Joe Pellegrini '79 has taken a job in a field not uncommon for a geology concentrator--he is studying and moving rocks.

Except that Pellegrini's rocks measure 6-ft., 4-in. and 270 lbs. and play defensive line in the National Football League.

Pellegrini, who now thinks economics might be more appropriate preparation for the NFL, has earned a job as an offensive lineman for the New York Jets. He enters the ranks of a rare species--Harvard grads in the pros--joining offensive lineman Danny Jiggets of the Chicago Bears and punter Pat McInaly of the Cincinnati Bengals.

What makes Pellegrini so extraordinary, however, is not that the Hingham native is the first backup for one of the best offensive lines in football. The most interesting part of his story is that he has not played a down of football since his junior year at Harvard in 1977.

Why? you might ask. Was he injured? On probation? No. The saga of Joe Pellegrini's layoff begins at the end of his junior year, when Pellegrini--who also competed in track and field at Harvard--started throwing the discus at a world-class standard. He was invited to work out under the tutelage of a German coach for the next year. Pellegrini began to entertain thoughts of making a trip to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics. He decided to accept the offer to train in Europe.

Pellegrini first went to Coach Joe Restic, on whose team he had been a two-year starter, and explained his decision. He left thinking he had an understanding with the coach that he would be allowed back on the team when he returned.

The next two years helped form what it is now almost a motto with the lineman: politics should stay out of sports. Not only did President Carter end Pellegrini's Olympic dreams because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but Restic refused to invite his former starter back to training camp for the 1981 season because of a policy that prevents players who take a year off from returning to the football team.

"It is a policy of mine because it is not fair to the many others who have stayed with the program," Restic explains.

The 1980 Olympic boycott did affect Pellegrini, who qualified for the U.S. trials, but he feels other athletes who had trained for years were the real sufferers "for a meaningless political show of strength." He had football to fall back on, or so he thought.

Restic didn't budge from his decision even when a delegation of Pellegrini's teammates went to the coach. "Mr. John P. Reardon [athletic director] told me to wait a couple of weeks for Restic to change his mind," Pellegrini remembers, "but by that time I was hurt and frustrated and just wouldn't have wanted to play."

The disgruntled athlete nevertheless graduated from Harvard with respect rather than bitterness for the school's athletic department. As far as football goes, though, Pellegrini says he regrets his lack of communication with Restic. "That's probably as much my fault as his, though," he comments. "I learned a lot under him and have a good deal of respect for him and his assistants."

Restic returns the compliment: "Joe was a very good, quick football player who could have a promising future in the pros."

Pellegrini continued training during his senior year, pausing momentarily in the winter to get married and pick up a business partner all in the same ceremony. He and his wife are in the rehabilitative real estate business of buying property and building or fixing houses for resale. The business supported him during his Olympic training, and he has kept it going. In fact, as he was interviewed in the Jets training camp on the grounds of Hofstra University, he was waiting for a call to close a deal.

It was his wife, a couple of old Crimson teammates, and a professional scout who encouraged Pellegrini to give the pros a shot. "I had always thought about it, but after the layoff, I had my doubts," he said. The Jets were one of three teams willing to give him a chance, and he reported to their training camp last summer.

Jim Royer, the Jets' Director of Pro Personnel, put Pellegrini's chances of making the team at 10,000 to one, but Pellegrini received some much overdue luck by injuring his back in last year's exhibition game against the Giants. Such an occurrence may not at first seem like luck, but it allowed the Jets to put Pellegrini on the shelf last year, and give him another shot this summer, at a time when his services were more in demand. He quickly recovered from the back injury and became a practice player with the Jets for all of last season.