Former Bees Coach Joe Vadini Reflects on His Years in the District

In 1983, Joe Vadini announced he’d be leaving the Brecksville-Broadview Heights school district after 25 years as its head football coach.

Later that season, the team won its first state championship -- a "storybook finish," said his son, Joe Vadini Jr.

But Vadini's story was far from over. Vadini can still be found on the football field at 81. After leaving Brecksville, he went to coach at Padua Francisan High School for about 20 years. And for the past eight, he’s been helping out the son who followed in his footsteps, coaching junior high at North Royalton Middle School.

“I like coaching,” Vadini said. “I’ve been in it a long time.”

Vadini Jr., one of Vadini’s four children, is now the football and wrestling coach at North Royalton.

“I grew up on a football field with my father,” Vadini Jr. said.

Vadini Jr. said his father definitely inspired his career path, and he still calls him one of his heroes. As a kid, he knew his father was a good coach because he won a lot. As an adult, he’s awed by the players who have kept in touch and the people in the community who still comment on his accomplishments.

Principal Kirk Pavelich said he has enjoyed having Vadini with the program, and thinks it’s a good opportunity for the students to work with a coach of his “caliber and passion.”

“You can tell he still has such an incredible passion for the game, for the kids,” Pavelich said.

Vadini started in football as a player. He was a fullback and a running back who got his start at John Marshall in Cleveland—he’d later return for his first, post-service job—and went on to play at Morningside College and Mount Union.

Winning the state championship in Brecksville was definitely a highlight of his time there, but the people he had the chance to work with stand out in his stories, too.

Vadini recalled going to brunch with John David Crow Sr., a Heisman-trophy winner who was coaching for the Browns in the ’70s. Cross’ wife liked Brecksville, Vadini said, so they had moved to the city. But before Cross would let his son join them, he wanted to know if Vadini would coach him right.

Vadini must have passed his test because Cross’ son and the son of another Browns coach, Dick Wood, soon came to play for him.

“Boy, that was a big thing,” Vadini said.

And some of the players on his team over the years went on to college and the pros. He coached two star punters: Ray Stachowicz and . Tupa was also part of the state championship-winning team.

“He was a tough coach,” Tupa said, noting that people enjoyed playing for him, though. He was stern, but knew how to work with everyone’s personalities and get the team to play hard each and every game.

“That’s something special that not everyone can do,” Tupa said.