Joe Palumbo was an honorable athlete and an honorable man, with a legacy acknowledged by the Virginia General Assembly.

A native of Beaver, PA, Joe graduated in 1947 from Greenbrier Military Academy in Lewisburg, WV. At the University of Virginia, Joe had an outstanding football career. He played freshman ball in 1948, and, from 1949 through 1951, Joe played varsity as a defensive middle guard, making All-State each year as the Cavaliers went 23-5. In 1951, Joe captained the 8-1 Cavaliers team that was thirteenth in the final Associated Press poll. The Cavaliers were invited to play in the Orange Bowl, but the university president declined the invitation.

During that 1951 season, Joe earned first-team All-America honors from the Associated Press and the Newspaper Enterprise Association and received the Outstanding Defensive Lineman Award from the DC Touchdown Club. Listed at 5'-11" and 198 pounds, Joe played guard for the Gray squad in the 14th annual Blue-Gray Football Classic in December 1951.

In 1952, Joe was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 289th round, as pick 334, but that year he served in the U.S. Army and was All-Army and All-Service in 1952 and 1953, before being honorably discharged as First Lieutenant in 1954. Later, Joe coached for the University of Virginia football team and had a long and successful career in the insurance industry.

Joe received many accolades for his football career. The University of Virginia retired his number 48, he was named to the All-Time ACC Football Legends Class of 2007, and he was inducted into the Greenbrier Military Academy Hall of Fame in 2011, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1973, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.

Moreover, Joe was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Charlottesville in 2003 and in 2010 received the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Silver Hope Award from the Multiple Sclerosis Society's Blue Ridge Chapter.

Joe Palumbo died December 5, 2013, at age 84, in Charlottesville, VA. Joe is survived by his wife Sandra, daughters Page and Penny, six grandchildren, and a great grandson. In 2014, the Virginia General Assembly agreed to House Joint Resolution 280, celebrating the life of Joe Palumbo. For many years, the University of Virginia football team awarded a Joe Palumbo Award for "self-sacrifice, dedication, and enthusiasm", and the university continues to award a Sandy and Joe Palumbo Bicentennial Scholarship each year to a deserving student participating on the Cavaliers football team.

− Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia