Print
Create a hardcopy of this page
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size
35
DON RYPKA
Former Highland Springs coach Al Rinaldi, pictured in this Nov. 19, 1976 file photo.
View all 5 images in gallery.
Al Rinaldi in 2000
........................ ADVERTISEMENT ......................
Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 11:30 pm
By ARTHUR UTLEY
Special correspondent
Whether he was helping a community cope with the effects of integration, teaching social studies, coaching high school football or broadcasting the game he loved on the radio, Al Rinaldi went about it with passion.
Mr. Rinaldi died Wednesday morning at the age of 90, after a long period of declining health, his wife Nancy Rinaldi said.
A man of boundless energy and theatrical flair, Mr. Rinaldi was born in Apollo, Pa., and gained legendary status as Mr. High School Football in the Richmond area. His coaching career began in Virginia in 1951 at Warrenton High after graduating from the University of Richmond, where he played basketball for four years.
He said in a Times-Dispatch article in 1995 that “I went to UR because they let me play football, too. But I wasn’t much good. I played in 1946 on the ‘B’ varsity team, got hurt the next year and that was it for football.”
Mr. Rinaldi moved to Highland Springs in 1954, and his 1961 Springers squad won the state championship.
He left in 1962 to coach in New Jersey, then returned to Highland Springs in 1973 to guide the Springers for six more years. Those teams went 10-2, 9-1, 11-1, 12-1, 9-1 and 13-1. The 1978 team lost 14-13 to Annandale, his last loss as a Springer.
“Al came in at a time when the school was changing. He was such an innovator, (and) he made the changes easy,” said Rudy Ward, Highland Springs’ former athletics director. “He was a great social leader, and we had few problems at Highland Springs because of that. For him, the color of the jersey and helmet was more important than the color of the kid.”
Mr. Rinaldi left Virginia again to coach at Highlands High School near his home area of Pittsburgh in 1979. He came back to Richmond in 1980 to coach at J.R. Tucker. He retired from coaching in 1982 and from teaching in 1988.
His career record was 196-76-14. His win total was the best of any area coach until Patrick Henry coach Ray Long Jr. surpassed him in the 2004 season.
“One of the greatest things about his coaching was how he positioned his best player,” Ward said.
A veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, Mr. Rinaldi was inducted in the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame in 1992. He was a member of the first class of inductees on the Highland Springs Wall of Fame in 1995.
After retiring from everyday life in the classroom, Mr. Rinaldi served as a substitute teacher.
He noted in a 1995 T-D article that, “We all have our addictions. Mine is in the classroom.”
Mr. Rinaldi was the driving force behind a retired group of former high school coaches, athletics directors, principals, officials and media members known as the WARTS (Worn Out Affiliated Retired Taskmasters Society). His friend, Sattler Anderson, came up with the idea, but Anderson died before the group could get going. Mr. Rinaldi made it happen, came up with the name and usually called the group’s monthly breakfast meetings to order with a blast on his coach’s whistle.
The WARTS kept tabs on what each member was doing, who was sick and who had died.
Mr. Rinaldi also was on the ground floor when AM radio station WRNL began broadcasting local high school football games in 1993. He teamed with play-by-play man Gary Hess a couple years later.
“Whenever I talked to other coaches and I mentioned Coach, they would talk about his passion for high school football,” Hess said. “He was a great champion for local high school football. Being around him at the games, (the passion) was infectious. He was in his element.
“We’d argue, disagree, agree, get in trouble for fussing about the officiating, but tapping into his knowledge never got old. I continued to do (the broadcasts) because Al made it fun.”
Mr. Rinaldi said in a 2000 column by former Richmond News Leader sports editor Jennings Culley, “I found it fun to be critical after being criticized for 30 years.”
There will be a players’ tribute memorial service Sunday in the auditorium at Highland Springs High School from 6-8 p.m. Rev. Louis Collins and Rev. Joe Ellison, Jr., former Springers’ players, will preside.
There will be a memorial service Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Highland Springs auditorium.
Create a hardcopy of this page
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size
35
DON RYPKA
Former Highland Springs coach Al Rinaldi, pictured in this Nov. 19, 1976 file photo.
View all 5 images in gallery.
Al Rinaldi in 2000
........................ ADVERTISEMENT ......................
Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 11:30 pm
By ARTHUR UTLEY
Special correspondent
Whether he was helping a community cope with the effects of integration, teaching social studies, coaching high school football or broadcasting the game he loved on the radio, Al Rinaldi went about it with passion.
Mr. Rinaldi died Wednesday morning at the age of 90, after a long period of declining health, his wife Nancy Rinaldi said.
A man of boundless energy and theatrical flair, Mr. Rinaldi was born in Apollo, Pa., and gained legendary status as Mr. High School Football in the Richmond area. His coaching career began in Virginia in 1951 at Warrenton High after graduating from the University of Richmond, where he played basketball for four years.
He said in a Times-Dispatch article in 1995 that “I went to UR because they let me play football, too. But I wasn’t much good. I played in 1946 on the ‘B’ varsity team, got hurt the next year and that was it for football.”
Mr. Rinaldi moved to Highland Springs in 1954, and his 1961 Springers squad won the state championship.
He left in 1962 to coach in New Jersey, then returned to Highland Springs in 1973 to guide the Springers for six more years. Those teams went 10-2, 9-1, 11-1, 12-1, 9-1 and 13-1. The 1978 team lost 14-13 to Annandale, his last loss as a Springer.
“Al came in at a time when the school was changing. He was such an innovator, (and) he made the changes easy,” said Rudy Ward, Highland Springs’ former athletics director. “He was a great social leader, and we had few problems at Highland Springs because of that. For him, the color of the jersey and helmet was more important than the color of the kid.”
Mr. Rinaldi left Virginia again to coach at Highlands High School near his home area of Pittsburgh in 1979. He came back to Richmond in 1980 to coach at J.R. Tucker. He retired from coaching in 1982 and from teaching in 1988.
His career record was 196-76-14. His win total was the best of any area coach until Patrick Henry coach Ray Long Jr. surpassed him in the 2004 season.
“One of the greatest things about his coaching was how he positioned his best player,” Ward said.
A veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, Mr. Rinaldi was inducted in the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame in 1992. He was a member of the first class of inductees on the Highland Springs Wall of Fame in 1995.
After retiring from everyday life in the classroom, Mr. Rinaldi served as a substitute teacher.
He noted in a 1995 T-D article that, “We all have our addictions. Mine is in the classroom.”
Mr. Rinaldi was the driving force behind a retired group of former high school coaches, athletics directors, principals, officials and media members known as the WARTS (Worn Out Affiliated Retired Taskmasters Society). His friend, Sattler Anderson, came up with the idea, but Anderson died before the group could get going. Mr. Rinaldi made it happen, came up with the name and usually called the group’s monthly breakfast meetings to order with a blast on his coach’s whistle.
The WARTS kept tabs on what each member was doing, who was sick and who had died.
Mr. Rinaldi also was on the ground floor when AM radio station WRNL began broadcasting local high school football games in 1993. He teamed with play-by-play man Gary Hess a couple years later.
“Whenever I talked to other coaches and I mentioned Coach, they would talk about his passion for high school football,” Hess said. “He was a great champion for local high school football. Being around him at the games, (the passion) was infectious. He was in his element.
“We’d argue, disagree, agree, get in trouble for fussing about the officiating, but tapping into his knowledge never got old. I continued to do (the broadcasts) because Al made it fun.”
Mr. Rinaldi said in a 2000 column by former Richmond News Leader sports editor Jennings Culley, “I found it fun to be critical after being criticized for 30 years.”
There will be a players’ tribute memorial service Sunday in the auditorium at Highland Springs High School from 6-8 p.m. Rev. Louis Collins and Rev. Joe Ellison, Jr., former Springers’ players, will preside.
There will be a memorial service Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Highland Springs auditorium.
