Jeannette football team to wear helmet decals to honor late coach Mucci
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Thursday, September 2, 2021 | 8:14 PM
Jeannette will wear special helmet decals with the initials "JM" in honor of late Jayhawks football coach Joe Mucci.
Former Jeannette head football coach Joe Mucci is reflected in a trophy that was given to him by the Jeanette community to celebrate his team’s 1971 WPIAL championship. Former Jeannette coaches Ray Reitz and John Danton were players on that team that defeated Beaver 14-7.
Thinned-out Jeannette will honor the memory of one of its all-time great football coaches Friday night as players wear special “JM” helmet decals for the late Joe Mucci.
Jeannette (0-1) hosts Sto-Rox (1-0) at 7 p.m. at McKee Stadium.
The Jayhawks’ coach from 1968-85, Mucci died last December from complications caused by covid-19. He was 86.
“Coach Mucci was one of the biggest influences on me,” Jeannette coach Roy Hall said. “Still to this day I use a lot of what he taught me. Not just him but all of the coaches that were under him at one time.”
Mucci, beloved by the community, had a record of 150-33-3, and won 11 conference titles and WPIAL titles in 1971, ’81 and ’83.
A member of several halls of fame, Mucci also coached at Greensburg Central Catholic.
Asked what Mucci would think of Jeannette’s decline in roster size and the departure of several transfers, Hall said, “He would still give his all.”
Jeannette will play without senior two-way lineman Justin Shank, who is out with a knee injury he sustained last week. He was the lone returning starter from Jeannette’s WPIAL championship and state runner-up team of 2020.
“We are starting two sophomores and freshmen, a band member at left tackle, and a first-year starter at guard,” Hall said. “People think we’re crying. We’re not crying. That’s just the facts.”
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Jeannette
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