Sal Paolantonio

Sal Paolantonio has been a national correspondent for ESPN since August 1995, primarily covering the National Football League for SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live and ESPN.com. Paolantonio has also contributed to ABC’s World News Tonight and Good Morning America, and he has hosted NFL Matchup – ESPN’s 30-minute Sunday morning X’s and O’s weekly preview show – since 2004. Prior to joining ESPN, Paolantonio was a political reporter (1985-93), as well as a beat reporter for the Philadelphia Eagles (1993-95), for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Paolantonio was also a reporter for the Albany Times Union, In addition to reporting for ESPN, Paolantonio served as a professor in the English department at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia from 2002 to 2008, where he taught courses in political, sports journalism and communications. A native of Queens, N.Y., Paolantonio was graduated from the State University of New York at Oneonta in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in history. He also received a master’s degree in journalism from New York University in 1980. Paolantonio served in the United States Navy (1979-83), where he was awarded the United Nations Meritorious Service Medal in 1981 for supervising the rescue of Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea.