LeBeau reflects with coaching legends
qualified to comment on that,” LeBeau said.
Render was a head coach for 49 seasons at three different high schools. Although he said he has some plans for retirement, he used the word “bored” once when describing his feeling at times this summer.
Render said, “My wife [ Pam] and I were just discussing the other night and I said, ‘ You don’t understand. I’ve been going to preseason football practice for 65 straight years, starting when I was a player in seventh grade. Now, 65 years later, you don’t have a practice to go to, and it’s tough.
“People keep asking what I’m going to do. Well, I play a little golf, but I’m not very good. I’ve never been a fisherman. I’ve never had any real hobbies. But I’ll get adjusted. There are things I’m not missing, too.”
Besides Render, who won 406 games and five WPIAL titles, the other retired coaches at the luncheon were Blackhawk’s Joe Hamilton ( four WPIAL titles), North Hills’ Jack McCurry ( four), Jeannette’s Joe Mucci ( three), Clairton’s Tom Nola ( six), Woodland Hills’ George Novak ( six), Beaver’s Pat Tarquinio ( three), Aliquippa’s Don Yannessa ( four) and McKeesport’s George Smith ( two).
The three active coaches on hand were Mt. Lebanon’s Bob Palko ( eight WPIAL titles at West Allegheny), Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak ( seven) and Seton LaSalle’s Mike Zmijanac ( six at Aliquippa).
Palko “sort of” retired after last season at West Allegheny. You could call it a resignation because he didn’t know if he would coach again, even though he wanted to. A few months later, he took the Mt. Lebanon job. He also interviewed for the head coach’s job at Saint Vincent and an assistant’s job at Penn State, but got neither. He hated the idea of not coaching.
“I wanted to pull the skin off my body,” Palko said. “It’s hard not being attached to something. It’s like you always got picked to play on a team and then you don’t get picked.
“I feel invigorated [ at Mt. Lebanon]. Don’t get me wrong. I love the West Allegheny program and the kids mean so much. If you cut me open, I will always bleed red and gray. For whatever reason, it came to an end and now this is a new opportunity.” Nola found it extremely tough to stop coaching. So did others.
“I really miss the kids and fundamental football,” Hamilton said. “Preseason camp was something I really liked, even though most coaches don’t. Now, I get to go and criticize other coaches.”
Don Yannessa, who can still command a room with his wit and storytelling, retired from coaching in 2008. He is one coach who had no problem with retiring.
“I was in football since I was in eighth grade and thought I was a running back, until I played with all those Aliquippa guys and figured out I was an offensive guard,” Yannessa said. “Between playing and coaching, it was almost a half century. So whenever it was time not to go to camp, it was a wonderful experience.
“Now, I do whatever I want to do and when I want. That’s saying something.”
It’s interesting to hear what some of these coaches are doing in their retirement. McCurry and his wife, Beth, babysit their four grandchildren five days a week.
“I spent more time with them than I did my own two kids,” McCurry said with a laugh. “We potty- train them, do everything. But it’s great.”
Smith said he spends much more time taking care of his lawn. Nola still plays competitive softball at age 66 — and also babysits grandkids.
“My wine cellar is finally done,” Yannessa said. “I have 400 bottles in my house now. So we should be good for over a year. I go out to dinner a lot with my wife [ Elaine]. I know all the bartenders around Pittsburgh and they know me.”
When LeBeau talked to the coaches as a group, he told them, “the best coaching, without a doubt takes place at the high school level.”
Later LeBeau said, “I have always had the utmost respect for high school coaches, whether it’s the ones who have won a million championships like these guys, or the ones who just go to work every day to make their team better.
“I admire and respect what these guys have done in their lives. Not so much the championships, but the quality of life they’re provided for people around them.”