Chester Pitts

Chester Pitts

No. 69     Free Agent
Offensive guard
Personal information
Date of birth: June 26, 1979 (1979-06-26) (age 32)
Place of birth: Inglewood, California
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Weight: 310 lb (141 kg)
Career information
College: San Diego State
NFL Draft: 2002 / Round: 2 / Pick: 50
Debuted in 2002 for the Houston Texans
Career history
Houston Texans (2002–2009) Seattle Seahawks (2010)
Roster status: Free Agent
Career highlights and awards
N/A
Stats at NFL.com

Chester Morise Pitts II (born June 26, 1979 in Inglewood, California) is an American football offensive lineman, currently a free agent in the NFL. He played college football at San Diego State University. Pitts was the focus of the NFL SuperAd commercial shown during Super Bowl XLII relating the story of how his career began.

High School Years

Pitts attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science in Carson, California. His school did not have a football program, so he competed in shot put and discus on the track and field team and won All-League honors and set several school records.^[1]

College career

Pitts attended San Diego State University, and he worked bagging groceries at a Ralph's supermarket. After a chance encounter with Kyle Turley (and later Ephraim Salaam), Pitts joined the university football team as a freshman walk-on. Upon dominating future Pro-Bowler Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila in practice he was awarded a scholarship. As a sophomore, he saw action in nine games and graded out at 93% for blocking consistency, made 60 knockdown blocks, and allowed only 1 sack throughout his sophomore season. He started for two seasons before being drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round, 50th overall pick.

Professional career

Pitts was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans. He started every game during his first seven seasons with the Texans, either at left guard or left tackle. During his last season with the team in 2009, Pitts only played in two games, both of which he started. In his last game that season, Pitts injured his right knee, ending his season and later requiring microfracture surgery.

Pitts signed with Seattle as a free agent before the start of the 2010 NFL season, but was not able to recover enough from his off-season surgery to play in the season opener. Pitts appeared in 7 games, starting 5 of them and made the playoffs for the first time in 2010.

In popular culture

During Super Bowl XLII, the NFL aired a commercial starring Pitts and Texans teammate Ephraim Salaam. In it, Pitts and Salaam reminisce about Salaam discovering Pitts, "this big guy," bagging groceries at a store near San Diego State University, which they both attended. Pitts, a devoted oboist who had never played organized football, was convinced by Salaam to join the school's football team and performed so well that he would be drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft, while Salaam was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round in the 1998 NFL Draft.^[2]The music during the commercial, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, was played by Pitts.^[3]

References

1. ^ (– ^{Scholar search}) Chester Pitts bio and stats, nflplayers.com, http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=33026, retrieved 2008-02-07 ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-super-bowl/09000d5d806750c7/SB-XLII-ad-NFL-SuperAd?r_src=ramp
3. ^ Markazi, Arash (2008-01-28), Story time: Pair of Texans reminisce at filming of Super Bowl ad, Sports Illustrated, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/arash_markazi/01/28/on.scene/, retrieved 2008-02-03 

External links

• Profile at ESPN
• Super Bowl 42-era "SuperAd"
• Profile at Pro Football Reference
• National Football Post about Pitts' release from the Seattle Seahawks
• Houston Chronicle story about Pitts' season ending knee injury in 2009
• Seahawks announce re-signing of Pitts