Jules Yakapovich
Encyclopedia
Jules Yakapovich was an American football
coach.
Born in Tonawanda, New York
, he served during World War II as a U.S. Marine Corps
lieutenant
. Yakapovich was head football coach at Kenmore West High School
in New York from 1950 to 1976. His undefeated 1969 team was named number-one in the state by the New York State Scholastic Writers Association and chosen number-one in the nation by the Junior Super Bowl Committee, which at the time published the principal national ranking of high school football.
Yakapovich devised the all-standing "radar defense" in which a defender's initial movement is lateral, rather than forward or backward. The radar defense was influential in college football during the 1970s and remains in occasional use in professional American football, such as in the Buffalo Bills-Dallas Cowboys game of October 2007.
Quotation:
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
coach.
Born in Tonawanda, New York
Tonawanda, New York
Tonawanda may refer to:*Glacial Lake Tonawanda*North Tonawanda, New York, a city in Niagara County, north across Tonawanda Creek from the City and Town*Tonawanda , New York, consisting of the Town of Tonawanda less the Village of Kenmore...
, he served during World War II as a U.S. Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. Yakapovich was head football coach at Kenmore West High School
Kenmore West Senior High School
Kenmore West Senior High School is one of two public high schools in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District. The other is Kenmore East Senior High School...
in New York from 1950 to 1976. His undefeated 1969 team was named number-one in the state by the New York State Scholastic Writers Association and chosen number-one in the nation by the Junior Super Bowl Committee, which at the time published the principal national ranking of high school football.
Yakapovich devised the all-standing "radar defense" in which a defender's initial movement is lateral, rather than forward or backward. The radar defense was influential in college football during the 1970s and remains in occasional use in professional American football, such as in the Buffalo Bills-Dallas Cowboys game of October 2007.
Quotation:
Hard work is often not followed by success, a puzzling phenomenon for the young mind. But it is better to follow the hard path that may be rewarded than not to aspire to any goal at all.