Jul 26, 2009 5 min read

Victor Lapkowicz’s legacy to Greene County as a football coach and player is that he embodied the old style type of football to its brutal and tough roots. With that legacy in mind, the former Waynesburg Central and Carmichaels coach was inducted into the Tri-County Coaches Association Football Hall of Fame at halftime of the organization’s 13th annual All-Star game at South Fayette High School. However, the event was a bittersweet moment for the Lapkowicz family, as Lapkowicz is dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, and it was his grandson Joby Lapkowicz who accepted the award in the old ball coach’s honor as Victor’s family looked on.

Despite the disease, Lapkowicz had a sense of where he was during the game, according to his son Dr. Vic Lapkowicz, and that the older Lapkowicz was where he would always want to be.

“He loved football,” said Dr. Lapkowicz. “He had a sense of where he was at the game. He was a man who would watch football from sunrise to sunset and it didn’t matter who was playing, where they were playing or what level was being played. But he loved to root for the little guy, which was always one thing you could expect from him.”

The older Lapkowicz could have been considered the underdog given his size (5-10, 180 pounds), but according to Dr. Lapkowicz his strength made up for his physical shortcomings.

“He was tough,” Lapkowicz said. “I was buying a car in Pittsburgh one time and was called back into the manager’s room and met the owner who told me 45 minutes to an hour’s worth of stories of how tough my father was on the football field. As a kid, you believe your father can do anything, but when you hear the stories like I did you really hold that notion all your life.”

Lapkowicz’s connection with football is related with its tough style of play according to Dr. Lapkowicz.

As head coach at Carmichaels High School from 1969 to the 1980s, Lapkowicz was a tough disciplinarian on the field, knowing when and how much to push his players.

“He always knew how much he could push us,” said Dr. Lapkowicz who along with his two other brothers Tom and Joe, were coached by his dad. “He expected a lot and demanded a lot from every player on the field.”

Dr. Lapkowicz, who played at Rutgers University, said a tougher coach than his father couldn’t be found.

“He was the toughest coach you could ever meet at any level,” said Dr. Lapkowicz.

Victor Lapkowicz began playing football after service with the U.S. Navy in World War II aboard the Pacific Fleet cruiser U.S.S. Biloxi.

Returning from the war, he played for a semi-pro team in McKeesport called the Crimson Club.

“Dad was playing for this team that basically was being paid with drinks at a local club when his older brother Joe Lapkowicz, who had been an All-American at Waynesburg College, asked the coach of the semi-pro team to cut him so he could get an education at Waynesburg College.”

Victor Lapkowicz went to Waynesburg College on the G.I. Bill and from there accepted an assistant coaching position with Waynesburg High School before he began coaching at Carmichaels.

“He coached there, and then retired and came back to coach under coach John Menhart,” said Dr. Lapkowicz. “In between that he took up marathon running, and although he wasn’t a great marathon runner, he had fun and loved doing it.”

“Even when he was with the Navy, many years ago before football, he was a competitor,” Dr. Lapkowicz said. “He was the boxing champion on his ship, so his whole life was about being tough and playing tough.”

As the game evolved, Dr. Lapkowicz said his father had trouble understanding some of the changes in the way the game is played.

“At a game recently he couldn’t understand why the offensive line was pushing the defense line back,” Dr. Lapkowicz, said.

“In his days if you were pushed you pushed back, and we’re talking about days before face masks. When he played there were seven guys on a line and usually the first move was a punch to the nose. So he had a rough time understanding the changes later on. But football is still football and it still requires that tough edge so he still loves it.”

Lapkowicz’s legacy can also be described as being the head of a family entrenched in the game.

He has had relatives play at universities ranging from McDaniel’s to Washington and Jefferson.

“There is no question how much influence he had,” Dr. Lapkowicz said. “He was always a competitor and loved to instill that with his family. When my daughter was playing soccer he would go out and teach her how to play tough. He was all about pride and the pride of football.”

“He wants to be at a football game at all times,” Dr. Lapkowicz said.

“Right now he’s probably sitting at home with a Carmichaels jacket on and a coaching hat on his head. He’ll be at the first game at Carmichaels. He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”