High Schools - Frankford High football coach Al Angelo takes Frankford El straight to heaven

Anything else would have been unacceptable.

When Angelo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, several groups, knowing that disease's grim mortality rate, moved quickly to honor him, to embrace him "one last time" and let him know how much he was loved and appreciated.

That his farewell tour became extended, turning into a joyous celebration of his impact both during and after his 21-year stretch (1965-84, '87) as Frankford High's masterful football coach, should have surprised no one.

Angelo died Saturday at age 77, roughly 17 months after being diagnosed with an illness that often claims its victims in one-third that time, even less.

Go hard until the final whistle.

Just over a year ago, even a baseball-themed organization of former players/coaches/umpires saw fit to honor Angelo, who holds the city-leagues' record for championships (10) and can be found near the very top of lists for total wins (184, with 39 losses and five ties), winning percentage (.833) and wins per season (8.8) as well.

He said that day, "I've accepted what I have really well. I never say, 'Why me?' I feel like this: 'I have it. Now what can I do about it?' I've been able to keep my focus and remain upbeat. I haven't been despondent. They wanted to give me medication for depression. I told them, 'I'm OK. I don't need it.' I'm happy."

A shade before last Christmas, he said, "My spirits are always up . . . I keep coming up with things to look forward to. Two weeks to this. Three weeks to that."

Alfred "Skip" Angelo, who quarterbacked the Pioneers to Public League titles in 1972 and '73, said his dad's spirits were still high as late as Thursday night, even as his health was rapidly deteriorating.

"He was laughing and joking, like always," Skip said.

"We also talked about how much he appreciated all the calls and cards and letters he got. We're talking hundreds and hundreds. That meant so much to him. He was so proud that people reached out to him. It kept him going."

Angelo grew up near Frankford and Mulberry and played for Frankford (class of 1949) under his mentor, Worthington "Odie" Surrick. He was an assistant under Surrick from 1962 to '64, and then replaced him.

He created immediate waves by appointing a non-Frankford grad, Ron Howley, as his line coach and ditching Surrick's single-wing offense in favor of the wing-T, which Frankford still runs to this day.

An article in a neighborhood paper suggested Angelo should be hung from the Frankford El.

With a laugh, Angelo always claimed there was also a reference in that story to Benedict Arnold.

Success was not immediate. But once Angelo found his groove in the '69 season, the Pioneers were dynamite. His final 17 teams went 164-22-2 (.881) and his '87 squad roared to a 12-0 mark (still the best in Pub history) and what was then a city record for points (454).

Drawing X's-and-O's was only one of Angelo's strengths. He outfitted his squads in multiple sets of uniforms, maintained an immaculate, pro-style locker room and produced an impressive program listing every starter, by positions, since '65 and every Pioneer, in alphabetical order, all the way back to the program's beginnings in 1914.

He got goose bumps every time he remembered how star lineman Walter Parrish, shortly after transferring from Olney in '78, likened Frankford football to a fairy tale. And he loved that he'd been able to make time stand still in Frankford's locker room, thanks to the respect paid to assorted traditions.

Howley, as famed for teaching line play as was Angelo at running the total show, was Angelo's sidekick for the first 20 seasons of his head-coaching stint.

When asked about Angelo in '82, Howley said, "No other coach puts in the effort Al does. Other coaches know the game as well, but they don't drill their teams as hard or as long, or demand as much. When you demand of the kids, you're demanding of yourself, too. You have to put in the same kind of effort. The kids recognize that. That's why they respond."

Mike Capriotti, Frankford's current coach, was the captain of that '69 team title team and, like Al, went on to West Chester.

"I wanted to be just like him," Capriotti said. "He was a great example for everyone. He always had a good thing to say to you. When we had those forfeits last season, I went to see him and he perked me right back up.

"As a Frankford football player, you never stopped being special to him. If you came back to watch practice, he'd stop for a second, introduce you to everyone, say great things about you."

Warren Mays, the QB of that '69 team and now a minister, said of Angelo, "He was a great inspiration in my life."

Harry Gutelius, a dear friend for 40 years (he was taught by Al, then taught Skip), said he will most miss Angelo's "joyous spirit." He added, "Al was the finest all-around combination of coach/person I have known."

Inspired by another friend's observation that Angelo always looked like a little kid on Christmas morning on the first day of practice, Gutelius for years, as August melted away, sent Christmas cards to Al's home on the 4600 block of Pilling Street (a few blocks west of Frankford and Orthodox).

"I'd address them to Al 'Santa' Angelo," Gutelius said. "I always told him I wished there'd be another nice championship trophy under his tree when that 'other Christmas' comes around. He loved those cards."

Perhaps Angelo's best talent was to make others feel as though they were legends.

"Everybody just enjoyed speaking with him," Skip said. "He was a great listener. He loved hearing how people were doing."

Dave Sanderson, the head man at Hatboro-Horsham High, got his coaching start under Angelo after starring for him as a center.

"Mr. Angelo echoed the family values instilled by our parents," Sanderson said. "He taught us the simple concept that through hard work and determination success would be achieved. He taught us to conduct ourselves as gentlemen both on and off the field and that anything worth achieving was worth an honest and honorable effort."

Joe Schiavo, a classmate and part of his wedding, said of Angelo, "Everyone has a special group of friends. Al's the kind you put in another category. I never heard him bad-mouth a player, a coach, anyone. He's just in a different class. If you know him, you know what I'm talking about."

What was likely the most compelling example of his players' respect for Angelo occurred after a loss to Northeast in the '83 finale.

The Vikings' fans stormed across the field. Standing patiently, waiting to shake hands, the Pioneers were subjected to high-volume insults, fingers wagged within inches of facemasks, and a few even fired gobs of mud.

Angelo told his players to remain still and not respond.

Every kid obeyed. Every last one.

Among Angelo's survivors are his wife Janet, and daughters Arlene, Alisa and Annette. In retirement, Al and his wife lived in Ocean City, N.J., and later in nearby Seaville. Services will be held Thursday, 11:30 a.m., at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, Roosevelt Boulevard and Cheltenham Avenue. The viewing begins at 8:30. The funeral procession will pass Frankford's stadium en route to St. Dominic Cemetery. *