Joe DeAntona

Category
1998
About This Inductee

Joe DeAntona completed his career as a health and physical education instructor at West Scranton High School at the end of the 1997 school year. DeAntona had served as head football coach at West for the past twenty-five years, and was also head varsity track coach. He previously served as varsity wrestling coach at the school. DeAntona’s commitment and devotion to his students and his community has been manifested in numerous ways. He instills in his students the importance of volunteerism, loyalty, and involvement. He and his students regularly participated in community service projects. He has been a volunteer for Special Olympics and has served as head coach of the Lions Club Dream Game. DeAntona’s football program has been widely recognized. His players have received national, state, and re-gional honors and have been awarded millions of dollars in scholarship monies. Thirty-two of his players have received full athletic scholarships to Division I universities. Hundreds more have obtained their post-secondary educations through partial athletic scholarships. DeAntona attained the dream of every coach when two of his players were chosen for the NFL. Joe began his playing career at West Scranton High School. As a senior captain, he attained the honors of All-Regional, All-State, and was acknowledged on several All-American High School football teams. He received a full scholarship to the University of Iowa and continued to play football in the “Big Ten” for the next four years. Joe served as a freshman football coach at Iowa under Jerry Burns, who later gained much fame as the coach of the Minnesota Vikings. As head football coach at West Scranton High School for twenty-five years, he led his teams to championships in the Eastern Football Conference, Big Eleven Football Conference, City of Scranton, and were perpetual divisional play-off contenders. A former president of the West Point Parents Club, DeAntona is a member of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club Alumni Association, the West Scranton High School Alumni Association, and the University of Iowa Alumni Association. He also holds membership in the American Federation of Teachers, the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers, and the Scranton Federation of Teachers, and the Victor Alfieri Literary Society. He is married to the former Alyce Rosengrant and is the father of Major Joseph DeAntona, Michael DeAntona, Marc DeAntona, and the stepfather of Craig Mailen.