If you’re a high school football fan, this column from our Jim McConnell is a must read, guaranteed to capture you from start to end. I always wondered about Jack Friedman, and McConnell’s column gives us that, and more. I can’t believe I overlooked it this morning, but I’m posting it here as I’m sure you’re going to love it.
JIM McCONNELL
JACK FRIEDMAN was the man who put the gold in the Golden Knights.
The most successful football coach in St. Francis High School history made quite an impact on the sport in the San Gabriel Valley. He’d take on any team at any time.
Despite the surname, Friedman was a devout Roman Catholic. He was a graduate of Loyola High in Los Angeles and Loyola University. He played football for both schools and played it well. However, he really didn’t plan on a career in coaching, according to his son Dan Friedman.
“After college, dad was managing a paint store in Glendale,” Dan Friedman, 59 and a resident of Covina, said. “Then someone in the parish found out he had played football so they asked him to coach the touch football team at Holy Family School there in Glendale.
“Then they opened this new high school in La Ca ada, St. Francis. And dad was asked to take over the football program there. I think you could say it turned out to be the right move, for the school and my dad.”
Friedman, whose coaching idols were Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes, stressed a back-to-fundamentals approach. His St. Francis teams reflected his no-nonsense attitude and became winners.
“Dad always said he knew he was on the right track there in the late 1950s when St. Francis beat Mater Dei, coached by Dick Coury and quarterbacked by John Huarte,” Dan Friedman said. “That proved that his teams could compete with the big boys, even though at the time St.
Francis had a far smaller enrollment than just about any team it played.”
Friedman’s St. Francis teams quickly became known for their intensity. Sturdy defense and a ball-control offense were the Knights’ hallmarks. Friedman also tolerated no interference from fans or parents. You knew he was in charge.
To help set the coaches apart, all of the St. Francis staff wore white sports coats and black ties. Friedman also insisted all St. Francis students wear white shirts to the games. No clean white shirt, no entrance.
Success for the Knights arrived big time in the 1960s.
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Friedman guided the Knights to the CIF-Southern Section 2A Division title game in 1961, but they lost to a Bishop Amat team coached by Phil Cantwell. That result intensified Friedman’s rivalry with Amat and its coach.
“My father usually got along with other coaches, but it is fair to say he didn’t like coach Cantwell, and I suspect the feeling was mutual,” Dan Friedman said. “Beating Amat had a little extra meaning to dad.
“Later in the 1960s, St. Francis was playing at Amat and fell behind at halftime. Dad was desperate to think of something to motivate his team. One of his assistant coaches had packed a sack lunch and included a tomato in it. So dad had this assistant take the tomato and smear it all over the back of dad’s white coat.
“Then dad ran into the locker room and told his players the Amat fans had thrown rotten vegetables at him and ruined his beloved white jacket. Of course, the players were totally fired up after that speech and after seeing the jacket smeared with tomato.
“They came out of the locker room breathing fire and really took it to Amat in the second half. I don’t think dad ever told them the true story about the tomato. Now they know.”
From 1963-1965, Friedman’s teams assembled a 30-game unbeaten streak. They won the CIF 3A title in 1963 by beating La Mirada 7-0 in the finale and repeated as 3A champs in 1964 with a 14-0 victory over Claremont in the final.
The Knights ran what now is called a Wing-T offense. His teams really had only five plays. Of course, there were variations off those plays. And they ran them to perfection.
Unlike many of the Catholic school programs, Friedman always welcomed games with the public school powers in the San Gabriel Valley. He faced Tom Hamilton’s Pasadena High teams, Jim Brownfield’s Muir teams and Ray Solari’s South Pasadena teams, among others. But no doubt St. Francis’ most notable nonleague accomplishment was beating Bob Hitchcock’s Temple City squad in 1973. It ended the Rams’ record 46-game winning steak.
“Dad thought the world of guys like Brownfield and Solari and Hitchcock and Dick Larson, who coached at Cantwell High and later at Damien High,” Dan Friedman said. “He loved coaching against that caliber of guy.
“In the 1970s, dad gave me the opportunity to coach the St. Francis freshman team. Now, in those days the freshmen played on Thursday afternoons and, of course, the varsity would play Friday night.
“Anyway, we are playing Muir and I knew how tough the Muir kids were, and how athletic. But darned if we don’t get up big on them. Early in the third quarter, we are leading 40-0.
“So I put in the second string, and then the third string. And I tell all the kids to just keep it on the ground and run out the clock because I knew that’s what dad would want.
“But I had this third-string quarterback who had other ideas. He gets in there and starts to throw the football all over the field. I’m yelling at him, but he’s bound and determined to pass the football.
“Well, I didn’t know at the time but my dad was watching this up on the hill there at St. Francis. So when the game ends he just charges down that hill right at me.
“He was livid. He said, `Look what you did! This is gonna get back to Brownfield and he’s gonna have his team sky-high for us tomorrow night!’ I tried to tell him it was the kid calling the passing plays, but he wouldn’t hear it. It was my responsibility and my fault if Muir beat the varsity.
“I loved coaching under my dad, but after my time at St. Francis I wasn’t tempted to stay in coaching. You need that special spark to be successful.”
After winning a CIF title in 1964, Friedman was receptive when University of Washington coach Jim Owens offered him a job on the Huskies’ coaching staff. Friedman accepted, even though it meant moving his family – he and his wife now had six children – to Seattle.
Shortly after saying yes to Owens, USC’s John McKay came calling with an offer. However, Friedman would not go back on his word to Owens.
Friedman spent four years at Washington and coached the defensive secondary. The Huskies didn’t field winning teams during that span, but Friedman’s secondaries annually ranked among the best in the NCAA.
After the 1969 season, Friedman decided to return home.
“He loved working for Owens, but he didn’t love the politics or the recruiting that were required,” Dan Friedman said.
“He asked the St. Francis administration if he could come back, and they said yes. Jim Yang, who had taken over for dad as head coach, graciously agreed to step aside so dad could have his job back. Yang went on to coach championship teams at South Pasadena.”
Friedman coached St. Francis through the 1978 season. In 1979, he was head coach at Glendale Hoover. Then he retired from coaching. His final years were spent in Glendale, where he ran a successful restaurant called “Coaches Corner.”
Jack Friedman died in 1998.
“At dad’s funeral, someone stood up and said he had 2,000 sons. And that was so true. He was a father figure to every kid who ever played for him. And I think he left each of them a better person.”
jim.mcconnell@sgvn.com
