The (brief) tale of Judge, Stefanski as
Joe Judge and Kevin Stefanski could have been teammates their entire high school careers had Judge’s family not had to make a hard financial choice. Stefanski and Judge were both quarterbacks on the freshman football team at St. Joseph’s Prep in North Philadelphia in the fall of 1996. But Judge didn’t make it the full season because an injury his father had sustained at work forced the family into a tough spot.
“My dad got hurt, lost his job, and we couldn’t afford to send two boys to The Prep,” Judge, 38, told the Daily News in the spring. “My brother Jimmy was already a junior finishing out, so I understood we had to make a decision. And I was only a freshman. So it was either do I transfer to Father Judge or Lansdale Catholic, and I went to Lansdale.
“I was torn apart when I had to leave,” Judge added.
Twenty four years later, Judge and Stefanski, 38, both have come out alright.
They’ll be opposing NFL head coaches on Sunday Night Football at MetLife Stadium when Stefanski’s resurgent Cleveland Browns (9-4) visit Judge’s gritty Giants (5-8).
Stefanski came up through the Minnesota Vikings organization, and Judge rose to prominence with the New England Patriots. They crossed paths frequently in their rapid climb, last facing off as assistants when the Patriots beat the visiting Vikes, 24-10, in 2018.
They’ll still grab a beer at the NFL Combine and talk ball when they can in Indianapolis, too.
The story that circulated in January when Judge was hired, though, said he’d transferred out of St. Joe’s Prep in 1996 because Stefanski had beaten him out as the freshman team’s QB.
But that mischaracterizes a more complicated situation Judge’s family was dealing with. Not to mention, Judge says, leaving The Prep over
football never would have flied with his mom, Denise, a teacher by trade.
“If you think my mom would have let me transfer out over athletics, you don’t know my mom,” Judge said with a laugh. “I would have stayed and competed and done whatever I had to do. Whatever happens your freshman year in high school doesn’t decide your career. My mom was torn apart when I had to leave, too.”
Judge remembers Stefanski standing out from the jump as the player, though, unquestionably. And Stefanski would go on to star
at the University of Pennsylvania as a defensive back before getting into coaching.
“Kevin was a damn good player, man,” Judge said. “I have a lot of respect for him as a player and a coach. He was good. And we were all splitting time as freshmen. He even got bumped up that year I think to JV or varsity, but it was after I was already gone.”
Stefanski remembers Judge, and the entire Judge family, as tough and physically imposing athletes.
“As you know, Joe is a big man,” Stefanski said in a conference call
Wednesday. “His dad was a big man. His brother was a big tight end for us. Just a very physical, strong player. I know he had a great career there at Lansdale Catholic. He not surprisingly was a tough player, and I think you see how he coaches and that is who Joe is.”
Stefanski remembered Judge leaving The Prep under difficult circumstances, as well.
“We were teammates for a little bit, and then Joe had some family stuff and had to transfer,” the Browns’ head coach said.
The circumstances were this: Judge’s father Joe had been disabled on the job for the Origlio Beverage company toward the end of Judge’s eighth grade year. In Judge’s own words, his father fell while helping to carry a motorcycle up a flight of stairs to set up a display at a Houlihan’s in Bensalem, Pa.
The injury would lead to multiple botched surgeries and a bad back that required his father to walk with a cane the rest of his life (he passed away at 66 on July 21, 2017). In the short term, though, Origlio laid off Judge’s dad at the