The late Jack Emmanuel, coaching legend, fondly recalled by Biglerville Fans

Canners coaching legend, Emanuel, dies at 86

Posted: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 12:56 am

Canners coaching legend, Emanuel, dies at 86 BY ADRIAN MARTIN Times Sports Writer Gettysburg Times | 0 comments


One of the hardest duties a child must perform following the death of a parent is clearing out their belongings.


The shock of the loss is not yet fully realized, and the four walls filled with memories make it seem like the departed is still alive.

But the rummaging also evokes all the good memories, and such was the case for John Emanuel, whose father, former Biglerville High School head football coach Jack Emanuel, passed away on Sunday at the age of 86 after a long illness.

“I’ve run across letters from players thanking him for the affect he had on their lives, and a lot of those guys were from the ‘60s,” John said.

Jack coached some of the best football teams in Canner history during his 22 seasons at the helm. The only two non-shared league titles came under his watch in 1966 and 1971, when Biglerville was in the Blue Mountain League. The ‘66 squad remains the only undefeated Canner team as well, with a record of 8-0-2.

Those who played for him and worked with him will tell you that Jack wasn’t flashy or fiery, but he cared about his kids and he motivated them to play to their full potential.

“Working with him was an education for me because he knew football,” said former assistant coach Bill Celio, who joined Emanuel’s staff in that magical 1966 season. “A lot of times we didn’t necessarily have the best athletes, but we had the best players. They knew their job and they would do it.”

In addition to football, Emanuel was also a track and wrestling coach. After a fall full of Friday night lights, he could typically be found taking several kids to district and state track meets in the spring. He also helped out with the wrestling program. If there was talent to be found, Jack could bring it out.

“We had a tackle running a relay race,” Celio said, still in disbelief. “On the undefeated team, he took a quarterback and made him a flanker. He just made that change and it worked.”

If Jack got the most out of his players, it was because he received the same training and encouragement. Born in Coatesville, Pa., on Nov. 5, 1924, Jack was raised in Harrisburg and played defensive end at the former William Penn High School. He was coached by his father, Victor, who is member of both the Gettysburg College and Pennsylvania Sports Halls of Fame.

Jack served as a Marine in the Pacific during World War II, and then played football at Shippensburg Teaching College. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Bishop McDevitt, but he soon relocated to Biglerville. Even at that early stage, his coaching style was already established.

“He was fair, but stern,” John said.

“He was old school and brought a lot of traditions from Bishop McDevitt. He went to a lot of seminars and workshops and brought back what he knew. We ran the same offense for 20 years and we always won. Even if we were outmatched, it was always a close game. His teams were always good and always tough.”

Though Jack’s playbook was small, it was effective, and he was seen as a kind of trailblazer for the area.

“He was the first to run the ‘I’ formation and the first to run the 4-4 defense,” Celio said. “Jack always seemed to have the right idea of what was needed.”

John said Jack also introduced interval training to the track teams, and isometrics to the football teams, which drastically curtailed the number of injuries.

Sometimes, all the players needed was a swift kick in the rear, and Jack provided that as well.

“Jack was very strong-willed, and if you stepped out of line you knew it,” said Mike Haas, who played on the ‘71 championship team with John. “I remember a Saturday night game at Ship. For whatever reason, we usually didn’t play well on Saturdays. We were down a touchdown to Susquenita, but we were a better team. When we came in at halftime, (Jack) just tore into us. Then, we went out and scored three touchdowns in less than two minutes. I totally give his halftime speech the credit for the victory.”

Where there was discipline, there was also trust. Haas said Jack’s teams called their own offensive plays in the huddle, a practice that is seldom used today.

Jack also shared in his players’ anxieties on game night.

“After we won the title, I was in the coach’s office, and he always had a refrigerator full of Coca-Cola products that he’d hand out to the players,” Haas recalled. “He opened up the refrigerator and he was shaking so bad he couldn’t pick up the ball. I never realized the nerves that went through him.”

Haas has a much better understanding now. Following Jack’s example, he went into coaching, a job that has lasted more than three decades.

“When I started at Cocalico, I used a lot of the same drills,” Haas said. “Jack was a basic blocking and tackling coach.”

The Canners only had six losing seasons under Jack. After he left Biglerville, he briefly became an assistant for Sam Leedy at Gettysburg and helped the Warriors achieve a perfect 10-0 season in 1987.

In his later years, Jack was an assistant at West York and a member of a Masters swimming team. Even after he put away his whistle, Jack was never far from the football field.

“I coach at Columbia and we were in the district finals against Camp Hill a few years ago. I asked Jack to come see the game and he did,” said Haas, his voice breaking slightly with emotion. “I never had the chance to tell him how much that meant to me. As a player, I had so much respect and admiration for him.”

On Sept. 30, members of the 1971 Canner championship team will reunite and be recognized during halftime of Biglerville’s home game against Delone Catholic. Though the event was initially a 40-year anniversary, it has turned into a commemoration for Jack and all the lives he touched.

“If it was possible, we wanted to try and get him there, but it didn’t work out that way,” Haas said. “It’ll be a nice celebration.”

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http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2011/08/legendary_biglerville_coach_ja.html

Legendary Biglerville coach Jack Emanuel fondly remembered

Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 8:55 PM Updated: Thursday, September 01, 2011, 9:56 AM

By TIM LEONE, The Patriot-News The Patriot-News

Bill Celio took a lasting lesson from a decade of working as an assistant for legendary Biglerville High football coach Jack Emanuel.

“Try to stay calm,” Celio said. “When you’re blowing your stack, you’re not accomplishing anything. Just think things through. He was pretty easy going for the most part. A good guy off the field, too.”

Emanuel, also renowned as a track and field coach at Biglerville, died Sunday at 86.

Starting in 1958, he coached the football team for 22 years, winning Blue Mountain League championships in 1966 and 1971, and also did a stint as the school’s wrestling coach.

“He was very patient with the kids,” Celio said. “I can’t say never, but I don’t ever recall him chewing out a kid. He’d talk to them, maybe pull them out of a game for a play, and explain it to them. He might jump on the team as a whole, but he’d never single out an individual kid.

“He was big on fundamentals. It was blocking and tackling. He worked on blocking a lot. He said, ‘If you can block, you can tackle.’”

Son Mike Emanuel, a Harrisburg resident, and his three brothers all played for their father at Biglerville.

“It was a lot of old school,” Mike Emanuel said. “It was the fundamentals of football.”

But there was innovation, too. Emanuel installed the then-cutting-edge I-formation offense in 1966.

“They always said my dad had football players,” Mike Emanuel said, “but he rearranged their positions where they were better suited.”

Emanuel, a Marine who served in the Pacific during World War II, grew up in Harrisburg and played football for his father, Vic, at the former William Penn High School, graduating in 1943.

He played football at Shippensburg Teacher’s College and followed his father’s footsteps into a teaching and coaching career. He was a science teacher and also served as an assistant football coach at Bishop McDevitt and William Penn.

Vic Emanuel, a member of the Gettysburg College Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, played on the 1925 Pottsville Maroons team that was denied an NFL championship for playing an unauthorized exhibition game in Philadelphia.

“He always talked about how his dad got mad because he got cheated out of a championship,” Celio said.

Mike Emanuel said his grandfather played against Jim Thorpe.

“My grandfather said,” Mike Emanuel recalled, “‘If he came around my end, I’m sure I did tackle him.’”

Mike Emanuel said his late mother, Helen, also was instrumental in the Biglerville football program. She compiled statistics for her husband’s football games and had an eye for talent.

Emanuel is a member of the South Central/Adams County Hall of Fame. Celio joined his football staff in 1966 and went on to become Biglerville’s athletic director.

“He knew just about everything, I thought,” Celio said. “For the most part, he was pretty calm, though he could get fired up when the occasion moved him.”

Mike Emanuel also competed on his father’s track and field team. In one close meet, he recalled, he missed his first two pole vault attempts at 10 feet after having to pass at lower heights to run in the low hurdles.

“I don’t know if he had eyes in the back of his head,” Mike Emanuel said, “but he came running over and said, ‘You better make this third attempt.’ He was counting on the points. I remember that pretty clearly. Scared to death, but I made the jump.”
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