WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 2003

Written by Shelly Poe

Tony Constantine is regarded as the most knowledgeable expert about West Virginia University athletics ever. A Morgantown, W.Va., native and the son of immigrants, Constantine served 37 years as sports editor of the Morgantown Post from 1936-72, and continued to write for the Morgantown papers through the 1980s.

An avid fan of Mountaineer teams since 1919, he was adopted by those early squads as their unofficial mascot and attended all contests. A newspaper sales boy in his youth, Constantine, who worked at the Morgantown Glassware Guild, in construction and in the restaurant business since age 16, helped local news reporter and longtime friend Dave Jacobs keep statistics at the games, and that experience led to a job at the Post.

He has been prolific in his contributions to compiling and preserving the Mountaineer athletic tradition. He wrote two books on WVU football: "Mountaineer Football 1891-1969" and "A Record of West Virginia University Football - The First 100 Years," and has written numerous articles for the athletic department, Alumni Association and other University publications, serving until recent years on WVU's Sports Hall of Fame and all-time team selection committees.

Self-educated and a devoted reader of the classics, Constantine and his wife, the former Winnie Dorrell, raised five children – Marc, Karen, Steve, Jane and Leah – 23 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. The late Constantines lived in Westover.