Joe Ionta remembered for inspiring athletes, love of Plum track, cross country programs

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 10:51 AM

Dan Casarcia was eager to help coach.

When Casarcia joined the Plum track and field coaching staff in 1997, he was given a clipboard and told by Mustangs head coach Joe Ionta to write down each runner’s splits at the 1-mile mark. But when Casarcia reached the mile marker, he looked at the list and realized he wasn’t equipped to do the job.

“I assumed all the kids were on it,” Casarcia said. “There wasn’t a name on it. He wrote down all of their nicknames he had given them. I had no idea who the kids were.”

Ionta, 71, who died Tuesday, coached the Mustangs’ track and cross country teams in various capacities for more than 35 years, starting in 1979. He stayed in one place for so long because of his dedication to the school and the athletes.

Part of his process was giving everyone a nickname. Casarcia was dubbed “Coach C.”

While Casarcia served alongside Ionta, he saw how much the long-time coach cared for the program. When the Mustangs needed things, Ionta found a way to get them.

As a senior in 2009, Zachary Taylor qualified for the PIAA championships in the pole vault. But late in the season, Taylor’s pole broke.

“(Ionta) gave a lot of his money to the program,” Casarcia said. “A lot of the equipment he bought personally. When (Zach’s) pole broke, the school board said they couldn’t pay for it. Not long after, the pole showed up at the school. I think Joe paid for it. If the kids needed it, Joe would buy it.”

Diane (Sujansky) Taylor was impressed with how Ionta brought people into the program. Taylor, a 2003 Plum graduate who went on to swim and run at Lock Haven, originally went out only for cross country to help cross-train for swimming.

She ended up sticking with track, thanks partly to Ionta’s approach.

“He met athletes where they were,” Taylor said. “He knew everyone, so he was able to support us personally, emotionally and academically. He knew how to push everyone to be better, not just as athletes and student-athletes, but how to be better people.”

Ionta graduated from Lincoln High School in Ellwood City and attended Grove City College before working as a teacher and coach in the Plum district. Ionta retired from teaching 2012 but stayed on as a coach.

During Ionta’s time in charge of the program, Plum had more than 60 boys earn WPIAL medals in various events in track and field, with 25 state qualifying for states. On the girls side, the Mustangs had 12 state qualifiers in track and more than 20 WPIAL medalists.

Plum produced three individual state qualifiers for cross country on the girls side and 12 for the boys. The Mustangs boys cross country team qualified for states once.

Under Ionta, the Mustangs also won several section titles, including five by the boys track team, three by the girls cross country team, one by the boys cross country team and one by the girls track team.

“We had some very large teams. I remember there being a boys bus and a girls bus with three athletes per seat,” Casarcia said. “We had some elite athletes we coached, but he coached for everyone. You didn’t have to be the most talented person to be a part of his program.”

Adam Molinaro ran for Ionta at Plum. He also served as Ionta’s assistant before becoming the cross country coach from 2018-19. Molinaro is now the assistant cross country coach and head track and field coach at Northern Lebanon High School.

Molinaro credited for Ionta with getting him involved with distance running and track.

“I tried to find a sport that would benefit me and that I would actually enjoy,” Molinaro said. “I would see him at O’Block (Elementary School), and he would try to recruit me to come out for the team. Him being a joyous individual made me interested in the sport.”

Ionta was a tireless worker when it came to raising money for leukemia research. He helped put on a 5K/fun walk event, Stampede in the Park at Boyce, and raised more than $200,000 for the Hillman Center for Cancer Research. Ionta was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007.

Diane Taylor said Ionta gave her a blueprint for her coaching career. Taylor, who now lives in the North Hills, most recently was a volunteer swim coach for the Jewish Community Center. Before that, Taylor coached track and field cross country, middle school softball and middle school basketball in Virginia.

“He set high expectations for me for how to be with student-athletes when I became a coach,” Taylor said. “When he coached, we always did fun things afterward as a team, like have picnics. It made it feel special.”

Ionta is survived by his wife, Linda (Young) Ionta. A visitation will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Jobe Funeral Home in Turtle Creek, with a funeral service at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Good Shepherd Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Presbyterian Church of Pitcairn.

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