Renaming Hoboken's JFK Stadium as Louis M. Taglieri, Jr. Stadium

Anyone who knew my friend Louie Taglieri knew that he adored two people outside of his family, namely Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and John F. Kennedy.

In fact, Lou’s adoration for JFK went as far as to have photos of JFK hanging in his home and his office.

It’s something that didn’t get by Hoboken Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Johnson, who in her tenure as the Hoboken schools chief got to know Taglieri and love him like everyone else who knew him, including yours truly.

“Lou became one of my dearest friends,” Johnson said of Taglieri, who died tragically only two weeks ago while vacationing with his family in Virginia Beach. “He welcomed me to Hoboken with open arms. When I first met him, we connected right away. It felt like we knew each other for years. He was the kind of guy who never missed a holiday or a birthday. He would call and say, ‘How are you doing? How are you holding up?’”

Johnson said that she could relate well to Taglieri, the long-time Hoboken football coach, because she was a former athlete herself, having been a 1,000-point scorer in basketball, as well as a volleyball and softball player at North Arlington High School as Christine Morrison.

When Taglieri died, Johnson wanted to do something spectacular to honor Taglieri’s memory.

“I said that we had to do something to honor him,” Johnson said. “We had to do something to make his wife (Gabriela) and his children (Trey, Taylar and Shayne) proud.”

So Johnson called Hoboken Board of Education President Sharyn Angley and Vice-President Tom Klutfel to inform them of her idea – to rename JFK Stadium in Hoboken as the Louis M. Taglieri, Jr. Stadium and Veterans Field.

“JFK was Lou’s hero,” said Johnson, who also knew of movements on social media to have the stadium renamed in honor of Taglieri. “I thought to myself that this was perfect. I thought of how Lou loved JFK and how Lou impacted the lives of so many kids. There was a connection between Lou and JFK. With no disrespect to JFK and his legacy, Lou had such an impact on the faculty, the students. He had such a love for Hoboken. Let’s honor Lou genuinely right now.”

So on Tuesday night, Johnson introduced the idea to rename the stadium after our beloved friend. The rest of the Board of Education agreed and sometime very soon, there will be an official ceremony to permanently honor Taglieri with the renaming of the stadium after Louie.
“I talked to Gabby and I told her that we’re doing it,” Johnson said. “She said that she wanted to have it when there will be no limitations on the use of the stadium, because she didn’t want to see kids moved from playing there. I’ll take her cue for the best time for it.”

Johnson spoke of Taglieri’s importance to the district, not just as a coach, but as a mentor.

“I gained so much respect for him watching what he did for kids,” Johnson said of the 59-year-old Taglieri. “He was the most loyal guy. He was Hoboken. He worked so hard finding his boys a home in college. He had the opportunity to mentor kids and change kids’ lives. That’s the kind of person you want to be more like.”

So wholeheartedly agree. Louie was someone who I always loved and admired through our 40-plus years of friendship. We will all miss him terribly, but at least we will have a great way to remember him every time Hoboken enjoys another version of “Friday Night Lights.”