Just a day after his father Tony passed away, it was nothing short of remarkable that Yale quarterback Dante Reno suited up to play for the Bulldogs on Saturday against Merrimack. And he did far more than just that.
The elder Reno, who resigned earlier this year from his position as Yale’s head coach due to health issues and led the program to five Ivy League championships in his 14 seasons at the helm, meant everything to the university.
“…While his accomplishments on the football field were remarkable, it is the relationships he built and the lives he changed that will define his enduring legacy,” Yale athletic director Victoria Chun said in a statement.
He meant even more to his son Dante. Growing up in Sturbridge, Mass., Dante Reno was around football from a young age, thanks to his father. He got his first taste of football while spending time on the Yale sidelines in his dad’s early days as head coach. He began playing tackle football in third grade.
“He's everything,” Dante said of his dad, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. “The whole reason I play football is because of him.”
After a brief hiatus from tackle football in favor of flag football, Dante Reno returned to tackle, where he started out as a running back before eventually taking over under center. He played two seasons at Tantasqua Regional, whom he led to the 2019 Division 4 state semifinals, then played for Loomis Chaffee and Cheshire Academy, eventually becoming a four-star recruit.
“He went from the opportunity to be a good high school player to where he is now through his hard work really during COVID,” Tony told CT Insider back in 2022. “He grew probably three inches during COVID. He hit the weights. He started developing his acumen as a football player, watching film.”
After beginning his college football career at South Carolina, he transferred to Yale to play for his father’s team in June 2025. And when his father stepped away from coaching before the 2026 season, there was no doubt what Reno, who entered the year as Yale’s starting QB, was going to do. He dedicated the 2026 season to his father.
At 12 years old, he would sit in on QB meetings for his father’s Yale football team. Ten years later at 22 years old, he was about to do something many would find unfathomable: take the field as Yale’s starting quarterback just a day after the death of his father.
“I know him, and I know my dad, and he would want nothing less than for me to go out there and play,” Reno said after the game. “Not miss practice. Go to school. Be around the guys.”
After taking advantage of a Merrimack fumble on the Warriors’ opening drive with a nine-yard touchdown strike, Reno succumbed to a first quarter turnover of his own, as he was picked off at the Merrimack 27-yard line by linebacker Will Claude, who returned it 75 yards for a score.
The Bulldogs eventually found themselves down 21–7 in the second quarter. That’s when Reno, just as he grinded his way from good high school player to four-star recruit, went to work and willed his team back into the game.
Reno led the Bulldogs on a 10-play, 56-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. After the Yale defense netted another stop, Reno completed all three of his passing attempts, including a 10-yard touchdown strike to Jaxton Santiago that cut the Merrimack lead to 21–17.
Reno was at his best in the second half. On the first drive of the third quarter, Reno fired a pair of 20-plus yard passes downfield to get the Bulldogs into Merrimack territory, then gave Yale a 24–21 lead on a touchdown throw to Graham Smith.
After the Warriors tied the game, Yale needed a Reno response. Naturally, he had one. After trading punts to end the third quarter at a 24–24 stalemate, Reno and the Bulldogs started the fourth quarter with a bang.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Reno found wideout Lucius Anderson for a gain of 50 yards, then, on a long third-and-goal after a holding penalty, found Garon Kemp for a 20-yard touchdown that gave Yale a lead they would not relinquish.
Yale football honored the elder Reno with a heartwarming tribute before the game.
Yale honored former head football coach Tony Reno, who passed away at 52, with a touching tribute prior to today’s game. pic.twitter.com/wPTfbJQKFX
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 3, 2026
Then, the son who was inspired to play football by his dad honored him in the best way possible: a 298-yard, four-touchdown pass performance to lead Yale to a thrilling comeback win over Merrimack.
“This one's for you pops,” Reno wrote on X after the game.
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