John Raymond Cappelletti (born August 9, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) with the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers.

He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1973. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Coach Joe Paterno said that Cappelletti was "the best football player I ever coached" or words to that effect. Cappelletti's relationship with his younger brother Joey, who was stricken with leukemia, was chronicled into a book and television movie, Something for Joey.

Cappelletti was born on August 9, 1952, in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, where he was raised. He was one of five children born to John and Anna Cappelletti. Cappelletti attended St. Laurence School in Upper Darby (a kindergarten to 8th grade Catholic school) prior to entering Monsignor Bonner High School in Drexel Hill, a suburb west of Philadelphia in Delaware County, where he played football and basketball. He played quarterback for the Friars and graduated in 1970.

In 1969, he was selected first team All-Catholic and All-Delaware County. In 1974, Bonner presented Cappelletti with the Coach Jack Gottschalk Memorial Award. On the same day, Bonner's alumni association established the John Cappelletti Award, to be given annually to the senior who best exemplifies qualities of character, dedication and athletic success. During the same ceremony presenting these awards, Cappelletti was inducted as the first charter member of Bonner's Hall of Fame, and his jersey number 11 was retired by the school.

Cappelletti attended Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). During his sophomore season in 1971, he played as a defensive back, as the Nittany Lions had two senior running backs who were taken early in the 1972 NFL draft: Franco Harris (13th overall) and Lydell Mitchell (48th). Head coach Joe Paterno considered Cappelletti too good an athlete not to play somewhere on the team, and intended to switch Cappelletti back to offense as a junior after Harris and Mitchell graduated.

As a senior tailback at Penn State in 1973, Cappelletti gained 1,522 yards on 286 carries scoring 17 touchdowns as the Nittany Lions rolled to an undefeated 12–0 season. In his two-year running-back career, Cappelletti gained over 100 yards in thirteen games and had a career total of 2,639 yards and twenty-nine touchdowns for an average of 120 yards per game and 5.1 yards per carry. In the final month of the 1973 season, he rushed for more than 200 yards in three consecutive games. His 2,639 yards in only two years is 14th all-time at Penn State (as of 2024).

He was awarded the 1973 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, the UPI College Football Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Award, the Touchdown Club of Columbus Chic Harley Award, ABC-TV Player of the Year, as well as receiving first team consensus All-America honors. He was also named Amateur Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. He was the first Penn State player to be awarded the Heisman Trophy. His Heisman acceptance speech, where he dedicated his award to his dying brother Joey, is one of the most memorable in the history of college sports. When Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was to follow Cappelletti's speech with a closing benediction, he said "'There is no need for a benediction. God has already blessed you with John Cappelletti.'"

He was also a member of the Gamma Phi chapter of Phi Gamma Delta at Penn State.