After more than six decades as a coach, player, and writer, my love for football has been extinguished

 … it has brought joy, friendship, and great relationships to me

This has been coming for a long time with me. When you reach a stage in life where you no longer care about something that you hold dear, it is time to say goodbye. 

So, in this challenging time, it is probably better for me to say goodbye to football than it has ever been. I realize that I have no desire to follow a sport that I have loved any longer. 

And while it has brought joy to me, it no longer does. 

Goes back to my dad

My love of sports was something that I inherited from my father. From the stories that he told to his playing baseball with me in the backyard, they were an important part of my life. 

While I never really wanted to enter coaching when I finished high school, fate intervened. A phone call led to my becoming the coach of a grade school football team, and ultimately, to realizing the joy of working to teach and nurture young people. 

My love of football was nourished in my younger years when I accompanied my dad on Saturday afternoons to the college games that he officiated. I saw dozens of campuses and football stadiums, so the seed was planted at a young age. 

From Pitt Stadium to Beaver Stadium to Indiana-Pa., to Clarion, to Carnegie Tech, to St. Vincent, to Grove City, to Waynesburg … I went all over Pennsylvania until I started playing in high school. 

Those opportunities afforded me are a special part of my life, a collage of memories and a tapestry of remembrances. 

Whether I did it as a coach in college, high school, or grade school, the joy was the same. 

Certainly, coaching also provides headaches at times, but even on the worst day of the worst season, I could point out the positives. 

Big-time sports have ruined it for me

However, that joy no longer exists. I find professional and college football at the higher level particularly reprehensible. The sport no longer provides lessons for young people like it used to, at least on the higher levels. 

Div. III sports, which I coached at St. Francis for many years, are great for young athletes. However, when the sports become more important than the academic mission of a school, then our country is in bad shape. 

And, we are in bad shape. But, I digress.

Steelers and Nittany Lions no longer special

My first love were the Steelers, though I have no idea why. When I started and was told to root for the Steelers, my answer was, “But, they never win.”

“They’re our team, just like the Pirates,” my dad would say to his 8-year-old son who was rooting for losers in the 1950s. 

I would be a late 20-something before those Steelers finally won a Super Bowl. That started some joyful seasons. Though the Pirates may be a happy 13-year-old in 1960.

As for college teams, I fell in love with the Pitt Panthers, but then matriculated at Penn State and became a Nittany Lion fan. Unfortunately, the Lions are not the love that they were for years. The Sandusky saga ended that.

As for the Steelers, my love has been dissipating for more than a decade. That started when they had a quarterback who was twice accused of rape, yet the team did nothing. 

Then they had a coach whom I loved at first for his old-time Chuck Noll discipline who turned out to be a horrible disciplinarian.

However, overall, I find no educationally-redeeming value in big-time college athletics. I find no socially-redeeming value in big-time professional athletics. 

Have even lost interest in high school ball

And, since I moved from Pennsylvania, I find little interest in high school football. 

Less than a decade ago I was serving as a color commentator on high school radio football broadcasts while simultaneously writing a story about the game. 

That has gone, but the positive memories have not. The players who have gone on in life and who have later told me how much the football experience meant to them will never be forgotten. 

Nor will the relationships with some great coaches in my life. The photo above of the St. Francis staff from about 42 years ago is an example of that. 

We had little money but a great deal of heart and camaraderie and friendship. That, too, will never be forgotten. 

As for football in the rest of my life, it will be minimal, with maybe some relatives playing the game in high school. Other than that, I have no desire to watch another game. 

Nevertheless, the game has brought a tremendous amount of satisfaction to me on a number of levels. Thanks to all who were part of that journey. That may end, but the contentment will not, which is the joy that I feel today.