Football Family (eBook)

The Story of Jim Algeo and the Rare Breed of Lansdale

M. Bridget Algeo (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019 | 1. Auflage
300 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-5439-7392-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Come along for the ride with Coach Jim Algeo, his family, and the Rare Breed of Lansdale, one of Pennsylvania's most storied high school football traditions. In Football Family, readers are invited to join the nearly fifty-year journey as told by the fifth of his nine children. From her earliest memories as the child of a high school football coach, Bridget Algeo meanders through the celebrated career of one the state's most respected coaches, as well one of its strongest sports programs. Readers will travel with the Rare Breed, driven by its 'Faith, Family, Football' mantra, and their come-from-behind wins, miracle plays, Thanksgiving Day battles, quests for championship titles, and all things that bind fans of the unique experience that is high school football.

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Come along for the ride with Coach Jim Algeo, his family, and the Rare Breed of Lansdale, one of Pennsylvania's most storied high school football traditions. In Football Family, readers are invited to join the nearly fifty-year journey as told by the fifth of his nine children. From her earliest memories as the child of a high school football coach, Bridget Algeo meanders through the celebrated career of one the state's most respected coaches, as well one of its strongest sports programs. Readers will meet the Algeos of Lansdale, as well as their big Irish clan and their highly successful football family, the Rare Breed. Driven by the "e;Faith, Family, Football"e; mantra of a young boy with a dream to coach high school football, this memoir describes a love story on which a team was built. With come-from-behind wins, miracle plays, Thanksgiving Day battles, quests for championship titles, and all things that bind fans of the unique experience that is high school football, Football Family journeys through more than four decades of lasting memories. As readers will discover, Football Family, more than anything is not just about football and family, but a story of faith.

Textauszug

Foreword

By Mike Stern

Be prepared to laugh. Be prepared to cry. Be prepared to celebrate life and faith. Be prepared to love.

Whether you are a young student, a grizzled athletics coach or administrator, a loving, caring mom or dad, or someone who plays or enjoys football or any other sport, your heart will be caressed as you read this story about a very special family and the multitude of students and athletes whom their lives touched.

Football Family is a well-paced memoir about a special family – the Algeos of Lansdale, Pennsylvania — whose mother, father, sisters and brothers each follow God’s plan to serve others by working together. They put into play a winning team spirit, enabling them to become outstanding teachers, coaches, and active community contributors. They have touched and continue to positively impact so many other lives to make a profound, lasting and positive impact on literally tens of thousands of young people across three generations.

Football Family is also a compelling recapitulation about how a multi-generation family has jubilantly shared triumph while remaining emotionally dependent on one another in the stark face of horrible tragedy.

Beautifully written by Ms. Bridget Algeo – the fifth oldest of Jim and Mary Margaret “Mickey” Algeo’s nine children – Football Family is more than just a football story or an homage to the achievements of a legendary high school coach of the gridiron. It is an insightful celebration of a devout Catholic man who realized that God’s plan for him was to serve others, not as a person of the cloth, but as a giving, loving individual who used other types of “pulpits”... in the classroom, on the gridiron, and in the community to make a significant difference in others’ lives.

Coach Algeo’s success is a tribute to the devotion he put forward in his students, his athletes, and his wife and children. He played a significant role to help them become successful within his realm, and after they transitioned into college students and adults.

As a sportswriter who covered Lansdale Catholic athletics from the fall of 1977 through the spring of 1981, I saw first-hand how Coach Algeo made a profound impact on his student-athletes.

Because his student-athletes were well-served and became successful, Jim Algeo, Sr. has earned and has been recognized with a multitude of impressive honors.

The same year his 2004 Lansdale Catholic Crusaders competed for the Pennsylvania state championship, he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Four years later, he was named the second-ever Robert T. Clark Award winner at the 71st Annual Maxwell Football Club’s 2008 event.

A 2011 inductee into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Coach Algeo combined his passion for teaching and coaching with a father’s love. He spent a lifetime serving as a staunch ally and demanding leader of young people, coaxing and enabling his students and athletes to succeed in all of their endeavors.

His 295 victories in 44 years as head football coach at Lansdale Catholic High School rank Coach Algeo among the top 20 coaches in the entire state of Pennsylvania.

What adds even more to this compelling “feel good story” is that Mickey and Jim instilled these same qualities in their nine sons and daughters, several of whom have gone on to become teachers and coaches. And, those who went into business or related callings are regarded as solid “teammates” in those fields. Each child has made a significant impact on others, in the classroom, on the sporting turf or arena, in the boardroom, and in the community.

Perhaps Bridget put it best when she reflected on her upbringing. “I was raised on the concept of team. Not only within my family, but with the young ladies who worked alongside me as student-athletes to achieve a common goal and strive for excellence while shooting for championships. Team comes in so many forms, like a classroom full of kids undertaking a service project.”

Coach Algeo and his oldest child, Maggie Algeo deMarteleire, became the first father-daughter tandem to earn induction into the Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Sports Hall of Fame. Following in her dad’s footsteps, Mrs. deMarteleire built an impressive girls basketball program at North Penn High school in Lansdale. In her 15 seasons at the Lady Knights’ helm, Coach deMarteleire led the Crusaders to 10 PAC-10 titles, 15 district playoff berths, and seven attempts for the state championship. She ended her coaching career with a whopping 534 wins registered by young lady athletes from both Lansdale Catholic and North Penn.

Jim Algeo, Sr. also had the privilege of coaching each of his sons; Jim, Jr., Dan, and John Patrick in addition to his grandson, Mike deMarteleire, Jr. He also has coached with all four, in addition to his son-in-law, Mike deMarteleire, Sr., as part of his LC football staff. Two of his sons have advanced to coach successfully at the varsity high school level. Jim Algeo, Jr. is an assistant coach at Spring-Ford High School following a similar and lengthy stint at Pottsgrove High School. Danny became one of only two head coaches to win Catholic League football titles with different schools – at Roman Catholic in 1999 and Cardinal O’Hara in 2004.

In addition, Jim, Jr. and Mary Wilson’s daughter (Coach Algeo’s granddaughter), Shannon Algeo, recently completed her third season as head women’s lacrosse coach at Gwynedd Mercy University after a two-year stint as assistant coach at Marywood University in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

When speaking or writing about the Algeo family, you might say that the ball didn’t fall too far from the (kicking) tee.

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The “Rare Breed”

You will read the phrase “Rare Breed” throughout this story. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a “rare breed” is “a relatively rare group”. The website Rare Breed, LLC states that the concept of “Rare Breed” was born in 1968 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. It is a phrase that signifies the toughness, determination, and commitment made by student-athletes and coaches involved with the Crusaders’ football program.

I take that to mean that the group’s members are special…they possess virtues and skills that are both specific to the task at hand, and which many others cannot and do not possess.

By its very nature, the sport of football requires a certain mental and physical toughness to play, and an undying commitment to try, try again when it comes to game-planning against opponents who may be bigger in size and numbers, and more talented at key positions.

For me, being a “rare breed” type of athlete at Lansdale Catholic High meant someone who one who would run through a brick wall to make a tackle, throw a block, or reach the end zone without a second thought.

And that’s what I witnessed “back in the day.”

As a sportswriter for The Reporter (previously named The North Penn Reporter until its sale to Gannett Corporation in 1980) in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, I saw first-hand the “Rare Breed” spirit of LC football in every student-athlete and coach, and on every down in every game. As one Intercounty League rival school’s linemen put it following a tough loss to the Green and Gold, “Man, they just never quit. They play the game like every play is the most important one.”

This “Rare Breed” spirit is the embodiment of the school’s football program. It also reflects and represents the Algeo Football Family, and its members’ commitment to serving God, serving the school and community, and serving their fellow man on and off the gridiron.

I am pleased to share the following special moments, both from my experience of covering LC’s “Rare Breed” of football, as well as my treasured relationship with the Algeo Football Family.

*

A Relationship for the Gridiron…..and Beyond

It’s somewhat ironic that as a print and broadcast journalist, I have been able to intelligently cover organized football at a high level. As we shall see, I have Jim Algeo, Sr. to thank for that.

You see, I never played the game. Despite my large frame en route to becoming a 6-foot-1, 260-pound adult, I never endured or completed a block or tackle during an organized football game.

Fearful of the potential for physical and even mental injury with which the gridiron would surely punish me, my mom, Marlene “Mickey” Alper Stern, refused to sign the parent permission slip allowing me to play football for the Olney Eagles and later, at Olney High School in Philadelphia.

Our dad, Ray Stern (of blessed memory), went along with Mom despite the fact that he was a huge college and pro football fan who spent many a weekend day watching games unfold on the family television.

I did play high school varsity baseball; I made up for my lack of speed with a lack of range. I was a good hit, but klutzy defensive player. I could’ve served as a designated hitter, but in the early 1970s, the DH wasn’t yet a part...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.7.2019
• Vorwort: Mike Stern
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport
• ISBN-10: 1-5439-7392-2 / 1543973922
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5439-7392-1 / 9781543973921