His college playing career was interrupted by service in the United States Army during World War II.
After his playing career was over, Pihos was the head football coach for National Agricultural College (later renamed Delaware Valley University) from 1956 to 1958.
On July 31, 1937, when Pihos was 14 years old, his father, the operator of a breakfast restaurant in Orlando, was murdered.
[6][7] Pihos attended Orlando High School where he played football as a tackle and basketball as a guard.
[15] He was named a first-team All-American by Sporting News, Collier's Weekly,[16] and The New York Sun.
He scored Indiana's only touchdown in the game, when he caught a pass at the Northwestern five-yard line and dragged three defenders with him over the goal-line.
[14] He earned first-team All-America honors from Yank, the Army Weekly magazine,[27] and finished eighth in voting for the Heisman Trophy.
[28] As a senior, Pihos played three positions (fullback, halfback, and quarterback) and was named the most valuable player on the 1946 Indiana Hoosiers football team.
[29] He ended his college career by scoring three touchdowns against the Purdue Boilermakers, helping the Hoosiers win the Old Oaken Bucket for that year.
[30] Pihos finished third in the voting for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the most valuable player in the Big Nine Conference.
"[29] Pihos was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round (41st overall pick) of the 1945 NFL draft,[3] but he continued to play for Indiana in 1945 and 1946.
In the playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Eastern Division title, Pihos blocked a punt to set up the first touchdown in the Eagles' 21–0 win.
Pihos scored the only offensive touchdown of the 1949 championship game via a 31-yard reception in the second quarter during a heavy downpour.
In 1951, Pihos led the Eagles in receptions and receiving yards and intercepted two passes as a defensive end.
[3] Pihos caught only 12 passes and scored only one touchdown in 1952, causing the Eagles front office to suspect he was washed up.
However, he still managed to make the Pro Bowl and earn first-team All-Pro honors by the AP as a defensive end.
[46] In March 1956, shortly after retiring from the NFL, Pihos was hired as the head football coach at National Agricultural College (later renamed Delaware Valley University) in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
[54][55] In 1964, Pihos served as the head coach of the Richmond Rebels of the Atlantic Coast Football League.
[74] In 1977, he was living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was employed as a vice president of Franklin National Life Insurance Co.[72] In 2001, Pihos was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
[73] In 2004, he was victimized by a con artist who acquired Pihos' lifetime collection of sports memorabilia in exchange for $30,000 in bogus checks.
His neurologist opined that Pihos' dementia was caused by blows to the head during his career as a football player.
She began in 2010 with a documentary short titled Dear Dad juxtaposing photos and footage from his days as a football player with images of him as he fought the disease.
[79][80] She also created Pihos: A Moving Biography, exploring aspects of her father's life and his struggle with Alzheimer's disease through film and dance.