Paul "Bart" Bartolomeo

Thirty-Three Seasons at the Same School

Paul "Bart" Bartolomeo coached football at the same South Philadelphia Catholic League school for 33 consecutive seasons from 1946 through 1978. The school name changed three times during his tenure — from South Catholic (also known as Southeast Catholic), to Bishop Neumann, to St. John Neumann — but the sideline and the coach did not. When he finally stepped down after Thanksgiving 1978, his 33 seasons at one school was the longest single-school tenure in Catholic League football history.

The Career Record

Bartolomeo retired with two Catholic League championships, one City Title, and one City Title tie. Until 1987 — when Al Angelo's Frankford Pioneers broke his record of 173 career wins — Bartolomeo held the city-leagues record for most career football victories. His record stood for nearly a decade.

The 1978 Finale

Bartolomeo told his team of his retirement decision after the Pirates' 20-12 win over Roman Catholic at A.A. Garthwaite Field in Conshohocken — his final game in the Catholic League. According to reports that leaked out later, he cried uncontrollably back at school that evening when the weight of the moment hit him. His actual final game came a week later, on Thanksgiving morning, against archrival Southern at 12th and Bigler in South Philadelphia.

The Record He Held

For nearly a decade after Bartolomeo's 1978 retirement, his 173 career wins stood as the most by any coach in Philadelphia city-leagues football history. Al Angelo — coaching at Frankford — finally passed him during the 1987 season, one of the most famous Public League football seasons ever (Frankford finished 12-0 that fall, the first Public League team to do so). By the time Angelo was done, he had 184 wins. But the record Bartolomeo held through most of the 1980s was an era-defining number — a testament to 33 years at the same bench, the same school, the same South Philadelphia neighborhood.