Wheeling, W. Va. - When former Wheeling University Men's Soccer player Tony Presutti made his way on campus in the fall of 1988, he already knew his career aspirations lied in attending Medical School. Wheeling University offered him a home where he could not only pursue medical school, but play soccer at the college level, continuing a lifelong passion. 32 years later, Presutti still looks back fondly on his memories in a Cardinal uniform, while celebrating his successes as an orthopedic surgeon.
"When I was looking at colleges, I knew I wanted to play soccer and I wasn't looking for anything high pressure," said Presutti. "I wanted something that had a good balance between a college education and the ability to play soccer and I remember being at a college fair and being drawn to it."
Growing up, the two sports that Presutti was accustomed to playing were soccer and baseball, alternating between the two seasons. As time went on, it was soccer that would become his primary focus, playing the sport throughout middle school and high school. While going to medical school was Presutti's primary goal, being able to play soccer while pursuing his education was an important part of the recruiting process. It was a connection with former Admissions Counselor Mark Mancinelli that showed him soccer was a possibility while also being able to pursue his medical degree.
"[At that college fair] they specifically had a soccer display with a picture of the team from the previous year and we hooked up and it sounded interesting," said Presutti. "We ultimately ended up going out there for a visit and we liked what we saw. My father had gone to St. Joe's in Philadelphia, so he was familiar with the Jesuit philosophy and then we met Jimmy [Regan] and things kind of took off from there."
Presutti would be the winner of the Loud Scholarship and combined that with his soccer scholarship to make Wheeling the right fit for him. When he got on campus, the Wheeling Men's Soccer program was on the rise, coming off the best season in program history in 1987, where they went 13-4-1. Head Coach Jim Regan was in his sixth season at the helm of the program, and Presutti would have to step in right away. As a 17-year-old college kid, he stepped in as the starting goalkeeper.
With a young player in a new environment, the transition had its challenges, but Presutti credits his teammates with helping him make the adjustment to the college level.
"The team was solid, and they were very welcoming, so we were kind of able to settle in really quickly," said Presutti. "There were several Canadians on the team who had been playing a while and they manned you up really quick with how hard they played and how hard they kicked. I was recruited as a goalkeeper, and I started my first game and ended up starting all four years."
During his four seasons in net for the Cardinals, Presutti would lead a team that combined to go 47-23-3 across four seasons. Of those four seasons, the Cardinals had a .500 record one time, and tied the program single-season win record in three of the four seasons. With a strong core around him, Presutti quickly matured in net and picked up the game's speed. With so many talented players on his own team in the preseason, it helped prepare him for the level of competition he would face once things got underway.
"What ends up happening is you physically mature, when I got there, I was probably 175 pounds soaking wet and within a year I put on a good solid 20 pounds," said Presutti. "Alot of the teams that we played against were very good. Alderson Broaddus has won a national championship, [West Virginia] Wesleyan had one a lot of national championships, and they had a bunch of foreign players. So, it was a really quick maturation process."
While soccer was fun, Presutti was fully focused on his professional career and his aspirations of going to medical school. That was his goal from day one and he appreciated being able to balance the life of a student-athlete with the rigorous class schedule that comes with being a medical student. He would pursue a pre-med track with a biology degree and used the teachings of his professors and the balance of the athletic side of things to ultimately make it into medical school upon graduation.
"I was smart enough to realize that I wasn't going anywhere with my soccer career, I was never looking to go pro at all, so I was able to continue my focus on what I wanted to do," said Presutti. "And Jimmy [Regan] was really good at that especially the first two years there were always afternoon labs that ran into practice, and he didn't think twice, it was more important that you were in class. My professors were also very supportive, and they were proud of their success rate, which at the time was darn close to 100% of getting people into medical school."
He would end up graduating from Wheeling Jesuit College in 1992 and went right into medical school at the University of Cincinnati. His medical journey then continued in 1996 with his residency in Orthopedic Surgery in Boston, where he spent five years in what he called "orthopedic surgery boot camp." Along the way, he took up positions in private practice in Dayton, Ohio and a fellowship back in Boston in adult reconstruction. Ultimately, he found his way to a practice at Dartmouth in Key, New Hampshire where he serves as a Total joint surgeon to this day.
He credits his exposure to the athletic side of things as well as the classes that tied into that experience at Wheeling to ultimately getting him where he is today.
"When I went to medical school you have to realize you are with the smart of the smart," said Presutti. "What Wheeling did and probably the exposure to Athletics guided me towards the specialty that I chose which is Orthopedic surgery. There is a big tie into athletics because you do get knocked up and you do get injured."
Even after leaving Wheeling University in 1992, Presutti's legacy still stands on the soccer field. He currently holds the career shutout record for a goalkeeper, recording 19.5 shutouts over his four seasons in a Cardinal uniform. It is a record that has held strong for 32 seasons and, while he hopes the record is eventually broken, it gives him great pride to cement himself in the history of Wheeling Men' Soccer.
"It is kind of cool to think that your name is still there somewhere even this far out," said Presutti. "I fully expect that it will someday be broken, and I am glad of that, but it's kind of flattering. I had no pro aspirations, I was just doing this because I wanted to, and it is nice to know that I was relatively good."
Presutti looks back fondly on his time at Wheeling University and credits it for giving him a strong foundation to build his professional career. To future soccer players, he echos the idea that you are there to play soccer because you want to, and to focus on your studies. If you put in the work, Wheeling can give you a solid foundation to build your career on like so many Wheeling Soccer players before.
"You get out of college what you put into it," said Presutti. "Jimmy [Regan] built the program, maintained it, and kept it going through tough times. You have to remember that you are there because you want to play soccer. My senior group has all done well since graduating, so Wheeling definitely gets you to the point where you can step into the world and do very well."
Print Friendly Version
