www.bceagles.comTHE OFFICIAL FAN CLUB OF BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALLSalutes and the thanks newest these members two great leaders <strong>of</strong> theVarsity Club <strong>Hall</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Fame</strong>!on their induction to theVarsity Club <strong>Hall</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Fame</strong>!Pete Kendall ‘95Don Croatti ‘60Founder and Patriarch <strong>of</strong> Touchdown and Gridiron ClubsGeorge Radachowsky ‘84Gene DeFilippoBest athletic director in all college sportsScholars, Athletes & GentlemenPr 01st V r r r 2nd V r 1Trrer 3r iFor more information on joining the Gridiron Club, contact 16
SCOTT GIESELMAN ’85FootballScott Gieselman thinks <strong>of</strong> himself as theleast-prepared player ever to be <strong>of</strong>fered acollege football scholarship by a majorinstitution.That’s highly debatable, but coach JackBicknell did take a flyer on the basketballplayer and late-arriving tight end fromWeston via Belmont Hill School. Bick hadbeen on the Boston College scene a couple<strong>of</strong> months, was still casting around for athletes,and had recently signed another basketball-playingkid named Flutie.Barry Gallup, who had known Gieselmanfrom summer basketball pickup games,took Scott down to Bick’s <strong>of</strong>fice at halftime<strong>of</strong> a game in February <strong>of</strong> 1981. They chatteda while, talked <strong>of</strong> things like weightprograms and post-graduate years, but bythe end <strong>of</strong> an hour Bicknell was ready to<strong>of</strong>fer Gieselman a scholarship. That’s howScott Gieselman came to Boston College togive football a shot, instead <strong>of</strong> going tosome Ivy or NESCAC school to play basketball.Bicknell wasn’t totally ignorant <strong>of</strong>Gieselman’s potential. Scott’s high schoolfootball coach Chip Dewar had taken itupon himself to send the BC coaches a filmfrom Scott’s senior year. That was unbeknownstto Gieselman, who’d made the allprepschool team. But he still thought <strong>of</strong>himself as a basketball player, with footballjust an outside possibility.Gieselman developed into one <strong>of</strong> the besttight ends in Boston College history, but healso came this close to transferring out.He’d sat out as a freshman, bulked upunder the tutelage <strong>of</strong> strength coach WesEmmert, and worked on speed and agilityover the summer with track coach DanDuncan at Weston High. His goal was tomake the travel roster as a sophomore, andto leave if he didn’t.Bicknell and <strong>of</strong>fensive coordinator TomCoughlin had told Gieselman that his bestshot to play at BC was to switch to the<strong>of</strong>fensive line, which he simply did notwant to do. Scott Nizolek was an establishedperformer at tight end, and thecoaches had moved linebacker AndyHemmer to the position in pre-season.When he was left <strong>of</strong>f the travel team forfirst game <strong>of</strong> 1982, Gieselman contactedanother school and gathered his transcriptsand papers.The Sunday after the Eagles destroyed theAggies 38-16 in College Station, Scott washeading for Bick’s <strong>of</strong>fice. Gallup metGieselman first, however, and told himthat Hemmer had sustained an injury andwouldn’t be playing. Scott suited up afterall, and he caught his first pass for a touchdownat Navy two games later.That wasn’t the only fortunate coincidence.Bicknell and Coughlin knew theyhad an exceptional leader in Flutie, andthey revamped the entire <strong>of</strong>fense to takeadvantage <strong>of</strong> his skills and football savvy.That meant an aggressive, pass-happy<strong>of</strong>fense modeled after teams like the SanDiego Chargers, and more pass routes atvaried distances for the tight end. Blockingfor runners like Troy Stradford and SteveStrachan was also a requirement, but therewould be a tilt toward more pass catchingby the tight end, playing right intoGieselman’s growing strengths.Gieselman caught only two passes as asophomore and was used sparingly. Heblossomed as a junior after Nizolek left,snaring 45 passes for 525 yards and fourtouchdowns. Nine <strong>of</strong> those catches came ina game against West Virginia. In that yearhe earned AP honorable mention All-America and All-East accolades.Scott was all-ECAC as a senior and fifthyearsenior and finished out his careerwith 120 catches for 1485 yards, an average<strong>of</strong> 12.4 yards per catch, and ten touchdowns.He is the Eagles’ 11th all-time inreceptions, 15th in yardage with 1,485,and 18th in touchdowns with ten. Not badfor a kid from a small town who was head-2010 INDUCTEEed for a college career in basketball, a pathhe could easily have pursued.Encouraged by his father John, a Syracusenative who’d played college basketball atNiagara, Scott went to play at the Dan MarrBoys’ Club in Boston on weekends, facingthe likes <strong>of</strong> local high school hoop legendsTim O’Shea and Patrick Ewing.Scott was good enough to go to the 5 StarBasketball Camp in Pittsburgh, one <strong>of</strong> thesport’s hottest recruiting venues.Gieselman did well there; in a one-on-oneplay<strong>of</strong>f tournament he drew a kid fromNorth Carolina named Michael Jordan. Thepair battled into overtime, and Jordan prevailed13-11. Gieselman made one mistake.“I hit him in the nose. I think it wasan accident, but that made him mad, andthat was the end for me,” he says.Scott was drafted in the fourth round bythe Patriots, but neck injuries there andlater on at a Dolphins’ training camp curtailedhis playing days. After bidding arueful farewell to Don Shula and DanMarino, he returned to Boston College, finishedhis MBA, and caught on with themergers and acquisitions group at the WallStreet juggernaut, Goldman Sachs.Gieselman remarks that he was even lesswell prepared for varsity high finance thanhe was for varsity football. In his first yearat the firm, his only days <strong>of</strong>f wereChristmas and Easter. That work paid <strong>of</strong>fwhen he was <strong>of</strong>fered a slot in Goldman’sEnergy Division. His work on several hugetransactions in the oil patch led to an <strong>of</strong>ferto become a partner.Scott stayed there until 2007, when hebranched <strong>of</strong>f with six other colleagues t<strong>of</strong>orm Natural Gas Partners, a private equityfirm that specializes in the energy sector.Scott operates out <strong>of</strong> Weston and coversthe Eastern United States and Europe.Gieselman did not forget his BostonCollege roots and especially Bicknell, theman who invested a precious footballscholarship on the kid with raw athleticability but much to learn. Along with SteveStrachan, he has made major gifts in honor<strong>of</strong> Jack, naming a room for him in YawkeyCenter and endowing a scholarship.Scott met his wife, the former Mia Jung,while working in Houston for GoldmanSachs. They were married about four yearsago and have an 18-month old son, ConorHenry “Hank” Gieselman.17
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