A Second Father to a Generation of Pioneers
Al Angelo, widely considered the most respected football coach in Philadelphia high school history, passed away on April 19, 2008, at the age of 77. He had spent more than a year in a courageous battle with cancer, and through all of it, his former players stayed close — calling, visiting, writing — the way they had for decades. To the Frankford men who wore his colors, Angelo wasn't just a coach. He was a second father, and for many, a first one.
He holds the city record for most championships won — 10 Public League titles in 21 seasons at Frankford High (1965-84, 1987) — and his numbers for winning percentage (.833) and wins-per-season (8.8) sit near the very top of every all-time list ever assembled for the city's coaches.
A Frankford High graduate himself, Angelo transferred to West Chester University after a shoulder injury ended his playing career at Mississippi State. He coached Frankford's junior varsity alongside his lifelong friend Vince McAneney in college, returned to Frankford as an assistant from 1962-64, and took over as head coach in 1965. He also chaired the school's boys physical education department. He never left.
Frankford isn't a coaches' team. It's a players' team. Players can always come back to see us and not feel like an outsider.
The Early Years: Learning to Win
Angelo's career did not begin with dynasty. Frankford went 4-5-1 in his first season and 4-5-1 again in 1968 — losing records in two of his first four years. Then something clicked. From 1969 through his final whistle in 1987, the Pioneers went 164-22-3. Angelo won his first Public League title in 1969, when blocking wingback Craig Henry caught three touchdown passes from Warren Mays in the title game, and another in 1971, when the Pioneers junked the wing-T for an I formation and handed Gary Hegh the ball 24 times. He piled up championships the way his players piled up two-a-day reps — the 1972 team beat Mastbaum on a fourth-quarter drive; the 1973 team scored three touchdowns in the final 3:52 to beat Southern 14-13; the 1975 team outran Mastbaum behind George Benson's 170-yard afternoon.
