[1] At the age of 15 his family emigrated to the United States, settling in California where he attended college at UC Berkeley, excelling in sports – including triple jump, later narrowly failing qualification for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
[2] Piterman relocated to Spain in 1991, immediately buying two football clubs: amateurs Tossa Sport and fourth division side Palamós CF, with the latter promoting to the third level under his ownership in 2002.
He insisted on being his team's manager, which granted him disciplinary action from the Royal Spanish Football Federation for being in the technical area, which he sometimes eluded by being accredited as a journalist or photographer.
[1] After a brief spell in handball, also in Cantabria, Piterman bought a 51% controlling stake in Deportivo Alavés in July 2004,[4] helping it return to the topflight in his first season, with Cos now acting as director of football.
The American's spell in the Basque Country was also a rocky one, with three coaches being used during the 2005–06 campaign, which ended in relegation, the dismissals occurring when the managers refused to accept his interferences and impositions.