Rick “Rico” Cassata was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 for his quarterback play with the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), winning the MVP award in the Grey Cup Championship in 1973 and highlighting a nine-year CFL career.

However, in 1964 after graduating from Tonawanda High School, Cassata had the opportunity to play shortstop for the New York Yankees, potentially, for two decades in the 1960s and 1970s, much like Derek Jeter demonstrated in his remarkable, two-decade journey into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.