BOWLING GREEN — One moment, Phil Villapiano was the Mid-American Conference player of the year, and the next, he found himself in the middle of one the most memorable teams in NFL history.
The Bowling Green alumnus was a second-round draft pick of John Madden’s Oakland Raiders in 1971 and, during the decade that followed, the Raiders and their unmistakable cast of characters made more than a few enemies, won a ton of games, and relished every step of the way. The most famous of those wins was Super Bowl XI, when the Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl, with Villapiano’s forced fumble serving as a catalyst in the win.