Ben Deihl | staff writer

Growing up in Connecticut, Rob Alberino always had a passion for sports. He was at the intersection of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, three cities with some of the richest sports history in the country.

“I loved everything about sports,” said the Duquesne alumnus and current Vice President of Content and Production for the Kansas City Chiefs. “I loved everything about movies, cinema, writing. I absolutely loved it. And I knew for a fact that I was going to go into some business.”

Alberino worked hard, knowing that writing was his craft and media was his passion.

As he geared up for college, a young Alberino looked at the typical media powerhouses — Syracuse, Temple, Massachusetts. But a little school in Pittsburgh stuck out to him.

“I was at this college fair, and I’m looking at all these schools, and just something jumped out at Duquesne,” Alberino said. “It was a mixture of size, location and what they offered in my major. It had something that no other campus that I had looked at, and it was also this community that was like this little citadel up on the Bluff.”

He kept himself busy while at Duquesne, working at the radio station to keep up with the media world and writing on his own. He worked as an admissions tour guide, a security guard and got all the grants he could to cover tuition. But that made his success even sweeter.

After graduating from Duquesne with a Bachelor’s in communications and media production followed by a brief stint in the WTAE newsroom, Alberino found a position that suited him. It wasn’t the flashiest, but he was able to work his way up as a producer at D’Elia-Wittkofski Productions.

Directed by Guido D’Elia, D’Elia-Wittkofski Productions’ large client list ballooned into a powerhouse. The Pittsburgh-based company started to land clients like Xerox and Lockheed Martin before expanding into the sports world.

“I found this small house that was looking for an associate producer, but it would let me do everything — shoot, write, produce,” Alberino said. “One of the biggest clients was Penn State football, and that was the difference maker for me.”

Alberino became the lead producer for “The Penn State Football Story,” a groundbreaking weekly program co-hosted by former Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno.

The show followed Penn State through one of the program’s most important eras, entering the Big Ten conference in 1993 and winning it with a perfect 12-0 record one year later.

The program won multiple Emmys and was broadcast to over 65% of the country’s homes.

The success of “The Penn State Football Story” helped D’Elia gain national recognition, eventually working with Duke basketball before joining Penn State’s communication department, reshaping the fan’s experience and helping to create the Penn State “white out.”

In a time where highly produced, behind-the-scenes content was a rarity, Alberino and his team were trailblazers. Despite the long hours and constant sacrifices, he had started to revolutionize the world of sports media.

With his new national recognition, Alberino soon began to get calls from other networks. But after hearing from a friend’s mom that NFL Films was hiring, Alberino decided to shoot for the stars.

“I got word that they were hiring three new filmmakers,” he said. “From my understanding, there were over 1,000 people who had applied. I was frightened to death.”

After some back and forth, Alberino got the job at NFL Films. And once he broke into the NFL, the jobs just kept flowing.

He started a job in Philadelphia with the Eagles after NFL Films, producing content directly for a team. Alberino felt like he finally found the job he was looking for.

“I won with the team and I lost with the team,” he said. “When you’re with a team, you are winning and losing. You are reaping the benefits, or you’re licking your wounds. To have the ability to know your fans and understand who you’re creating for is really cool.”

After Philly, Alberino took stops in Kansas City and San Francisco directing media, marketing and production for the teams. With the fallout of football and the world as we know it from COVID-19, he found himself back in Kansas City as the vice president of content and production. From there, he orchestrated one of the best media teams in the country.

Alberino had the privilege to be with the Chiefs during their early 2020s dominance, winning two Super Bowls with the team. For him, it was unprecedented success.

“When you get a Super Bowl ring, when you kiss that trophy, it’s next level,” Alberino said. “To be a part of history at some level was really cool.”

With a championship-caliber team, however, comes championship-caliber expectations.

“It’s about delivering filet mignon every day, whether it’s on the field or on the screens,” Alberino said. “I often tell the people who work with me, ‘We’re going to win awards. It’s how many are we going to win, and which ones do you want to be a part of?’”

Now in a place where he can take the role as a mentor, Alberino wants to remember the little things most. He uses his Connecticut roots to remind himself of his humble beginnings.

“Don’t forget where you came from,” he said. “Don’t forget about being hungry. Make your inner kid proud.”

Ben Deihl can be reached at deihlb1@duq.edu