Ernie Accorsi, the former NFL general manager whose path ran from Hershey to the top of the league’s front offices, has died. The New York Giants announced his death Sunday. He was 84.
Accorsi’s career stretched across the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and Giants, but his roots never left central Pennsylvania. Born Oct. 29, 1941, in Hershey, he grew up playing on the fields across from the chocolate plant, he told the Patriot-News in 2009. As a teenager, he even paid $2.50 to take in an NFL preseason game in Hershey in 1956, when Johnny Unitas made his pro debut.
He graduated from Hershey High School in 1959, then went on to Wake Forest University. Before he moved into sports management, he worked as a reporter for the Charlotte News, the Baltimore Sun and the Philadelphia Inquirer. While covering sports, he broke the news of Wilt Chamberlain’s trade from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Los Angeles Lakers, and he later spoke with now-retired PennLive columnist David Jones about watching Chamberlain play.
Accorsi’s ties to Penn State were strong as well. He was friends with former coach Joe Paterno for more than 40 years and worked at Penn State as an assistant sports information director from 1969 to 1970, before being hired by the then-Baltimore Colts. After Paterno died in 2012, Accorsi told PennLive’s Bob Flounders, “I can tell you that there wasn’t a day that went by during my time at Penn State that I didn’t learn something from that man,”
On the NFL side, Accorsi climbed all the way to general manager, serving in that role for the Colts from 1982-1983, the Browns from 1985-1992 and the Giants from 1998-2006. The Giants later made him the second general manager inducted into their Ring of Honor. He also helped bring in coach Tom Coughlin and worked out the draft deal that landed Eli Manning.
Even after retiring, Accorsi remained connected to the Giants’ Super Bowl run in 2007. The team credited him with part of that championship and gave him a ring.
Reflecting on the end of his Giants tenure, Accorsi told the Patriot-News’ Andrew Linker, “I told them to trust each other and be good teammates, because there’s a championship in this room. Those are the last words I said to them. ... I just didn’t know it would happen this year.”
Across 16 years as a general manager, his teams won six division titles and reached the playoffs nine times. He also later looked back on how NFL scouting worked before the Combine.
Back home, Accorsi was inducted into the Capital Area Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Hershey Hall of Fame in 2012. In retirement, he also served as a speaker for the John Travers Awards. Asked about where he belonged, he put it plainly in 2009: “No matter where ever I lived, Hershey has always been home,”
His son Patrick, in a joint Facebook post with family announcing the death, shared a story about a teenage Accorsi and a question from his Hershey High School guidance counselor.
“Ernie, what career would you like to pursue?” the counselor asked.
“I am going to be the General Manager of the New York Yankees,” he responded.
The counselor tried to nudge him toward a different path. Four decades later, when Accorsi was inducted into the Hershey High School Hall of Fame, he got the chance to clear that up with the same counselor.
In Other News...
Tyrese Haliburton Had A Painful Knicks Confession Pacers Fans Will Feel
Tyrese Haliburtons name still sits at the center of everything the Pacers do, but this week he was talking about a different kind of heartbreak. On the Boardroom Podcast, the Indiana guard opened up about watching the New York Knicks win the NBA championship while he was sidelined by injury, and he didnt try to hide how complicated that moment felt. The reaction came with a mix of anger, happiness and sadness, a reminder that even as the Knicks achievement demanded respect, it also forced him to sit out the playoff run he wanted most.
For Pacers fans, the confession lands with extra weight because the rivalry has been heated enough already, and Haliburtons ties to some Knicks players only add another layer to it. He made clear that friendships can coexist with competition, even when the team on the other side is celebrating the title he was unable to chase. It leaves the same lingering thought that has hung over Indiana since the injury: how different all of this might have felt if Haliburton had been healthy enough to be on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Season May Come Down To One Tyrese Haliburton Question
Yahoo Sports Kevin OConnor pegged the Pacers 14th in his NBA preseason power rankings, a middle-of-the-pack spot that fits a team trying to stay relevant while reshaping the edges of its roster. Indiana is expected to open next season with Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard in the backcourt, Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam on the wing, and Ivica Zubac anchoring the middle, a lineup that looks sturdy enough on paper to keep the Pacers in the mix if the pieces fit.
But the bigger question remains how much of this group can truly be built around Haliburton as the season unfolds. Indiana already paid a real price to get Zubac, sending a first-round pick to the Clippers after the Pacers landed fifth in the draft lottery, and moves like that only matter if the core takes the next step. For a team sitting in that uncertain stretch of the preseason pecking order, the answer to one Haliburton question may end up shaping everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Have One Depth Concern That Could Decide Their Title Push
The Pacers have spent much of this season looking like a team with real upside, but the conversation around their title push keeps circling back to one uncomfortable roster question: who steps up when the rotation gets stressed? Indianas top eight can carry a lot, yet the margin behind them looks thin, with several players either still unproven or carrying the label of draft disappointments, which makes the bench far less comforting than it might appear on paper.
That matters in the postseason, where injuries and foul trouble tend to expose every weak spot, and where contenders often get saved by a surprise role player who was barely on the radar in January. Indiana has plenty to like at the top, but if the Pacers are going to survive the grind and keep pace with the leagues deepest teams, they may need someone from the back end of the roster to become much more reliable than expected. [Read more 🡒]