Tom Cassese played college ball at C.w. Post, and when the Montreal Alouettes hired C.W. Post coach Joe Scanella as their offensive coordinator in 1969, Cassese came along with him.  Cassese had graduated from C.W. Post in 1967, and had previously played one season in the AFL in 1967 with the Denver Broncos.  Cassese had been an 8th round draft pick of the Broncos and had seen action mainly as a punt returner and defensive back.

Cassese played just the one season with Montreal, but it was a very good one.  His 32 catches might not seem like much in modern terms, but you just need to look closer to see it was very good indeed.  First, the season was only 14 games long and second, Casesse average an extremely good 22.3 yards per catch and piled up 712 yardss and 7 touchdowns. This was also in an era where teams still ran the ball half the time. Scanella stayed only the one season as an assistant with the Alouettes (though he would return later as the head coach), and Cassese also stayed only the one year. In 1970, the new regime in Montreaal under owner Sam Berger, GM Red O'Quinn and coach Sam Etcheverry made numerous trades, and Cassese was dispatched to BC as Montreal wanted to use a Canadian at flanker, who would turn out to be future HOFer Terry Evenshan via another trade, and free up an import for the defensive backfield. with BC, however, Cassese suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the entire 1970 season. Cassese returned to the Lions in 1971, but did not play any regular season games fo rhe Lions.*

Following his playing career, Cassese returned to school to add a Masters in Physical Education to his Business degree and took up coaching at Comsewogue High School on Long Island. It was a post he held from 1973 to 2003.  Cassese also coached lacrosse at LeHigh.

* Cassese is listed in some sources as playing for BC in 1971, but he did not dress for any regular season games accroding to the official CFL stats for 1971.

Tom Cassese on fanbase.com

AFL Stats for Tom Cassese

Bio of Tom Cassese at LeHigh

Tom Cassese in the October, 1969 CFL News

Cassese Trade to BC - March 13, 1970

Cassese One of Many Traded - June 23, 1970

Cassese Out for Season - July 27, 1970