Napolet stays close to Eagles

Tony Napolet no longer walks the sideline as coach of the Warren JFK football team, but he is never far from the program.

Napolet, who resigned in 2011 amid health concerns after 29 seasons as a head coach, still tries to attend most of the Eagles’ games and calls current Warren JFK coach Dave Pappada several times each week.

“I’ll get a call tonight and he’ll want a status report and I’ll get a call tomorrow night after the game,” Pappada said. “He still enjoys the game. It’s great time of year for him.”

Napolet was 214-104-3 in two coaching stints at JFK (1970-72 and 1991-2010) and one sandwiched between them at Niles (1973-78). His 1991 JFK team won the Division IV state championship.

Napolet’s career numbers, his relationships with players and his stature in the coaching community all were factors in his recent nomination — and acceptance — to the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Lakeview coach Tom Pavlansky, the area’s OHSFCA regional representative, and Jefferson coach Jim Henson, who served on the nomination committee, confirmed Napolet and five others will be enshired in June 2013.

The other inductees are Bill Jones (Findlay), Gary Quizno (Oak Harbor), Jack Rose (Massillon), Lowell Klinefelter (Canton Central Catholic) and Vince Suriano (Anderson).

Napolet learned of the honor Thursday afternoon.

“That’s a surprise, but it’s a wonderful surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to all the people who made it happen.”

Napolet hasn’t let a broken shoulder he suffered in a fall last month keep him from watching the Eagles. He plans to be at Girard’s Arrowhead Stadium tonight when the Indians host JFK.

“It’s just in a sling,” Napolet said. “It was a clean break.”

Some retired coaches might prefer to get their football fix on the radio or on television. Not Napolet.

That’s no surprise, considering he coached his final season while undergoing dialysis treatments. His teams displayed similar toughness over the years.

“I surely miss it,” Napolet said. “I go to all the Kennedy games and some of the Harding games. I miss the kids and I miss the coaches. That’s what kept me in it for 40 years.”

Pappada and Bob Terlecky, also a former JFK assistant, are glad the OHSFCA has decided to honor Napolet.

“If there is a better and more deserving guy around, I’d like to know who it is,” said Terlecky, who coached with Napolet from 1992-2010.

“He was definitely a players’ coach. He knew the kids, he got along with the kids and the kids loved him. They’d do anything for him.”

Pappada not only worked with Napolet for more than two decades, he played for him as a teenager decades ago.

“He’s very, very deserving of the Hall of Fame,” Pappada said. “I was lucky enough to have him as a coach when I was in high school and lucky enough to coach with him for 21 years.”

THE COMMISSIONER SPEAKS

There apparently has been some blowback for Poland as a result of the controversial transfer of lineman Nick Bilas to Cardinal Mooney.

The case is now in the courts and Bilas has played in the Cardinals’ first two games after a temporary restraining order was granted to prevent the OHSAA from denying him eligibility.

OHSAA commissioner Dr. Daniel B. Ross took the largely unprecedented step of issuing a statement on the matter, citing “misinformation” as to how the matter came before the organization.

Ross’s statement was as follows:

“In 2011, the member schools modified the exceptions to the transfer bylaw by charging the Commissioner’s Office with not only determining whether a bona fide change of residence has occurred, but also whether the move compelled a transfer or the transfer compelled the move. To assist our office in making these determinations, the protocol in the office upon receiving a request for an exception is to contact the school from which the student transferred to solicit input as to whether a move occurred and what reasons there may be for the transfer.

“In the matter of the student transfer from Poland Seminary to Cardinal Mooney — a transfer that took place in March — the Poland administrators and personnel become involved only after the Commissioner’s Office reached out to them for input about whether a change of residence had occurred and what may have caused the transfer.

“Therefore, to be clear, no one from Poland Seminary initiated the concern over this particular student’s transfer. Instead, the normal OHSAA proceedings were followed in which Cardinal Mooney administrators asked for a ruling on the student, and the OHSAA sought out administrators and coaches from Poland to provide feedback to assist in making a ruling.”

In other words, Ross and the OHSAA are going out of their way to make it clear this isn’t a case of sour grapes from Poland.

Somehow, I don’t think the statement — no matter how truthful and well-intentioned it might be — is going to ease tensions between Mooney and Poland.

There is a history there and it’s not going away any time soon, no matter the outcome of the Bilas case.

Ed Puskas is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write him at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter @epuskas85.