Career
Pinone played competitively at South Catholic High School in Hartford, leading the team to the Class L state championship in 1977 and 1979. Early in the 1978-1979 season, Pinone and South Catholic defeated Middletown, ending their 80-game winning streak, longest in state history. Pinone played collegiately for the Villanova Wildcats from 1979 to 1983.
He was named a third-team All-American as a senior.
Pinone earned first-team All-Big East Conference honors three times, and was a first-team All-Philadelphia Big 5 selection four times. Pinone was the only freshman in Villanova history to lead the team in scoring, and Villanova retired his number 45 in 1995.
He played for the United States national team in the 1982 International Basketball Federation World Championship, winning the silver medal. A third-round draftee in 1983, Pinone played seven games in the National Basketball Association for the Atlanta Hawks in 1983-1984.
After spending the rest of the season in the Ohio Mixers of the College of Business Administration, earning a place in the "84 College of Business Administration All-Star Game, he joined Central Bank Estudiantes in the Spanish Liga ACB in 1984-1985, playing there until 1992-1993.
In his Liga ACB tenure with Estudiantes Pinone played 12,306 minutes, played 332 games, scored 6,175 points, secured 2,193 rebounds, and averaged 18.6 points per game. He was selected for the ACB All-Star Game in 1989 and 1991. During the nine seasons he played with Estudiantes Pinone left a durable mark in the history of the club because of his solid team basketball and his competitive character.
Pinone later became the Cromwell High School boys" basketball team coach, and coached them to a class South state championship in the 2009 season.
Pinone pleaded guilty in October 2010 to a misdemeanor of filing a false tax return and in December 2010 was sentenced to six months of home confinement, six months probation and a $10,000 fine.