Tony Napolet, 77 Legendary Warren JFK football coach remembered for generosity, success


By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

NILES

Legendary high school football coach Tony Napolet, who led Warren JFK to its only state football championship in 1991, died on Saturday morning at age 77.

Napolet went 179-80-2 at Warren JFK with 12 playoff appearances and state runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2006. He stepped down before the 2011 season because of ailing kidneys. He was inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2013.

Warren JFK head coach Jeff Bayuk called Napolet “a great coach, but an even better human being.

“Over the years he was very helpful to me in that he helped me understand all aspects of the game,” Bayuk said. “He was passionate about the game and cared about the players that he coached.

“Every coach should try to emulate the kind of person and coach that he was. The coaching profession has lost one of its very best.”

A graduate of St. Mary’s High School in Warren, Napolet was a three-year letter-winner in football as an offensive guard and a defensive tackle. He played for Joe Rich his sophomore and junior seasons. His senior campaign was spent under the tutelage of Jack Mulcahy.

His senior season, the team went 7-1-1 and despite being an independent entry, earned first team All-Trumbull County laurels.

He played in the 1956 Northeast Ohio-Western Pa. All-Star game with the team losing a hard-fought, 7-6 contest to its Pennsylvania counterparts.

Veteran broadcaster John Caparanis’ affiliation with Napolet goes back to the early 1970s when calling Warren JFK games. They were co-founders of the Trumbull County Sports Hall of Fame. Caparanis called Napolet a no-nonsense coach whose human side easily outdistanced his coaching side.

“Tony was always approachable but more importantly, was a great interview.” Caparanis said. “He not only gave you plenty of insight about his team, but also found it apropos to fill you in about that night’s opponent as well.”

Napolet enrolled at Marquette University and lettered three seasons for the Warriors.

Napolet didn’t play as a freshman and spent his sophomore and junior seasons under head coach John Druze, who had come to Marquette from Frank Leahy’s staff at Notre Dame.

When his collegiate career was over, Napolet stayed to coach the school’s final freshman team in 1960, calling that job one of the best assignments that he had ever had in his career.

He had a chance to go to the University of Nebraska, but opted instead to return to Warren where he began his high school coaching career.

He was hired first by Ben Wilson to coach the football, basketball, and track and field teams for the 1961 and 1962 seasons at Turner Junior High.

He then became an assistant coach at Niles for seven seasons under Tony Mason, with that first Red Dragon team going 9-0-1. Their only blemish was a scoreless tie to Cincinnati Roger Bacon at Riverside Stadium.

In 1970 he became the head football coach at Warren JFK and in three seasons with the Eagles, his teams went 26-2-2. They were ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press during the 1971 and 1972 campaigns.

Ursuline coach Larry Kempe, a senior on Napolet’s first JFK squad, said Napolet commanded his players’ respect and attention whenever he walked into a room, especially a locker room.

“My junior year we were under .500 and had nowhere to go but up,” Kempe said. “He proceeded to tell us that this is how it’s now going to be and by golly, it sure was.

“When he told you that he was going to do something, he did it and when I got the Ursuline job four years ago, Coach was one of the very first persons to call me and offer his congratulations.”

Napolet returned to the Red Dragons as their head football coach in 1973 and went 35-24-1 over the next six seasons.

From 1981-91, he coached the St. Mary’s seventh and eighth graders, the last two years adding ninth-grade duties as well to his resume.

He returned to the Eagles in 1991, replacing Dennis Zolciak who had moved over to Twinsburg. Napolet found success immediately as he helped lead his squad to the Division IV state title game against Springfield Catholic.

Rick Radich served as a Warren JFK assistant coach.

“Coach imparted four very important things in which he strongly believed to the players after every practice and game,” Radich said. “He told them to love God, love their family, love school and love football and do so in that order.”

Campbell head coach Ed Rozum, whose teams went nose-to-nose with Napolet-coached teams on several occasions, said every game was a hard-fought battle.

“When we were members of the old Metro Conference you had to go through Warren JFK if you expected to win the title,” Rozum said. “Coach Napolet’s teams were always prepared and we had some fierce battles.

“We both wanted to win and both teams competed at the highest level possible, which is why it turned into a rivalry game for both schools. When the game was over, however, we shook hands and moved on.

“The thing I remember most though was that he was always available if you needed help or had any questions that he could help you with along the way. That was just coach.”

Dave Pappada, who replaced Napolet when he stepped down in 2011, coached with him for 20 years.

“People know Tony Napolet as a great football coach but he was an outstanding person as well,” Pappada said. “He was my position coach at Niles McKinley in 1963 and he never changed a bit over the years.”

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