

Post football, Osborn began a broadcast career that has spanned 23 years. During that time, he’s worked with ESPN Radio. Comcast, Fox Sports Net, WABC-NYC radio and 610WIP Philadelphia Sports Talk Radio.[9] He was a pre-game, post-game and color analyst for the Big East and also University of Pittsburgh Football Network from 1995-2003, as well as the color analyst for the Philadelphia Soul [10] of the Arena Football League. He also served as the color analyst for Comcast/CN8 regional college game of the week, and as an Arena Football League color analyst for the National Game of the week on the Versus Network for the 2008 season. Osborn has served as the Color Analyst for the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul on Comcast's Sports Net Central TV and their Radio Partner's since the inception of the franchise. He also is the Co-Host of the "OZZIE & KRAUSEY" show. A weekly sports talk show heard in the Philadelphia/South Jersey market on 610Sports ESPN Radio. Bill is also the Color Analyst for the American Indoor Football League's, Philadelphia Yellow Jackets. 2016 is their inaugural season. Bill also rejoined the 2016 Pitt Panther broadcast team, returning as color analyst for the 2016 season.

Biography

Osborn and his two sons, Billy 13 and Trent 10, live in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, New Jersey. Osborn currently serves as VP of Business Development for VICIS,[11] a company developing a new football helmet [12] designed to mitigate the forces likely to cause concussion. He is also president of the Bill Osborn Foundation, which focuses on colon cancer awareness and raises money for underprivileged children through a celebrity golf tournament in his father’s name, run in partnership with the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May County. Most recently, he held the position of Director, National Accounts for Medtronic Inc., a Fortune 50 company and medical device industry leader. He worked 15 years for Medtronic. Prior to that, he worked six years for Ethicon Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson.

References

  1. ^ "Well-rounded Pitt Star Is Playing Two Fields", Philly.com, November 19, 1986.
  2. ^ "Pittsburgh's Osborn Plays Three Sports", The Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1987.
  3. ^ via Associated Press. "Pittsburgh's Osborn Plays Three Sports", Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1987. Accessed August 10, 2016. "His friends call the Wildwood Crest, N.J., native 'The Wizard of Oz.'... Osborn won 11 varsity letters at Wildwood High before being recruited by former Pitt football coach Foge Fazio."
  4. ^ "Wildwood football fans wowed by Warriors' first 2-0 start since 1963", The Press of Atlantic City, September 21, 2012.
  5. ^ " The 20th Century CAL Football Team", Prime Events.
  6. ^ "Former Pitt star Osborn uses attitude for good", Rivals.com, September 18, 2008.
  7. ^ [1], Just Sports Stats
  8. ^ "All-south Jersey Stars Of The past Still Making Waves", Philly.com, December 12, 1992.
  9. ^ "Pitt Losing Color Analyst", The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 4, 2004.
  10. ^ "Local Boy Osborn Joins Soul TV Broadcast", 98.7 The Coast, March 31, 2011.
  11. ^ "New Start-Up VICIS Aims to Bring Technology to the Football Helmet Industry", Whirl Magazine, December 22, 2014.
  12. ^ "New helmet technology introduced", Miami Dolphin.com, January 30, 2015.
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