Local football coaching legend Stephans dies

When I was about 12 or so, I remember going to Jersey City State College football games at the old Jersey City Roosevelt Stadium with my friends to watch the great Gothic Knight teams of the early 1970s, teams that featured All-American players like current Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo at quarterback and Bruce Naszimento at running back. Later in life, Bruce became a dear close friend who I cherish. Anyway, the head coach of those great JCSC teams was a man by the name of Jack Stephans, a Hoboken native who was schooled at the University of South Carolina and Boston University, a man who had an incredible coaching career with stops at places like Fordham University, William Paterson as well as JCSC. It was with the Gothic Knights that Stephans had his best success. He led the Gothic Knights to two New Jersey Athletic Conference championships in an undefeated season in 1966 and then that fantastic year in 1972 with DiVincenzo and Naszimento. In his eight seasons at JCSC, Stephans posted an incredible 48-15 record. His last season at JCSC was his best, posting a 9-1 record, before heading off to William Paterson for three years (1975 through 1977), posting a 10-16-1 record with the Pioneers. Incredibly during the days that he was at Jersey City State, he was also the head coach at St. Joseph’s Regional in Montvale. Yes, Jack did double duty, coaching the high school kids right after school, then racing to Jersey City to coach the college guys at night. There’s a famous tale that said that Jack had to drive in a rental car from Montvale after a Green Knights’ game on Friday night to Buffalo in a snowstorm no less in order to coach the Gothic Knights the next morning at the famed War Memorial Stadium against Canisius. Jack didn’t particularly like to fly, so he drove up to Buffalo with two student/managers in an attempt to get there before kickoff. Now that’s dedication. In 1979, Stephans made the bold step to take over the famed head coaching position at Fordham, the same place that produced Vince Lombardi and the famed “Seven Blocks of Granite.” One of those famed linemen of college football folklore was Ed Franco, a Jersey City legend who I had the pleasure of working with at P.S. 27 School in the Heights during my days coaching Biddy basketball for the Jersey City Department of Recreation. There I was every day with a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, talking about his days at Fordham. It was a joy to be around Ed Franco every day. Stephans stayed at Fordham for two forgettable seasons and then bounced around New Jersey as an assistant football coach. In the late 1990s, Stephans then took on one of the biggest challenges of his coaching career, deciding to become the defensive coordinator at Weehawken High School under head coach Mike Guasconi. It was a program that was floundering severely, but Stephans wanted to be involved. In 2000, the unthinkable happened. The grandfather figure helped to lead Weehawken to a school-record eight wins, including a thrilling last-second win over New Milford in the opening round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group I state playoffs. It remains to this day as Weehawken’s lone victory in the state playoffs. At that time, I remember approaching Jack to introduce myself and tell him how much I admired him and those great days watching the Gothic Knights. But Jack already knew who I was and he told me that he admired me. It was the beginning of a good friendship.

Jack was soon inducted into the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame as deservedly so, for his days as both an athletes and a coach. We lost Jack last week. He was 82 years old. His son, Jason, reported to me that his Dad passed on “peacefully and on his own terms.” The Stephans family, wife Judy and children, were by his side as he left us. Jack Stephans is just another legend that we’ve lost in 2020. It’s just too sad for words. I’ll remember that gruff exterior that had a real soft heart deep inside. I’ll remember the gigantic mitts he had for hands and that a handshake could be crippling if one wasn’t paying attention. And I’ll remember the way he talked about football, like it was the love of his life, the way Shakespeare and Hemingway wrote about love and nature. It was a joy to be around Jack and he will be missed by the hundreds of young men he touched, mentored and molded on the gridiron. The late Jack Stephans will be waked Monday, Oct. 5 at the Becker Funeral Home in Westwood from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. The funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Our Lady of the Mother in Woodcliff Lake. Both locations are in Bergen County. God bless Jack Stephans, a truly great man with great football mind and the ability to coach the sport he loved.