Tom Raffa

Tom Raffa
Tom Raffa
1931–2017

Category
Football
Year Inducted
2006
Tom Raffa joins Tom Cusimano and Bill Present as the third Jamestown High School athlete to be honored in 2006 with induction into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.

Raffa was an outstanding performer for the Red Raiders as he recorded seven varsity letters with three each in football and track and one in basketball before graduating in 1949.

In football, Raffa was very versatile as he performed on offense at fullback and halfback and on defense at corner back. In addition, he was the kicker and punter. Raffa recorded several top-notch rushing games and led the Red Raiders in kickoff returns. In 1948, he was second in the Niagara Frontier League in scoring and was instrumental in the tremendous 33-18 upset of host North Tonawanda before 5,000 spectators. Raffa tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass as a running back and hit paydirt from the 4-yard line. The win by the Red Raiders ended North Tonawanda's nine-game win string over a three-year span and additionally ended a 10-game losing streak to the Lumberjacks since the last victory (55-19) in 1931.

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