Pitt's Tre Tipton recognized for fighting off physical, emotional injuries

Pat Narduzzi saw the precise route running, the speed and the love for the game that made Tre Tipton one of the first players he signed as Pitt’s football coach.

But that was only part of it.

The day he welcomed Tipton to Pitt as part of his 2015 recruiting class, Narduzzi described the Apollo-Ridge graduate thusly: “A guy who just lights up every room he walks in.”

More than six years later, the light stays on through Tipton’s determination to stare down the many levels of adversity he has encountered. And, most importantly, it keeps shining, thanks to his ability to make a difference on Pitt’s campus that goes far beyond anything he might accomplish inside Heinz Field.

Tipton, a seventh-year senior wide receiver who battled back from physical and emotional injury during much of his time at Pitt, was honored Tuesday with the Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award, presented annually by the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals. The award honors student-athletes who have overcome “great personal, academic and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics,” according to a Pitt news release.

Tipton, who will turn 25 before the start of the season, suffered season-ending injuries during his first three years at Pitt, including an offseason bicycle accident that ended his 2017 season before it started.

Meanwhile, he had been dealing with depression that led to four suicide attempts, including one in his Pitt dormitory room.

“Freshman year, I came with a lot of baggage. I had a lot of things sitting on my chest, sitting on my back,” he said in a video produced by Pitt.

The final attempt occurred on the Fort Duquesne Bridge, he said.

“I was staring at the water,” he said. “I started moving my feet getting ready to jump, and I heard something say to me that you’re not ready yet.”

He took off his shirt, dropped it into the water and resumed living his life.

Back on the field, he played in the first nine games of the 2016 season before suffering a collapsed lung in the Miami game at Hard Rock Stadium and spending four days in the ICU at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The injury ended his season — he wouldn’t return until 2018 because of the bike accident — but he called the collapsed lung the most important turning point in his life.

“At that point, I had realized my suicidal thoughts were no longer there, simply because I was tired of losing to myself,” Tipton said Tuesday in a phone interview with the Tribune-Review. “With that said, I was willing to do whatever it took in order for me not to do that anymore.

“Although I had hurt myself, I was improving. I was looking forward. I wasn’t looking down. I was thankful for that opportunity.”

Off the field, he founded an aptly named organization called LOVE (Living Out Victoriously Everyday) in which he counsels student-athletes and helps them deal with the pressures of mixing academics with athletics.

“I went through a lot growing up that I didn’t speak about,” he said. “I remained quiet, and it kind of led me into a wrong path. I told myself I would never go back to that path, but I also wouldn’t let anybody else feel what I felt.”

With the help of close friend and former Baldwin wrestler Elee Khalil, Pitt football players Todd Sibley and Kellen McAlone and several others, LOVE has counseled more than 100 student-athletes, Tipton said.

“The goal,” he said, “is now to see how far we can possibly go with it.”

Tipton graduated from Pitt with a degree in communications and is pursuing graduate studies in Pitt’s School of Social Work.

Plus, he’s looking forward to his seventh season with the football team. Because of covid-19 interruptions to the 2020 season, the NCAA granted each athlete a free year of eligibility.

“I love playing the game,” he said. “The fact that I can still do it and still be healthy enough to be able to do it is like no other. I wouldn’t want to look back years from now and say, ‘Why didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I move forward?’

“So, I told myself I’m going to come back, do what I can, get my master’s and then I’m going to take the opportunity to do whatever it may be in my life right after.”

His message to young Pitt players: “Just stay committed to you.”

Is coaching in his future?

“I know the game. I love the game, but I also love people,” he said. “I definitely see myself helping people in the future and doing whatever I can to help save the world.

“That’s my biggest goal overall is to find a way to help save the world.”

Thankfully, he saved himself first.