Central Alumni Start Fundraiser To Honor Former Football Coach Piccirillo

LONG VALLEY, N.J. – A legend in Morris County sports history, Coach Pete Piccirillo helped mold the West Morris Central Wolfpack football team into what it is today – a championship winning program that garners widespread attention each Friday night in the fall.

Piccirillo retired after the 1997 season, logging 34 years on the sidelines. To those who played for him, coached with him, or even just knew him understood the significance of the contributions he made to Central.

That’s why a group of WMC alumni are leading the charge to replace the football field’s scoreboard and place Piccirillo’s name on it.

The group has spoken with the West Morris Regional Board of Education, which has given the green light to replace the scoreboard with the writing “In Honor Of Coach Pete Piccirillo” as long as funds are raised.

According to Steve Patton, one of Central’s alumni part of the group, the cost of the scoreboard will be in the area of $17,000.

Football is in Piccirillo’s blood. The three-year letter winner at Indiana University was drafted by the New England Patriots, but took his love for football to the sidelines instead. He started as Central’s assistant coach in 1961 and two years later took over the lead role.

During his 34-year career, Piccirillo tallied 220 wins, 98 losses, and six ties. The Wolfpack won eight conference championships, named number one in the county six times, reached the playoffs 11 times, made the state finals game seven times, won three titles, and recorded 23 consecutive winning seasons.

It was under Piccirillo that the team’s name changed from Highlanders to Wolfpack to represent “the strength of the wolf is in the pack and the strength of the pack is in the wolf.”

Piccirillo was named New Jersey Coach of the Year, North Jersey Coach of the Year, and Morris County Coach of the Year six times.

Patton and his fellow alumni have begun a PlumFund.com fundraising page for the cause. The fundraiser runs through July 4 with the hopes of dedicating the scoreboard to Piccirillo on Sept. 30 during a Wolfpack game. The group is filled out with many Central grads from the 60s to the early 80s, but, Patton said, he'd like to connect more with players and students who attended the school from the early 1980s until Piccirillo's retirement in 1997.

“Honoring someone that is still alive and can actually be there to feel the adulation is the most important thing we can do,” Patton said.

As of Thursday, the fundraiser had brought in $1,372 of its $18,000 goal. Click here to see the PlumFund.com page.