'Z' Greatest

Coach fostered family atmosphere


By Tim Roe - The Reporter
Article Launched: 09/27/2008 06:44:15 AM PDT 

"The family" lost the patriarch. 

Tom Zunino, hailed by many as the greatest football coach ever at Vacaville High School and the architect of much of what exists on the local sports scene, died early Friday morning at his Vacaville home. He was 71. 

Zunino won 215 games in 37 seasons as Vacaville's top 'Dog, including nine league titles. His 1973 team won the Capital City Championship, defeating Christian Brothers 12-0. 

But "Z" was much more than wins and losses. He led a groundswell of local support that helped build the Vacaville stadium that now bears his name. "I don't think they make them like that anymore," said Fred Jones, Vacaville's boys athletic director and one of Zunino's best friends. "He loved Vacaville. He came here in 1960, and he never left. He stood for integrity ... and a concept of community pride. Those people who were willing to work for the community of Vacaville ... he had great respect for them and would do anything to help them."

 

"I think the biggest thing he did in Vacaville was foster a family atmosphere, which is such a part of what we are," said Ed Santopadre, a Vacaville assistant principal, former Bulldog head football coach and former player under Zunino. "My best friends are the guys I coach with, and that's what he created ... that family that we all feel. I think that's the secret to the success of the Vacaville program." The success of the Bulldogs was nothing short of amazing. Zunino's teams had 26 winning seasons in his 37 varsity campaigns, and Zunino finished with a .597 winning percentage (215-145-12). 

The Bulldogs also reached the 1985 Sac-Joaquin Section title game before losing to Cordova 17-7. That team held the school record for wins in a season at 11 until 2006, when Vacaville went 13-1 and won the section crown.

Zunino had come out of retirement to help coach the team's defense that year. In fact, he never really left the sideline, and was a staple there as late as last year. 

"It's been an honor for me to even work with him," said current head coach Mike Papadopoulos, who led the 2006 team but also is Zunino's son-in-law. "And I certainly couldn't ask for any better in-laws. They're probably the classiest people I know. He's just done so much for so many people. He's got a heart of gold, and much of it was done quietly." 

Zunino was born Jan. 19, 1937, in Vallejo. Even before he was a great coach, he was a solid quarterback, leading the 1954 Vallejo High School team that featured future Los Angeles Ram Dick Bass. 

Zunino graduated with the class of 1955, and stayed on the same campus when he played at Vallejo Junior College. He went on to play at Sacramento State College, and even had a tryout with the Oakland Raiders and a minor-league contract offer from the Boston Red Sox but by then, Zunino had married his wife, Bernie, and coached the Vacaville junior varsity team in 1960. 

He became the varsity coach in 1961, even though he had been recalled by the U.S. Air Force and had to report daily before returning to coach football. Zunino also worked with Larry Nelson to begin the Bulldogs' wrestling program, and took stints as a basketball, baseball, track and golf coach when needs arose. The coach-administrator later became an athletic director, and spearheaded a Bulldog program that won Monticello Empire League school of the year awards 14 times, including 10 straight years from 1982-91. 

"Coach Zunino is a legend in this community and he leaves a great legacy," said Superintendent John Aycock. Aycock remembers sitting in his office about a month into his job as Superintendent when he heard a loud, booming voice in the hallway asking, "where's Aycock?" During that conversation, Aycock remembers Zunino telling him, "A lot of people in this town are going to tell you a lot of stuff. But I'm going to be the one who will tell you how it is." 

Along the way, he became perhaps the most recognizable figure in the city. 

"I'm not sure there's anyone more well-known in Vacaville. And the reason is he's helped so many people, and helped their kids, and helped their grandkids," Santopadre said. "When we moved here, he helped my family get a residence. My father is still alive, and he's a great man, but Z has really been a second father to me, that other guy. If I still want advice or help, I go to him." 

Zunino became a father figure to many, even after he was diagnosed with cancer last spring. 

"Not too long ago, after he had found out he was really sick, there was a former player who Z heard about who was down on his luck," Santopadre said. "He was asking around to see if he could get him a job ... and here he had just gotten the worst news of his life." 

It wasn't just the downtrodden who were impacted. Vacaville graduate Thomas Williams, who now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars, had a lengthy conversation with Zunino recently. 

"He had a tremendous impact on many, many, many, many people," Jones said. "He had a tremendous impact on the lives of so many young men in this community. "He was a great mentor, an extremely passionate individual who always stood up for what was right. He built his life on respect for people, respect for hard work, and respect for the family. Family to him was always much bigger than the individual family." 

Zunino is survived by Bernie, his wife of 48 years; son, Mark; daughter, Karen, and son-in-law, Mike Papadopoulos; and two grandchildren. 

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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"Coach has been a long time friend of the family back to my high school days. I played on the Armijo High school golf team and Z was the coach of the Vaca High Golf team at the time. He was a mentor to me. 

"Considering the fact that I was on the opposing team he was still always offering up his words of wisdom. 'Z' gave me several swift kicks in the butt in my misguided youth in order to keep me on track. We all admired and respected him so much that we listened. "Z will forever be an ICON (not just in Vacaville) for the lives he has touched."
-- Fred Hearn, Vacaville 

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"Just chock this up as a 'thank you.' I never met the man, though I followed his successes chronicled in the Vacaville Reporter.

"My son, however, did have a chance to meet him and the brief singular encounter inspired him to look beyond the moment. At the time, my son was a Will C. Wood junior, playing football with the big boys, enduring a painful and demoralizing experience. Mr. Zunino, somehow conveyed to my son that he did indeed have talent and heart, and not to despair. It says a lot about a man that takes a moment to reach out to not one of his own to console and inspire. My son will forever remember the meeting, and as a result, so will I." 
-- Arthur Cofresi, Vacaville 

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"His legacy will be hard to match by anyone else in education in Vacaville. And that is what Tom was first and foremost - an educator. Not in the classroom sense, perhaps, but in the real-life, character-building sense. He was the hard-nosed, stern, Coach Z at times. But those of us who got close to him over the last three decades saw the other side, which he showed more often the more time you spent with him. We were fortunate to see the loving husband, the proud father, the caring teacher. 

"There are few contemporaries of Tom Zunino, Bill Carroll and a handful of others who did more to shape this community. Few, like him, touched thousands - literally thousands - of their neighbors, young and old, to make this a better place to live.
-- Steve Huddleston, Vacaville 

* * * *
"There are many good memories of the golf trips (my wife) Diane and I had with Tom and Bernie. But when I close my eyes and think of him, I see him surrounded by friends after a big dinner with a big smile on his face as he sang and played the accordion."
-- John P. Thompson, Vacaville 

* * * *
"While yes, Mr. Zunino will be most known for his accomplishments on the football field, the fact is that Vacaville football was just a small portion of his legacy. Mr. Zunino had an ability to touch lives and give direction to kids when they were in their most vulnerable and influential years. I can't describe how many countless times I would pass by his office at VHS and see kids in there with him discussing topics other than football; problems they were having at school, problems at home, finances, where to go to college, what to major in, are just some examples. He was blunt, he was honest, and he told you how he saw it. For those that were smart enough to listen to his words of direction, I guarantee they were better off for it.

"He emanated trust and loyalty. What other school do you see former students and athletes lining the football field on Friday nights to help bring home a victory? What other school do you see with virtually the same football coaching staff spanning multiple generations of students? The answer is none. Mr. Zunino demanded it and he led by example. 

"I was lucky enough to have known him and his family on a personal level not just as a former student and athlete of his, but through my dad and the coaching staff at VHS. He is one of the most influential people I have ever met and I am saddened to hear that he has left us." 
-- Danie Boele, Vacaville