Joe Naunchik remembered fondly as athlete, football coach after 40 years on area sidelines

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 | 5:30 PM

Previous Next

Bill Rometo was 5 when he first met Joe Naunchik, then a three-sport star at Plum High School.

“He was probably the best athlete to ever come out of Plum,” Rometo said of Naunchik, who was a football standout under Rometo’s father, Bill Rometo Sr.

“At that time, my dad coached football, basketball and baseball. He knew Joe really well. My dad would bring players home to do odd jobs and pay them. Joe was the one I recall who was there most often.

“I thought he was an older brother at one time. Joe and my dad were very close for many years.”

Naunchik, known for his 40 years as a football coach, including 25 as a head coach at Plum, Hempfield, Valley and Fox Chapel Area high schools, died Saturday at his home in Arnold. He died of a combination of kidney and heart issues, according to his niece, C.A. Kromer.

He was 86.

The younger Rometo began his coaching career as an assistant from 1975-78 on Naunchik’s staff at Plum.

“Joe was just so knowledgeable on the game of football, and I know for myself, I grew as a coach because of him and just learned so much in the years as an assistant,” he said.

“He was just so successful,” Rometo said. “He would go to different places, and within a year or so, would turn them around and have them in the playoffs fighting for championships. He was just an outstanding coach and an even better human being.”

John Regoli was a childhood friend who bonded with Naunchik through many years as youth baseball teammates and who stayed close as athletes together at Arizona State University. Regoli remembered him as a teacher of the game who got the most out of student-athletes.

“Joe was a successful coach who was so well respected in the football community. From time to time, names like Dan Marino and Billy Fralic from his days at Pitt and from other places would come up. He would look forward to getting phone calls from and seeing former coaches and coaching colleagues and athletes he coached.

“He was just so popular. Everyone who knew him liked him. He was basically a good person, and it was a privilege to know him. We were there for each other throughout our lives.”

Regoli and Naunchik’s friendship remained strong through many interactions, including those on the golf course at Hill Crest Country Club in Lower Burrell.

“We golfed almost every day together and probably set a record for how many rounds you could play in a year,” Regoli said.

Regoli said he last spoke with Naunchik a couple of days before he passed.

“We lost a lot of friends in the last few years, and rather than say they died, we said they got a tee time (in heaven),” Regoli said. “Joe called me from the hospital last week, and I asked how he was doing. He said, ‘I think I am getting a tee time,’ and I didn’t want to hear that.

“I told him I would talk to him when he got home, but (at the hospital) was the last time I talked to him. My wife and I brought over a nut bread to his house, and they told us he was resting, so I didn’t go in. Then we found out he passed about a half-hour later.”

Many over the past couple of days since his passing have fondly recalled moments from Naunchik’s life, including his stellar playing and coaching career at the high school, collegiate and professional levels.

The 1956 Plum graduate was the Alle-Kiski Back of the Year as a senior and led the Mustangs football team to an undefeated season.

He also set a WPIAL baseball record by striking out 20 batters in a seven-inning game.

Naunchik received a scholarship to play football at Arizona State under Frank Kush. While there, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and spent three years in the minor leagues before deciding to surrender his professional baseball goals. He finished his education at Fairmont State before starting his lengthy football coaching career.

Naunchik returned to Plum and served as an assistant coach before taking over the head coaching reins in 1970. In nine seasons with the Mustangs, he guided teams to three conference championships.

In all, he guided four WPIAL schools — Plum, Hempfield (1983-85), Valley (1986-90) and Fox Chapel (1991-97) — to the WPIAL playoffs. It is a WPIAL record he shares with several others.

Naunchik finished his high school coaching tenure 129-105-9 overall with five conference crowns.

Sam Albert, who recently resigned as the head coach at Kiski Area, recalled his early coaching days as an assistant under Naunchik at Valley.

“He was first class in everything he did,” said Albert, who, in 1991, rose to the Valley head coach position when Naunchik moved on to Fox Chapel. “I learned a lot of football from him and also a lot of lessons in life.”

The WPIAL matched up Valley and Fox Chapel for exhibition games in 1991 and 1992. The Vikings won both games.

“We were fortunate with how good we were, and Joe was rebuilding at Fox Chapel, so we ended up winning both games,” Albert said. “But it was just a good experience to see Joe and to always talk to him.

“I don’t know if I would’ve become the head coach at Valley without his assistance.”

Naunchik moved to the coaching ranks at Pitt for the 1979 season and coached the Panthers’ wide receivers and tight ends through 1983 under head coaches Jackie Sherrill and Foge Fazio.

“It was very important to be connected to Western Pennsylvania, and I always felt you should have some high school coaches on your staff,” said Sherrill, who won 50 games in five seasons at Pitt from 1997-81.

“I was very lucky to have been able to hire Joe Naunchik,” Sherrill said. “Joe was a natural fit, not only because of his knowledge of football in Western Pennsylvania, but also because of his stellar reputation in coaching.

“What he brought to the University of Pittsburgh was his ability to communicate with the players. The players just loved Joe. He was very soft-spoken. I never heard him raise his voice, but he was very definitive, and the players respected him.

“He got a lot out of the players he coached. He was able to push them to another level, one that they never thought they could get to.”

During Naunchik’s time at Pitt, the Panthers compiled a 42-7 record and played in the Fiesta, Gator, Sugar and Cotton bowls.

He coached two All-American receivers in Julius Dawkins and Dwight Collins.

Naunchik was in the Superdome in New Orleans to witness Panthers tight end John Brown, a Burrell graduate and football star with the Bucs, make one of the most dramatic catches in Pitt football history.

Brown’s go-ahead 33-yard TD reception in the end zone from quarterback Dan Marino with 35 seconds left was the difference in a 24-20 victory over Georgia in the 1982 Sugar Bowl.

Brown and Naunchik remained close since those collegiate days up until Brown’s death at age 58 in 2017.

“With the way he was able to connect with his players, even after he stepped away (from Pitt), they would always call him and go to see him,” Sherrill said.

“He was invited to almost every function the players had. The biggest honor you can have as a coach is for years later to have them want to maintain a connection and a relationship. That is one of the great rewards as a coach.”

Naunchik was inducted into the the Alle-Kiski Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, was a member of the inaugural class of the Plum High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 and was enshrined in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, East Boros Chapter, in 2012.

Kromer said her uncle’s love of sports and being knowledgeable on what was happening in the sports world hadn’t waned, even up to the time of his passing.

“It was all sports,” she said. “Up until the very end, he was watching all the football games that had been on. He was very interested in following the Pirates and other baseball games. He was very interested in Pitt, naturally, because he coached there. He kept up with everything and read sports online every day. His love of sports never left him.”

Friends will be received from 1 to 3 and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Rusiewicz of Lower Burrell Funeral Home, 3124 Leechburg Road at Alder Street.

An Orthodox funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 1150 Leishman Ave., New Kensington. Burial will follow in Greenwood Memorial Park, Lower Burrell. A Trisagion service will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Terry, and his son, Daniel.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to a charity in Naunchik’s name.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.