After starting all four years for the Harrison High School football team, offensive guard Charlie Credendino is planning to continue his playing career in college after signing a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play for Fordham University.
Credendino said there were a number of schools that reached out about bringing him in to play, but his final choice came down to Fordham and University of Maine.
“Those are both schools that I had offers from,” he said. “I picked Fordham just because I think as an academic institution, it’s one of the best and considering how their football program has turned it around big time in the past two years, I think that attracted me to the school even more.”
At Harrison, Credendino was a two-year captain and earned first team all-state lineman honors twice, along with all-league and all-section honors. He was also awarded the Golden Dozen award by the Westchester Chapter of the National Football Foundation. The award is given to student athletes who have outstanding athletic accomplishments and achievements off the field—both in the classroom and community service activities.
Credendino said playing at the college level has been a goal since he first started playing.
“I had always hoped it would be a possibility, but by eleventh grade I had figured where I was headed was probably going to be attending college to play football,” he said. “It was a really exciting time. There’s a lot of people out there who don’t have a chance to realize their dreams, and for me to be able to was something special.”
He added that he’s played football most of his life, and what he liked most about football was the camaraderie with his teammates.
“You’re with them more than you’re with most other people, so they become like your brothers and your family,” he said.
Credendino also was already accepted into the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham and said he plans on studying business administration and management.
At his signing Wednesday at the Harrison High School Library, he was joined by his parents, Joanne and Al Credendino, along with his sister, Abby, Harrison High School Principal Dr. James Ruck, Harrison High School Athletic Director Patricia Seligman and Harrison High School football head coach Art Troilo.
“It’s been four years as a starter, four years as a great credit to Harrison both in the classroom and on the football field, but most especially as a person, as a human being,” Troilo said. “Charlie’s going to make us very, very proud at Fordham and he stayed close [and] we can all see him play. I look forward to that.”
