MOUNT CARMEL — Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, 86, of 335 West Ave., passed away Wednesday, July 2, 2014, at home surrounded by his family.
He was born Aug. 25, 1927, at home on Oak Street in Kulpmont, a son of the late Joseph J. and Gertrude (Paskevich) Diminick. On Oct. 7, 1950, in St. Edward's Church, Shamokin, he married the former Ann Louise C. Reichwein who survives.
Jazz was a lifelong resident of the Kulpmont, Mount Carmel area.
He was a 1946 graduate of Kulpmont High School, Boston College in 1950, and received his master's degree from Penn State University.
Jazz began a career as an educator, coach and PIAA Sports Official that spanned 55 years. He was best known as the head football coach at Mount Carmel Area from 1962-1992, where he compiled 287 victories, making him the winningest football coach in Pennsylvania history at that time. He also coached basketball, track and field, and baseball. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Boston College Sports Hall of Fame, and the National High School Federation Sports Hall of Fame. His greatest football achievement, however, was sending over 200 boys away to college, mostly on full scholarships.
He was a member of Divine Redeemer Church, formerly St. Peter's Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks and the Holy Name Society.
He was blessed with six sons and daughters-in-law, as well as 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He had great pleasure in coaching all of his sons in both football and track. All six sons played football in college.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Gary, his wife Patricia (Basso), of Essex Junction, Vt., and their children, Dr. Noah, his wife Lindsay, and daughter, Lucy, Erin McGaughnea, her husband, Chris, and Sean; Dr. Kenneth, his wife, Lori, of Lemoyne, and their children, Joseph, Alyssa, Michael and Kiersten; Joseph, of Orlando, Fla., and his children, Tyler, Lauren and Carolina; Edward, his wife, Elizabeth, of Kingsport, Tenn., and their children, Bradley, Chad and Matthew; John, his wife, Kristin, of Mountville, and their children, Luke, Conner and Paige; Dr. Michael, his wife, Katie, of Lynchburg, Va., and their children, Hunter, Spencer and Taylor; a sister, Alma Mannello and her husband, Charles, of Kulpmont; his niece, Cindy, nephew, Charles, and their families.
Jazz is well known for his contributions to the athletic community however, his family will remember their Pap best for the great joy he received from being with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchild whether it was the holidays, at the beach or just together "on the Avenue." Pap was always the coach not only in athletics but in all aspects of life. He taught us humility, patience, respect, hard work and the importance of family. He gave us the gift of witnessing true love in his relationship with his best friend, and love of his life of 64 years, our Nana. We are truly blessed and grateful for all he has given us and for having him as the "head coach" of our family.
A viewing will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, with a prayer service at 8, in the Richard F. Beierschmitt Memorial Auditorium, Mount Carmel Jr. Sr. High School, 600 W. Fifth St., Mount Carmel. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church, 300 West Avenue, Mount Carmel with the Rev. Martin O. Moran III as celebrant. Anyone wishing to attend the funeral Mass should meet at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Kulpmont.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Ed Romance Chapter Sports Hall of Fame, Jazz Diminick Scholarship Fund, UNB Bank, 1 N. Oak St., Mount Carmel, PA 17851, or to Divine Redeemer Church, 438 West Ave., Mount Carmel, PA 17851.
The C.J. Lucas Funeral Home, Inc., 27 N. Vine St., Mount Carmel, is handling the arrangements.
To send condolences to the family, please visit www.cjlucasfuneralhome.com. Published in The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pennsylvania July 4,2014
©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
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MOUNT CARMEL - Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, Mount Carmel Area's head football coach from 1962-1992, died Wednesday night.
Diminick had a record of 267-81-7 in his 31 seasons at Mount Carmel, and overall won 290 games as a scholastic coach, the most in the state of Pennsylvania at the time he finished his career.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division championships and three overall EC titles, in 1969, 1972 and 1973. His teams won 10 or more games 13 times, including three unbeaten 12-0 seasons. His teams produces eight first team All-State players and 15 Big 33 players.
He also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years, and was widely known as a basketball and track official.
Published in July 3rd, 2014 edition of the Shamokin News-Item.
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Football: Legendary MCA coach Diminick dead at 86
By Harold Raker
For The Daily Item--Sunbury, Pennsylvania
MOUNT CARMEL — Mount Carmel football coach Carmen DeFrancesco does not remember a time in his life that legendary former Red Tornadoes coach Joe "Jazz" Diminick was not a part of it.
DeFrancesco, reached Thursday night to comment about Diminick's death late Wednesday, said "This is a sad day. A very sad day."
DeFrancesco was a family friend since his childhood, then played for Diminick for four years, later served as an assistant to Diminick at Mount Carmel and eventually enlisted him to serve as an assistant at Danville, Shamokin and Upper Dauphin.
DeFrancesco said everything about his coaching style and philosophy was a direct result of having played and coached with Diminick.
And why not? When Diminick ended his 31-year head coaching career 22 years ago, he had the most wins of any coach in Pennsylvania.
He was 267-81-7 as the head coach at Mount Carmel from 1962 through 1992 and had 290 wins overall. Before Mount Carmel, he coached at Susquenita and Coal Township.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division titles along with three overall EC crowns. He had three unbeaten (12-0) seasons and he coached eight first-team all-state players as well as 15 members of the Big 33 teams.
All six of his sons — Gary, Ken, Joe, Ed, John and Michael — played for their father, who also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years and served as a PIAA basketball and track official.
DeFrancesco played on the same team with Gary and coached John and Michael.
DeFrancesco said the joke back in his junior season (1969) was that, with a backfield of DeFrancesco, Henry Hynoski Sr. and Gary Diminick, that Jazz didn't have to do much coaching.
But DeFrancesco said Diminick indeed was a great coach, and one who was ahead of his time.
"What stuck out in my mind, he was so far ahead of the curve in those days. He would adapt his system to his players; never tried to stuff us into one system," DeFrancesco said.
"If we had a great quarterback, we threw the ball and back in the 60s no one was throwing the ball. He just adapted everything to the talent he had," DeFrancesco added.
DeFrancesco said he always had a special relationship with the coach, but especially in the later years when their roles were reversed and Jazz was coaching under DeFrancesco.
"We traveled together and it was a relationship that blossomed into a friendship," he said. "Someone once said ‘you can count your friends on one hand and have fingers left over.' He was one of those two or three people that I could call my closest friend."
When word got out earlier this week of the coach's condition and then again when his death became known, dozens of former players, coaches and football fans posted comments about the longtime coach.
Among them was former Danville star Kyle Wintersteen, who wrote "How fortunate we were at Danville to play for the legend. We're better men because of it and we also won a hell of a lot of football games."
DeFrancesco said he was not surprised that Wintersteen would offer such remarks, noting that Diminick was Wintersteen's position coach at defensive end. "They developed a really close relationship," he said.
Another fan posted, "He was the evil empire back in the day, coming out for the game in that Mt. Carmel warm-up suit. A true legend."
Added Tony Kaledas, "What a family. Jazz as a coach and his sons as players. What a Dream Team."
In addition to his widow, Anne Louise, the coach is survived by his sons Gary, of Vermont; Ken, of Camp Hill; Joe, of Florida; John, of Lancaster; and Michael, of Virginia.
Published July 3,2014 ©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
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'Jazz' meant much to the whole region.
Published: July 6, 2014 in the Shamokin News Item
Written by Doyle Deitz, sports writer
MOUNT CARMEL-Retired sportswriter Doyle Dietz first covered coach Jazz Diminick's Mount Carmel football teams in 1968 as a correspondent for the now-defunct Tamaqua Courier and covered at least one Red Tornadoes game every year since then as a member of the staff at the Pottsville Republican and Reading Eagle and as a correspondent for the News-Item and Republican Herald until this past season. When reached on while on a fishing trip in the Thousand Islands he shared these memories:
As a high school student at Danville I thought of Coach Diminick as a basketball coach, as we defeated Coal Township in the 1963 District 4 Class A championship game, and as a track coach because of competing against the Red Tornadoes in the District 4 championship meet. Then, in 1968, while covering football games for the Tamaqua Courier I really got to know the guy who was "Jazz." Clearly, this was the one coach who put coal region football on the map and brought statewide, and even national, attention to his program and the area.
More than any coach, Jazz brought coal region football into the modern era with his offensive schemes that were years ahead of their time and unique defenses that attacked the strength of opponents and hid the weak areas of his teams. Mount Carmel football was special, and a major factor that made it so was that in addition of coaching the offensive and defensive teams, Diminick made the term "special teams" a part of every game story.
Onside kickoffs, end-around runs, option passes by both running backs and receivers, fake punts, third-down punts and reverses on kickoff and punt returns were as much a stable of Diminick's game plans as sweeps and slant passes. One of the joys sportswriters had covering a Mount Carmel game late in his career was watching him dust off some of these plays when going up against a coaching newcomer.
Probably the best compliment I ever heard given to Jazz was by Berwick coach George Curry, who when asked to explain the success of the Bulldogs said: "All we did was take what Jazz had already been doing and added a few things." And one of my biggest joys was getting to know John Diminick and Coz Curry and hearing them tell what I like to call "Jazz and George stories" about playing for their fathers.
My all-time favorite was told by John while we were on a fishing charter and concerned his interception return for the winning touchdown in the Silver Bowl in the season opener in a game that matched the Tornadoes against Whitehall in a battle of state-ranked teams. With time running out and Whitehall in control of the game with the ball deep in Mount Carmel territory, perhaps it was the thought of state rankings that prompted the Zephyrs to attempt a pass for a pile-on touchdown, only to have John Diminick intercept the ball and return it the length of the field for a Mount Carmel victory.
You know, if the situation and score had been reversed, you just know that "Jazz" would have done the same thing," John Diminick said.
As much as I enjoyed covering Jazz and his teams, what I value most is the friendship my wife and I developed in later years with him and Ann Louise. We will never again see a coach like him so far as making his own program the best it could be, while making his opponents adopt his methods if they wanted to be competitive.
************************************************************
'Jazz' remembered.
BY WES HERRMANN (SPORTS WRITER [email protected])Published: July 9, 2014 in the Shamokin News-Item
MOUNT CARMEL - Mount Carmel Area football coach Carmen DeFrancesco only kisses a few people when he says goodbye. Among them, his mother, father and son.
But in the last six months of Joseph "Jazz" Diminick's life, DeFrancesco would kiss the former Red Tornadoes coach when the two said their goodbyes.
The day Diminick died, when DeFrancesco leaned in for a kiss on the cheek, Diminick instead kissed him on the lips and told the current Red Tornadoes' coach that he loved him.
The influence Diminick had on his family, players and area brought many to pay their respects at his funeral Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church in Mount Carmel.
DeFrancesco, along with Diminick's son, Ken, speaking for all six of his sons, and grandson Noah Diminick gave eulogies.
Besides the final days of Diminick's life, DeFrancesco spoke of one of the first times he met Diminick.
"That moment I put on a red uniform in 1964, I thought I was
going into something special," DeFrancesco said.
DeFrancesco said that his experience playing for Diminick was so much more than that, which led to a life as an assistant with Diminick, then as the head coach with Diminick helping as an assistant.
During that time Diminick taught DeFrancesco a life lesson that will be hanging on a sign from DeFrancesco's office door next year.
"He would rather be respected than liked," DeFrancesco said. "If you want a short recipe for disaster, try to please everyone."
But Diminick's life was much more than just football and DeFrancesco saw that over the years he spent with him in different roles.
"He was honest. He was wise. He was humble. He was oh, so much fun. He was kind, gentle," DeFrancesco said. "He was a man of great faith."
Ken and Michael Diminick also spoke of the man away from the football field and how he shaped the lives of his sons and grandchildren.
Ken said that Diminick's life could be summed up into four words: faith, family, friends and football. Ken also added that if Diminick had written a book it would have been titled "I Am Last," explaining that his father put everybody else in front of him.
Diminick also had a strong influence on his grandchildren.
"You motivated us," Michael Diminick said. "You taught us to overcome adversity with integrity."
The influences Diminick had on other people, in his career and outside, will be the lasting memory of the former coach.
"His success as a teacher, coach and parent is a testament to how he lived his life," DeFrancesco said.
He was born Aug. 25, 1927, at home on Oak Street in Kulpmont, a son of the late Joseph J. and Gertrude (Paskevich) Diminick. On Oct. 7, 1950, in St. Edward's Church, Shamokin, he married the former Ann Louise C. Reichwein who survives.
Jazz was a lifelong resident of the Kulpmont, Mount Carmel area.
He was a 1946 graduate of Kulpmont High School, Boston College in 1950, and received his master's degree from Penn State University.
Jazz began a career as an educator, coach and PIAA Sports Official that spanned 55 years. He was best known as the head football coach at Mount Carmel Area from 1962-1992, where he compiled 287 victories, making him the winningest football coach in Pennsylvania history at that time. He also coached basketball, track and field, and baseball. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Boston College Sports Hall of Fame, and the National High School Federation Sports Hall of Fame. His greatest football achievement, however, was sending over 200 boys away to college, mostly on full scholarships.
He was a member of Divine Redeemer Church, formerly St. Peter's Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks and the Holy Name Society.
He was blessed with six sons and daughters-in-law, as well as 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He had great pleasure in coaching all of his sons in both football and track. All six sons played football in college.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Gary, his wife Patricia (Basso), of Essex Junction, Vt., and their children, Dr. Noah, his wife Lindsay, and daughter, Lucy, Erin McGaughnea, her husband, Chris, and Sean; Dr. Kenneth, his wife, Lori, of Lemoyne, and their children, Joseph, Alyssa, Michael and Kiersten; Joseph, of Orlando, Fla., and his children, Tyler, Lauren and Carolina; Edward, his wife, Elizabeth, of Kingsport, Tenn., and their children, Bradley, Chad and Matthew; John, his wife, Kristin, of Mountville, and their children, Luke, Conner and Paige; Dr. Michael, his wife, Katie, of Lynchburg, Va., and their children, Hunter, Spencer and Taylor; a sister, Alma Mannello and her husband, Charles, of Kulpmont; his niece, Cindy, nephew, Charles, and their families.
Jazz is well known for his contributions to the athletic community however, his family will remember their Pap best for the great joy he received from being with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchild whether it was the holidays, at the beach or just together "on the Avenue." Pap was always the coach not only in athletics but in all aspects of life. He taught us humility, patience, respect, hard work and the importance of family. He gave us the gift of witnessing true love in his relationship with his best friend, and love of his life of 64 years, our Nana. We are truly blessed and grateful for all he has given us and for having him as the "head coach" of our family.
A viewing will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, with a prayer service at 8, in the Richard F. Beierschmitt Memorial Auditorium, Mount Carmel Jr. Sr. High School, 600 W. Fifth St., Mount Carmel. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church, 300 West Avenue, Mount Carmel with the Rev. Martin O. Moran III as celebrant. Anyone wishing to attend the funeral Mass should meet at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Kulpmont.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Ed Romance Chapter Sports Hall of Fame, Jazz Diminick Scholarship Fund, UNB Bank, 1 N. Oak St., Mount Carmel, PA 17851, or to Divine Redeemer Church, 438 West Ave., Mount Carmel, PA 17851.
The C.J. Lucas Funeral Home, Inc., 27 N. Vine St., Mount Carmel, is handling the arrangements.
To send condolences to the family, please visit www.cjlucasfuneralhome.com. Published in The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pennsylvania July 4,2014
©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
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MOUNT CARMEL - Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, Mount Carmel Area's head football coach from 1962-1992, died Wednesday night.
Diminick had a record of 267-81-7 in his 31 seasons at Mount Carmel, and overall won 290 games as a scholastic coach, the most in the state of Pennsylvania at the time he finished his career.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division championships and three overall EC titles, in 1969, 1972 and 1973. His teams won 10 or more games 13 times, including three unbeaten 12-0 seasons. His teams produces eight first team All-State players and 15 Big 33 players.
He also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years, and was widely known as a basketball and track official.
Published in July 3rd, 2014 edition of the Shamokin News-Item.
************************************************************
Football: Legendary MCA coach Diminick dead at 86
By Harold Raker
For The Daily Item--Sunbury, Pennsylvania
MOUNT CARMEL — Mount Carmel football coach Carmen DeFrancesco does not remember a time in his life that legendary former Red Tornadoes coach Joe "Jazz" Diminick was not a part of it.
DeFrancesco, reached Thursday night to comment about Diminick's death late Wednesday, said "This is a sad day. A very sad day."
DeFrancesco was a family friend since his childhood, then played for Diminick for four years, later served as an assistant to Diminick at Mount Carmel and eventually enlisted him to serve as an assistant at Danville, Shamokin and Upper Dauphin.
DeFrancesco said everything about his coaching style and philosophy was a direct result of having played and coached with Diminick.
And why not? When Diminick ended his 31-year head coaching career 22 years ago, he had the most wins of any coach in Pennsylvania.
He was 267-81-7 as the head coach at Mount Carmel from 1962 through 1992 and had 290 wins overall. Before Mount Carmel, he coached at Susquenita and Coal Township.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division titles along with three overall EC crowns. He had three unbeaten (12-0) seasons and he coached eight first-team all-state players as well as 15 members of the Big 33 teams.
All six of his sons — Gary, Ken, Joe, Ed, John and Michael — played for their father, who also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years and served as a PIAA basketball and track official.
DeFrancesco played on the same team with Gary and coached John and Michael.
DeFrancesco said the joke back in his junior season (1969) was that, with a backfield of DeFrancesco, Henry Hynoski Sr. and Gary Diminick, that Jazz didn't have to do much coaching.
But DeFrancesco said Diminick indeed was a great coach, and one who was ahead of his time.
"What stuck out in my mind, he was so far ahead of the curve in those days. He would adapt his system to his players; never tried to stuff us into one system," DeFrancesco said.
"If we had a great quarterback, we threw the ball and back in the 60s no one was throwing the ball. He just adapted everything to the talent he had," DeFrancesco added.
DeFrancesco said he always had a special relationship with the coach, but especially in the later years when their roles were reversed and Jazz was coaching under DeFrancesco.
"We traveled together and it was a relationship that blossomed into a friendship," he said. "Someone once said ‘you can count your friends on one hand and have fingers left over.' He was one of those two or three people that I could call my closest friend."
When word got out earlier this week of the coach's condition and then again when his death became known, dozens of former players, coaches and football fans posted comments about the longtime coach.
Among them was former Danville star Kyle Wintersteen, who wrote "How fortunate we were at Danville to play for the legend. We're better men because of it and we also won a hell of a lot of football games."
DeFrancesco said he was not surprised that Wintersteen would offer such remarks, noting that Diminick was Wintersteen's position coach at defensive end. "They developed a really close relationship," he said.
Another fan posted, "He was the evil empire back in the day, coming out for the game in that Mt. Carmel warm-up suit. A true legend."
Added Tony Kaledas, "What a family. Jazz as a coach and his sons as players. What a Dream Team."
In addition to his widow, Anne Louise, the coach is survived by his sons Gary, of Vermont; Ken, of Camp Hill; Joe, of Florida; John, of Lancaster; and Michael, of Virginia.
Published July 3,2014 ©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
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'Jazz' meant much to the whole region.
Published: July 6, 2014 in the Shamokin News Item
Written by Doyle Deitz, sports writer
MOUNT CARMEL-Retired sportswriter Doyle Dietz first covered coach Jazz Diminick's Mount Carmel football teams in 1968 as a correspondent for the now-defunct Tamaqua Courier and covered at least one Red Tornadoes game every year since then as a member of the staff at the Pottsville Republican and Reading Eagle and as a correspondent for the News-Item and Republican Herald until this past season. When reached on while on a fishing trip in the Thousand Islands he shared these memories:
As a high school student at Danville I thought of Coach Diminick as a basketball coach, as we defeated Coal Township in the 1963 District 4 Class A championship game, and as a track coach because of competing against the Red Tornadoes in the District 4 championship meet. Then, in 1968, while covering football games for the Tamaqua Courier I really got to know the guy who was "Jazz." Clearly, this was the one coach who put coal region football on the map and brought statewide, and even national, attention to his program and the area.
More than any coach, Jazz brought coal region football into the modern era with his offensive schemes that were years ahead of their time and unique defenses that attacked the strength of opponents and hid the weak areas of his teams. Mount Carmel football was special, and a major factor that made it so was that in addition of coaching the offensive and defensive teams, Diminick made the term "special teams" a part of every game story.
Onside kickoffs, end-around runs, option passes by both running backs and receivers, fake punts, third-down punts and reverses on kickoff and punt returns were as much a stable of Diminick's game plans as sweeps and slant passes. One of the joys sportswriters had covering a Mount Carmel game late in his career was watching him dust off some of these plays when going up against a coaching newcomer.
Probably the best compliment I ever heard given to Jazz was by Berwick coach George Curry, who when asked to explain the success of the Bulldogs said: "All we did was take what Jazz had already been doing and added a few things." And one of my biggest joys was getting to know John Diminick and Coz Curry and hearing them tell what I like to call "Jazz and George stories" about playing for their fathers.
My all-time favorite was told by John while we were on a fishing charter and concerned his interception return for the winning touchdown in the Silver Bowl in the season opener in a game that matched the Tornadoes against Whitehall in a battle of state-ranked teams. With time running out and Whitehall in control of the game with the ball deep in Mount Carmel territory, perhaps it was the thought of state rankings that prompted the Zephyrs to attempt a pass for a pile-on touchdown, only to have John Diminick intercept the ball and return it the length of the field for a Mount Carmel victory.
You know, if the situation and score had been reversed, you just know that "Jazz" would have done the same thing," John Diminick said.
As much as I enjoyed covering Jazz and his teams, what I value most is the friendship my wife and I developed in later years with him and Ann Louise. We will never again see a coach like him so far as making his own program the best it could be, while making his opponents adopt his methods if they wanted to be competitive.
************************************************************
'Jazz' remembered.
BY WES HERRMANN (SPORTS WRITER [email protected])Published: July 9, 2014 in the Shamokin News-Item
MOUNT CARMEL - Mount Carmel Area football coach Carmen DeFrancesco only kisses a few people when he says goodbye. Among them, his mother, father and son.
But in the last six months of Joseph "Jazz" Diminick's life, DeFrancesco would kiss the former Red Tornadoes coach when the two said their goodbyes.
The day Diminick died, when DeFrancesco leaned in for a kiss on the cheek, Diminick instead kissed him on the lips and told the current Red Tornadoes' coach that he loved him.
The influence Diminick had on his family, players and area brought many to pay their respects at his funeral Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church in Mount Carmel.
DeFrancesco, along with Diminick's son, Ken, speaking for all six of his sons, and grandson Noah Diminick gave eulogies.
Besides the final days of Diminick's life, DeFrancesco spoke of one of the first times he met Diminick.
"That moment I put on a red uniform in 1964, I thought I was
going into something special," DeFrancesco said.
DeFrancesco said that his experience playing for Diminick was so much more than that, which led to a life as an assistant with Diminick, then as the head coach with Diminick helping as an assistant.
During that time Diminick taught DeFrancesco a life lesson that will be hanging on a sign from DeFrancesco's office door next year.
"He would rather be respected than liked," DeFrancesco said. "If you want a short recipe for disaster, try to please everyone."
But Diminick's life was much more than just football and DeFrancesco saw that over the years he spent with him in different roles.
"He was honest. He was wise. He was humble. He was oh, so much fun. He was kind, gentle," DeFrancesco said. "He was a man of great faith."
Ken and Michael Diminick also spoke of the man away from the football field and how he shaped the lives of his sons and grandchildren.
Ken said that Diminick's life could be summed up into four words: faith, family, friends and football. Ken also added that if Diminick had written a book it would have been titled "I Am Last," explaining that his father put everybody else in front of him.
Diminick also had a strong influence on his grandchildren.
"You motivated us," Michael Diminick said. "You taught us to overcome adversity with integrity."
The influences Diminick had on other people, in his career and outside, will be the lasting memory of the former coach.
"His success as a teacher, coach and parent is a testament to how he lived his life," DeFrancesco said.
MOUNT CARMEL — Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, 86, of 335 West Ave., passed away Wednesday, July 2, 2014, at home surrounded by his family.
He was born Aug. 25, 1927, at home on Oak Street in Kulpmont, a son of the late Joseph J. and Gertrude (Paskevich) Diminick. On Oct. 7, 1950, in St. Edward's Church, Shamokin, he married the former Ann Louise C. Reichwein who survives.
Jazz was a lifelong resident of the Kulpmont, Mount Carmel area.
He was a 1946 graduate of Kulpmont High School, Boston College in 1950, and received his master's degree from Penn State University.
Jazz began a career as an educator, coach and PIAA Sports Official that spanned 55 years. He was best known as the head football coach at Mount Carmel Area from 1962-1992, where he compiled 287 victories, making him the winningest football coach in Pennsylvania history at that time. He also coached basketball, track and field, and baseball. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Boston College Sports Hall of Fame, and the National High School Federation Sports Hall of Fame. His greatest football achievement, however, was sending over 200 boys away to college, mostly on full scholarships.
He was a member of Divine Redeemer Church, formerly St. Peter's Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks and the Holy Name Society.
He was blessed with six sons and daughters-in-law, as well as 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He had great pleasure in coaching all of his sons in both football and track. All six sons played football in college.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Gary, his wife Patricia (Basso), of Essex Junction, Vt., and their children, Dr. Noah, his wife Lindsay, and daughter, Lucy, Erin McGaughnea, her husband, Chris, and Sean; Dr. Kenneth, his wife, Lori, of Lemoyne, and their children, Joseph, Alyssa, Michael and Kiersten; Joseph, of Orlando, Fla., and his children, Tyler, Lauren and Carolina; Edward, his wife, Elizabeth, of Kingsport, Tenn., and their children, Bradley, Chad and Matthew; John, his wife, Kristin, of Mountville, and their children, Luke, Conner and Paige; Dr. Michael, his wife, Katie, of Lynchburg, Va., and their children, Hunter, Spencer and Taylor; a sister, Alma Mannello and her husband, Charles, of Kulpmont; his niece, Cindy, nephew, Charles, and their families.
Jazz is well known for his contributions to the athletic community however, his family will remember their Pap best for the great joy he received from being with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchild whether it was the holidays, at the beach or just together "on the Avenue." Pap was always the coach not only in athletics but in all aspects of life. He taught us humility, patience, respect, hard work and the importance of family. He gave us the gift of witnessing true love in his relationship with his best friend, and love of his life of 64 years, our Nana. We are truly blessed and grateful for all he has given us and for having him as the "head coach" of our family.
A viewing will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, with a prayer service at 8, in the Richard F. Beierschmitt Memorial Auditorium, Mount Carmel Jr. Sr. High School, 600 W. Fifth St., Mount Carmel. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church, 300 West Avenue, Mount Carmel with the Rev. Martin O. Moran III as celebrant. Anyone wishing to attend the funeral Mass should meet at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Kulpmont.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Ed Romance Chapter Sports Hall of Fame, Jazz Diminick Scholarship Fund, UNB Bank, 1 N. Oak St., Mount Carmel, PA 17851, or to Divine Redeemer Church, 438 West Ave., Mount Carmel, PA 17851.
The C.J. Lucas Funeral Home, Inc., 27 N. Vine St., Mount Carmel, is handling the arrangements.
To send condolences to the family, please visit www.cjlucasfuneralhome.com. Published in The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pennsylvania July 4,2014
©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
************************************************************
MOUNT CARMEL - Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, Mount Carmel Area's head football coach from 1962-1992, died Wednesday night.
Diminick had a record of 267-81-7 in his 31 seasons at Mount Carmel, and overall won 290 games as a scholastic coach, the most in the state of Pennsylvania at the time he finished his career.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division championships and three overall EC titles, in 1969, 1972 and 1973. His teams won 10 or more games 13 times, including three unbeaten 12-0 seasons. His teams produces eight first team All-State players and 15 Big 33 players.
He also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years, and was widely known as a basketball and track official.
Published in July 3rd, 2014 edition of the Shamokin News-Item.
************************************************************
Football: Legendary MCA coach Diminick dead at 86
By Harold Raker
For The Daily Item--Sunbury, Pennsylvania
MOUNT CARMEL — Mount Carmel football coach Carmen DeFrancesco does not remember a time in his life that legendary former Red Tornadoes coach Joe "Jazz" Diminick was not a part of it.
DeFrancesco, reached Thursday night to comment about Diminick's death late Wednesday, said "This is a sad day. A very sad day."
DeFrancesco was a family friend since his childhood, then played for Diminick for four years, later served as an assistant to Diminick at Mount Carmel and eventually enlisted him to serve as an assistant at Danville, Shamokin and Upper Dauphin.
DeFrancesco said everything about his coaching style and philosophy was a direct result of having played and coached with Diminick.
And why not? When Diminick ended his 31-year head coaching career 22 years ago, he had the most wins of any coach in Pennsylvania.
He was 267-81-7 as the head coach at Mount Carmel from 1962 through 1992 and had 290 wins overall. Before Mount Carmel, he coached at Susquenita and Coal Township.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division titles along with three overall EC crowns. He had three unbeaten (12-0) seasons and he coached eight first-team all-state players as well as 15 members of the Big 33 teams.
All six of his sons — Gary, Ken, Joe, Ed, John and Michael — played for their father, who also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years and served as a PIAA basketball and track official.
DeFrancesco played on the same team with Gary and coached John and Michael.
DeFrancesco said the joke back in his junior season (1969) was that, with a backfield of DeFrancesco, Henry Hynoski Sr. and Gary Diminick, that Jazz didn't have to do much coaching.
But DeFrancesco said Diminick indeed was a great coach, and one who was ahead of his time.
"What stuck out in my mind, he was so far ahead of the curve in those days. He would adapt his system to his players; never tried to stuff us into one system," DeFrancesco said.
"If we had a great quarterback, we threw the ball and back in the 60s no one was throwing the ball. He just adapted everything to the talent he had," DeFrancesco added.
DeFrancesco said he always had a special relationship with the coach, but especially in the later years when their roles were reversed and Jazz was coaching under DeFrancesco.
"We traveled together and it was a relationship that blossomed into a friendship," he said. "Someone once said ‘you can count your friends on one hand and have fingers left over.' He was one of those two or three people that I could call my closest friend."
When word got out earlier this week of the coach's condition and then again when his death became known, dozens of former players, coaches and football fans posted comments about the longtime coach.
Among them was former Danville star Kyle Wintersteen, who wrote "How fortunate we were at Danville to play for the legend. We're better men because of it and we also won a hell of a lot of football games."
DeFrancesco said he was not surprised that Wintersteen would offer such remarks, noting that Diminick was Wintersteen's position coach at defensive end. "They developed a really close relationship," he said.
Another fan posted, "He was the evil empire back in the day, coming out for the game in that Mt. Carmel warm-up suit. A true legend."
Added Tony Kaledas, "What a family. Jazz as a coach and his sons as players. What a Dream Team."
In addition to his widow, Anne Louise, the coach is survived by his sons Gary, of Vermont; Ken, of Camp Hill; Joe, of Florida; John, of Lancaster; and Michael, of Virginia.
Published July 3,2014 ©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
************************************************************
'Jazz' meant much to the whole region.
Published: July 6, 2014 in the Shamokin News Item
Written by Doyle Deitz, sports writer
MOUNT CARMEL-Retired sportswriter Doyle Dietz first covered coach Jazz Diminick's Mount Carmel football teams in 1968 as a correspondent for the now-defunct Tamaqua Courier and covered at least one Red Tornadoes game every year since then as a member of the staff at the Pottsville Republican and Reading Eagle and as a correspondent for the News-Item and Republican Herald until this past season. When reached on while on a fishing trip in the Thousand Islands he shared these memories:
As a high school student at Danville I thought of Coach Diminick as a basketball coach, as we defeated Coal Township in the 1963 District 4 Class A championship game, and as a track coach because of competing against the Red Tornadoes in the District 4 championship meet. Then, in 1968, while covering football games for the Tamaqua Courier I really got to know the guy who was "Jazz." Clearly, this was the one coach who put coal region football on the map and brought statewide, and even national, attention to his program and the area.
More than any coach, Jazz brought coal region football into the modern era with his offensive schemes that were years ahead of their time and unique defenses that attacked the strength of opponents and hid the weak areas of his teams. Mount Carmel football was special, and a major factor that made it so was that in addition of coaching the offensive and defensive teams, Diminick made the term "special teams" a part of every game story.
Onside kickoffs, end-around runs, option passes by both running backs and receivers, fake punts, third-down punts and reverses on kickoff and punt returns were as much a stable of Diminick's game plans as sweeps and slant passes. One of the joys sportswriters had covering a Mount Carmel game late in his career was watching him dust off some of these plays when going up against a coaching newcomer.
Probably the best compliment I ever heard given to Jazz was by Berwick coach George Curry, who when asked to explain the success of the Bulldogs said: "All we did was take what Jazz had already been doing and added a few things." And one of my biggest joys was getting to know John Diminick and Coz Curry and hearing them tell what I like to call "Jazz and George stories" about playing for their fathers.
My all-time favorite was told by John while we were on a fishing charter and concerned his interception return for the winning touchdown in the Silver Bowl in the season opener in a game that matched the Tornadoes against Whitehall in a battle of state-ranked teams. With time running out and Whitehall in control of the game with the ball deep in Mount Carmel territory, perhaps it was the thought of state rankings that prompted the Zephyrs to attempt a pass for a pile-on touchdown, only to have John Diminick intercept the ball and return it the length of the field for a Mount Carmel victory.
You know, if the situation and score had been reversed, you just know that "Jazz" would have done the same thing," John Diminick said.
As much as I enjoyed covering Jazz and his teams, what I value most is the friendship my wife and I developed in later years with him and Ann Louise. We will never again see a coach like him so far as making his own program the best it could be, while making his opponents adopt his methods if they wanted to be competitive.
************************************************************
'Jazz' remembered.
BY WES HERRMANN (SPORTS WRITER [email protected])Published: July 9, 2014 in the Shamokin News-Item
MOUNT CARMEL - Mount Carmel Area football coach Carmen DeFrancesco only kisses a few people when he says goodbye. Among them, his mother, father and son.
But in the last six months of Joseph "Jazz" Diminick's life, DeFrancesco would kiss the former Red Tornadoes coach when the two said their goodbyes.
The day Diminick died, when DeFrancesco leaned in for a kiss on the cheek, Diminick instead kissed him on the lips and told the current Red Tornadoes' coach that he loved him.
The influence Diminick had on his family, players and area brought many to pay their respects at his funeral Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church in Mount Carmel.
DeFrancesco, along with Diminick's son, Ken, speaking for all six of his sons, and grandson Noah Diminick gave eulogies.
Besides the final days of Diminick's life, DeFrancesco spoke of one of the first times he met Diminick.
"That moment I put on a red uniform in 1964, I thought I was
going into something special," DeFrancesco said.
DeFrancesco said that his experience playing for Diminick was so much more than that, which led to a life as an assistant with Diminick, then as the head coach with Diminick helping as an assistant.
During that time Diminick taught DeFrancesco a life lesson that will be hanging on a sign from DeFrancesco's office door next year.
"He would rather be respected than liked," DeFrancesco said. "If you want a short recipe for disaster, try to please everyone."
But Diminick's life was much more than just football and DeFrancesco saw that over the years he spent with him in different roles.
"He was honest. He was wise. He was humble. He was oh, so much fun. He was kind, gentle," DeFrancesco said. "He was a man of great faith."
Ken and Michael Diminick also spoke of the man away from the football field and how he shaped the lives of his sons and grandchildren.
Ken said that Diminick's life could be summed up into four words: faith, family, friends and football. Ken also added that if Diminick had written a book it would have been titled "I Am Last," explaining that his father put everybody else in front of him.
Diminick also had a strong influence on his grandchildren.
"You motivated us," Michael Diminick said. "You taught us to overcome adversity with integrity."
The influences Diminick had on other people, in his career and outside, will be the lasting memory of the former coach.
"His success as a teacher, coach and parent is a testament to how he lived his life," DeFrancesco said.
He was born Aug. 25, 1927, at home on Oak Street in Kulpmont, a son of the late Joseph J. and Gertrude (Paskevich) Diminick. On Oct. 7, 1950, in St. Edward's Church, Shamokin, he married the former Ann Louise C. Reichwein who survives.
Jazz was a lifelong resident of the Kulpmont, Mount Carmel area.
He was a 1946 graduate of Kulpmont High School, Boston College in 1950, and received his master's degree from Penn State University.
Jazz began a career as an educator, coach and PIAA Sports Official that spanned 55 years. He was best known as the head football coach at Mount Carmel Area from 1962-1992, where he compiled 287 victories, making him the winningest football coach in Pennsylvania history at that time. He also coached basketball, track and field, and baseball. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Football Coaches Hall of Fame, Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Boston College Sports Hall of Fame, and the National High School Federation Sports Hall of Fame. His greatest football achievement, however, was sending over 200 boys away to college, mostly on full scholarships.
He was a member of Divine Redeemer Church, formerly St. Peter's Church, Knights of Columbus, Elks and the Holy Name Society.
He was blessed with six sons and daughters-in-law, as well as 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He had great pleasure in coaching all of his sons in both football and track. All six sons played football in college.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Gary, his wife Patricia (Basso), of Essex Junction, Vt., and their children, Dr. Noah, his wife Lindsay, and daughter, Lucy, Erin McGaughnea, her husband, Chris, and Sean; Dr. Kenneth, his wife, Lori, of Lemoyne, and their children, Joseph, Alyssa, Michael and Kiersten; Joseph, of Orlando, Fla., and his children, Tyler, Lauren and Carolina; Edward, his wife, Elizabeth, of Kingsport, Tenn., and their children, Bradley, Chad and Matthew; John, his wife, Kristin, of Mountville, and their children, Luke, Conner and Paige; Dr. Michael, his wife, Katie, of Lynchburg, Va., and their children, Hunter, Spencer and Taylor; a sister, Alma Mannello and her husband, Charles, of Kulpmont; his niece, Cindy, nephew, Charles, and their families.
Jazz is well known for his contributions to the athletic community however, his family will remember their Pap best for the great joy he received from being with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchild whether it was the holidays, at the beach or just together "on the Avenue." Pap was always the coach not only in athletics but in all aspects of life. He taught us humility, patience, respect, hard work and the importance of family. He gave us the gift of witnessing true love in his relationship with his best friend, and love of his life of 64 years, our Nana. We are truly blessed and grateful for all he has given us and for having him as the "head coach" of our family.
A viewing will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, with a prayer service at 8, in the Richard F. Beierschmitt Memorial Auditorium, Mount Carmel Jr. Sr. High School, 600 W. Fifth St., Mount Carmel. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church, 300 West Avenue, Mount Carmel with the Rev. Martin O. Moran III as celebrant. Anyone wishing to attend the funeral Mass should meet at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Kulpmont.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Ed Romance Chapter Sports Hall of Fame, Jazz Diminick Scholarship Fund, UNB Bank, 1 N. Oak St., Mount Carmel, PA 17851, or to Divine Redeemer Church, 438 West Ave., Mount Carmel, PA 17851.
The C.J. Lucas Funeral Home, Inc., 27 N. Vine St., Mount Carmel, is handling the arrangements.
To send condolences to the family, please visit www.cjlucasfuneralhome.com. Published in The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pennsylvania July 4,2014
©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
************************************************************
MOUNT CARMEL - Joseph "Jazz" Diminick, Mount Carmel Area's head football coach from 1962-1992, died Wednesday night.
Diminick had a record of 267-81-7 in his 31 seasons at Mount Carmel, and overall won 290 games as a scholastic coach, the most in the state of Pennsylvania at the time he finished his career.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division championships and three overall EC titles, in 1969, 1972 and 1973. His teams won 10 or more games 13 times, including three unbeaten 12-0 seasons. His teams produces eight first team All-State players and 15 Big 33 players.
He also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years, and was widely known as a basketball and track official.
Published in July 3rd, 2014 edition of the Shamokin News-Item.
************************************************************
Football: Legendary MCA coach Diminick dead at 86
By Harold Raker
For The Daily Item--Sunbury, Pennsylvania
MOUNT CARMEL — Mount Carmel football coach Carmen DeFrancesco does not remember a time in his life that legendary former Red Tornadoes coach Joe "Jazz" Diminick was not a part of it.
DeFrancesco, reached Thursday night to comment about Diminick's death late Wednesday, said "This is a sad day. A very sad day."
DeFrancesco was a family friend since his childhood, then played for Diminick for four years, later served as an assistant to Diminick at Mount Carmel and eventually enlisted him to serve as an assistant at Danville, Shamokin and Upper Dauphin.
DeFrancesco said everything about his coaching style and philosophy was a direct result of having played and coached with Diminick.
And why not? When Diminick ended his 31-year head coaching career 22 years ago, he had the most wins of any coach in Pennsylvania.
He was 267-81-7 as the head coach at Mount Carmel from 1962 through 1992 and had 290 wins overall. Before Mount Carmel, he coached at Susquenita and Coal Township.
Diminick's teams won five Eastern Conference Southern Division titles along with three overall EC crowns. He had three unbeaten (12-0) seasons and he coached eight first-team all-state players as well as 15 members of the Big 33 teams.
All six of his sons — Gary, Ken, Joe, Ed, John and Michael — played for their father, who also coached track and field at Mount Carmel for many years and served as a PIAA basketball and track official.
DeFrancesco played on the same team with Gary and coached John and Michael.
DeFrancesco said the joke back in his junior season (1969) was that, with a backfield of DeFrancesco, Henry Hynoski Sr. and Gary Diminick, that Jazz didn't have to do much coaching.
But DeFrancesco said Diminick indeed was a great coach, and one who was ahead of his time.
"What stuck out in my mind, he was so far ahead of the curve in those days. He would adapt his system to his players; never tried to stuff us into one system," DeFrancesco said.
"If we had a great quarterback, we threw the ball and back in the 60s no one was throwing the ball. He just adapted everything to the talent he had," DeFrancesco added.
DeFrancesco said he always had a special relationship with the coach, but especially in the later years when their roles were reversed and Jazz was coaching under DeFrancesco.
"We traveled together and it was a relationship that blossomed into a friendship," he said. "Someone once said ‘you can count your friends on one hand and have fingers left over.' He was one of those two or three people that I could call my closest friend."
When word got out earlier this week of the coach's condition and then again when his death became known, dozens of former players, coaches and football fans posted comments about the longtime coach.
Among them was former Danville star Kyle Wintersteen, who wrote "How fortunate we were at Danville to play for the legend. We're better men because of it and we also won a hell of a lot of football games."
DeFrancesco said he was not surprised that Wintersteen would offer such remarks, noting that Diminick was Wintersteen's position coach at defensive end. "They developed a really close relationship," he said.
Another fan posted, "He was the evil empire back in the day, coming out for the game in that Mt. Carmel warm-up suit. A true legend."
Added Tony Kaledas, "What a family. Jazz as a coach and his sons as players. What a Dream Team."
In addition to his widow, Anne Louise, the coach is survived by his sons Gary, of Vermont; Ken, of Camp Hill; Joe, of Florida; John, of Lancaster; and Michael, of Virginia.
Published July 3,2014 ©2014 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI
************************************************************
'Jazz' meant much to the whole region.
Published: July 6, 2014 in the Shamokin News Item
Written by Doyle Deitz, sports writer
MOUNT CARMEL-Retired sportswriter Doyle Dietz first covered coach Jazz Diminick's Mount Carmel football teams in 1968 as a correspondent for the now-defunct Tamaqua Courier and covered at least one Red Tornadoes game every year since then as a member of the staff at the Pottsville Republican and Reading Eagle and as a correspondent for the News-Item and Republican Herald until this past season. When reached on while on a fishing trip in the Thousand Islands he shared these memories:
As a high school student at Danville I thought of Coach Diminick as a basketball coach, as we defeated Coal Township in the 1963 District 4 Class A championship game, and as a track coach because of competing against the Red Tornadoes in the District 4 championship meet. Then, in 1968, while covering football games for the Tamaqua Courier I really got to know the guy who was "Jazz." Clearly, this was the one coach who put coal region football on the map and brought statewide, and even national, attention to his program and the area.
More than any coach, Jazz brought coal region football into the modern era with his offensive schemes that were years ahead of their time and unique defenses that attacked the strength of opponents and hid the weak areas of his teams. Mount Carmel football was special, and a major factor that made it so was that in addition of coaching the offensive and defensive teams, Diminick made the term "special teams" a part of every game story.
Onside kickoffs, end-around runs, option passes by both running backs and receivers, fake punts, third-down punts and reverses on kickoff and punt returns were as much a stable of Diminick's game plans as sweeps and slant passes. One of the joys sportswriters had covering a Mount Carmel game late in his career was watching him dust off some of these plays when going up against a coaching newcomer.
Probably the best compliment I ever heard given to Jazz was by Berwick coach George Curry, who when asked to explain the success of the Bulldogs said: "All we did was take what Jazz had already been doing and added a few things." And one of my biggest joys was getting to know John Diminick and Coz Curry and hearing them tell what I like to call "Jazz and George stories" about playing for their fathers.
My all-time favorite was told by John while we were on a fishing charter and concerned his interception return for the winning touchdown in the Silver Bowl in the season opener in a game that matched the Tornadoes against Whitehall in a battle of state-ranked teams. With time running out and Whitehall in control of the game with the ball deep in Mount Carmel territory, perhaps it was the thought of state rankings that prompted the Zephyrs to attempt a pass for a pile-on touchdown, only to have John Diminick intercept the ball and return it the length of the field for a Mount Carmel victory.
You know, if the situation and score had been reversed, you just know that "Jazz" would have done the same thing," John Diminick said.
As much as I enjoyed covering Jazz and his teams, what I value most is the friendship my wife and I developed in later years with him and Ann Louise. We will never again see a coach like him so far as making his own program the best it could be, while making his opponents adopt his methods if they wanted to be competitive.
************************************************************
'Jazz' remembered.
BY WES HERRMANN (SPORTS WRITER [email protected])Published: July 9, 2014 in the Shamokin News-Item
MOUNT CARMEL - Mount Carmel Area football coach Carmen DeFrancesco only kisses a few people when he says goodbye. Among them, his mother, father and son.
But in the last six months of Joseph "Jazz" Diminick's life, DeFrancesco would kiss the former Red Tornadoes coach when the two said their goodbyes.
The day Diminick died, when DeFrancesco leaned in for a kiss on the cheek, Diminick instead kissed him on the lips and told the current Red Tornadoes' coach that he loved him.
The influence Diminick had on his family, players and area brought many to pay their respects at his funeral Tuesday at Divine Redeemer Church in Mount Carmel.
DeFrancesco, along with Diminick's son, Ken, speaking for all six of his sons, and grandson Noah Diminick gave eulogies.
Besides the final days of Diminick's life, DeFrancesco spoke of one of the first times he met Diminick.
"That moment I put on a red uniform in 1964, I thought I was
going into something special," DeFrancesco said.
DeFrancesco said that his experience playing for Diminick was so much more than that, which led to a life as an assistant with Diminick, then as the head coach with Diminick helping as an assistant.
During that time Diminick taught DeFrancesco a life lesson that will be hanging on a sign from DeFrancesco's office door next year.
"He would rather be respected than liked," DeFrancesco said. "If you want a short recipe for disaster, try to please everyone."
But Diminick's life was much more than just football and DeFrancesco saw that over the years he spent with him in different roles.
"He was honest. He was wise. He was humble. He was oh, so much fun. He was kind, gentle," DeFrancesco said. "He was a man of great faith."
Ken and Michael Diminick also spoke of the man away from the football field and how he shaped the lives of his sons and grandchildren.
Ken said that Diminick's life could be summed up into four words: faith, family, friends and football. Ken also added that if Diminick had written a book it would have been titled "I Am Last," explaining that his father put everybody else in front of him.
Diminick also had a strong influence on his grandchildren.
"You motivated us," Michael Diminick said. "You taught us to overcome adversity with integrity."
The influences Diminick had on other people, in his career and outside, will be the lasting memory of the former coach.
"His success as a teacher, coach and parent is a testament to how he lived his life," DeFrancesco said.
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