Samuel Pusateri was a backfield star and was selected as the best individual player in the Harvard Cup series in 1930. He was the outstanding athlete of the year, winning a berth on the Times All-High football team and being recognized as the outstanding high school player in the city. He also starred in basketball and in addition was picked for the Times All-High Tennis team.
He received a scholarship to Colgate University, where he played for one year before going to the University of Buffalo to continue playing football.
As quoted in a local newspaper clipping, “It sounds like high praise, but good critics agree that this boy Sammy Pusateri is the best looking performer seen on a high school gridiron since the days of Wally Koppisch. Tall, lanky, sometimes awkward looking under his pads and rattan, he gets started like a rabbit, runs with a graceful, easy, ground-devouring motion, slips or bends sideways from tacklers like Tam Rose used to do at Syracuse, and is the hardest man in the high schools this year to bring down. His yardage probably exceeds that gained by any rival in the seven teams in the Harvard Cup series, and he seldom gets hurt. Above all, he is modest and as gentlemanly a chap as you’d expect from a well-reared, splendidly disciplined youngster. Ifhe decides on a college career, we will hear a lot more of him.”