By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

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As we near the grand opening of the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, the DIA is acknowledging and celebrating all those donors who made the project possible with special gifts to the many amenitites the building will offer Fighting Illini football players.

In this story, we honor the gift from former Illinois football letterwinner Bill Castonzo for the Castonzo Nutrition Center.

Illinois football alumnus Bill Castonzo admits that the demands of his businesses and the responsibilities of raising his sports-minded family have intermittently caused him to lose his focus on his alma mater and the Fighting Illini football program over the last 40-plus years.

But as more time elapsed, he's had more occasion to reflect on the life lessons Illinois taught him between the time Coach Bob Blackman recruited him from Maine East High School in 1972 and the day he graduated in 1978 with a business administration degree.

Castonzo says the lessons he learned from the game of football became valuable when he first began his career as a meat salesman in the Chicago.

"Football teaches you a lot about getting knocked down and getting back up again," he said. "When you're in sales and you hear 'no' nine times out of 10, that's like getting knocked down nine times out of 10. Football teaches you a lot about getting through the tough parts of life.

"There have been times when I've had to dig down deep inside and get through the tough times. It's no different than going through winter conditioning in the Great Hall (of Memorial Stadium). Those are the things that always popped into my mind."

Castonzo joined the Chilay Corporation in 1981 and rose through the ranks where today he serves as the company's Chief Executive Officer. Chilay is a retail perishable food broker, representing more than 70 different companies such as Smithfield, Butterball, Perdue Farms and Bob Evans. It's Castonzo's company's responsibility for selling and marketing a myriad of products to retail grocers in Chicagoland and Wisconsin like Jewel Food Stores, Tony's Finer Foods, Woodman's and Piggly Wiggly.

Castonzo was one of the first members of his family to go to college and he says it redirected the course of his life.

"If I hadn't gotten a football scholarship, I don't think I would have ever gone to college," he said. "That opened up a world of opportunities for me."

In 1999, a time that his wife Shari terms as Bill's "midlife crisis", Castonzo opened up a successful Italian restaurant in Hawthorn Woods called Oregano's Corner Café. 

"During those 13 years of operating the restaurant, it taught all of my kids great lessons about how to work, lessons about people who aren't so nice, and about some of the employee situations we had to deal with."

Castonzo and his wife's pride and joy are his four children who all became collegiate athletes.

His oldest son, Billy, was a quarterback at Drake University. Daughter Kristyn played softball at Tennessee Tech University and another daughter, Carissa, attended Lewis University where she also played softball.

Bill and Shari's youngest child, Anthony, recently completed his eighth season with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, where he was the organization's top pick in the 2011 draft. The 6-foot-7, 310-pounder played offensive line at Boston College, setting a career record with 54 starts.

(Left) Bill as an Illini senior offensive tackle. (Right) Bill and Shari attend many of Anthony's Colts games.

Reconnecting with the Illini

In recent years, Castonzo struck up a friendship with Chris Tuttle, UI's Assistant Athletics Director for Major Gifts.

"Chris was always coming into Chicago and stopping by," Castonzo said. "I told him I wanted to give back to the University because of the opportunity it gave me to get a football scholarship. But more so, it's about the fact that I was able to get a phenomenal education from the University of Illinois in business administration. That led me to where I am today. When I look back, it's just amazing how much of that I used as I progressed through life and through business, and became successful."

When Illini Director of Athletics Josh Whitman announced plans for the construction of the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, Castonzo says "that was something that made a lot of sense to me."

"Then Chris told me about his idea," Castonzo said. "'You're in the food business and we're going to have this nutrition center. I think it would be really cool if we called it the Castonzo Nutrition Center.'"

"Quite frankly, I just wanted to give the donation and not tell anybody," Castonzo said. "I'm not one of those people who needs his name attached to a gift. I want to do it because it's going to make me feel good about giving back.'"

Castonzo says, when he was a college athlete, proper nutrition didn't hold the importance that it does now.

"Once I left the locker room after practice, we were fortunate to catch the evening meal at the dorm," he laughed. "And on the weekends, we went to Ponderosa to get whatever that meat was that they were serving."

"Today, I watch my son in the pros and how he takes care of his body and all of the different things he goes through. The science of what they put these guys through today is so much greater than what we did. Having a nutrition center for your athletes to go to and get all the right things to put in their body is a great idea. In today's world, athletes need to take care of their bodies. The competitiveness of sports is just unbelievable today as compared to where it used to be."

Castonzo says he's optimistic about the future of Illini football.

"There are people there now that I can have some faith and trust in."

Original architect rendering of the Castonzo Nutrition Center in the new  Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center, set to open in August 2019.