Frank Pitillo Memorial Fund
Frank Pitillo Memorial Fund
Ellicottville’s Nick Pitillo aims to raise the funds necessary to install new lights at Ellicottville Central School’s football field in honor of his late brother
There’s a shirt, somewhere, maybe tucked away in a forgotten closet or hidden on a rack in a thrift store. The relevance of the graphic on this particular shirt would be lost on almost everyone - a clam sporting a giant afro, a one-in-a-million combination of two things that would not necessarily make a whole lot of sense when put together.
It starts to make sense, however, when put in the same sentence as the late Frank Pitillo. “Frankie the Clam,” as he was affectionately known, was a one-in-a-million combination of many things. Entrepreneur. Football player. Skier. Flaunter of a superb afro. Son. Brother. Taken far too soon. And the list goes on.
Frank’s legacy lives on through the Pitillo family, and especially at Ellicottville Central School, where the lights on the football field are named in his honor. Those lights, however, need updating. And that’s where this story continues.
“I wish I could find that shirt,” laughed Nick Pitillo, Frank’s brother and owner of Ellicottville’s Villaggio and Buffalo’s Osteria 166. “My brother was an entrepreneur and ran a clam stand outside of the Nail (The Rusty Nail, a former bar in town). He went out on his motorcycle and unfortunately never came home. So Frank had a couple grand in his bank account, and my old man asked what we should do with the money.”
At that point, very few schools had lights for their football fields. Frank, a star on the football team, was doubling up his junior and senior years at Ellicottville Central to graduate early and go train with the United States Ski Team - as the #1 ranked junior skier in the country. The Pitillo family mobilized the local community to raise the rest of the money to light up the football field.
“We had this huge spaghetti dinner,” Nick said. “A ton of heavies from that time came to help us raise money. Danny Gare and Terry Martin, legendary members of the Buffalo Sabres, and Paul Seymour from the Buffalo Bills, amongst others. After we had raised enough money, my dad and other members of the community installed them at no expense. They held me up in my little league football jersey and I turned them on for the first time.”
As such things go, time passed and the lights stayed untouched. But when Nick moved back to Ellicottville, he realized at one of his daughter’s softball games that the lights needed updating. Ever the idea man, the wheels in Nick’s head starting spinning.
“Coincidentally, one of the assistant coaches found the original plaque and gave it to me,” Nick said. “When I realized how dated the lights were, I knew that it was time to mobilize the community again and get these things updated.”
After sifting through a myriad of bids, Pitillo came to the conclusion the lights can get done for $200,000, plus another $50,000 for plaques and maintenance.
“We’re going to do a big 50-50 raffle outside of Villaggio at Fall Festival,” he said. “Plus, we’ll tie some of the kids in to help when they’re parking cars at the Signore lot for that weekend as well. After that, we’ve got more fundraisers to follow to really get this thing moving. We have already received a few substantial contributions.”
On Wednesday, October 12th, musician Jackson Stokes will be playing at Villaggio where $5 of every ticket will be donated to the cause.
Pitillo has grant writers sourcing different options, plus has the full backing of the Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation. Since the Foundation is full 501(c)(3), all of the money donated can be tax deductible. Scan the QR code on this page to donate directly or head to the official Facebook Page (The Frank Pitillo Memorial Lighting Fund) for more information and photos.
“This is one way that I can keep honoring the memory of my brother, plus help out the kids that are at Ellicottville Central now,” Pitillo said. “With this community, I know we can get it done.”
