In 1962, newly created Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, N.Y., hired a high school football coach, the late Joseph A. Mancarella '53, to establish and direct a team in a sport he never played - soccer. Within two years, Mancarella's MCC men's soccer team won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship. In his 26-year reign as MCC head coach, Mancarella was a trailblazer. His 364-76-13 overall record was the best among junior college soccer coaches and still ranks third all-time. His MCC squads won nine Region III titles and were national runner-ups in 1967 and 1971.
Two-time NJCAA Regional "Coach of the Year," Mancarella coached 40 All-American soccer players. "His priorities were not always to win at every cost but to make sure that we learned a lesson in life," recalled Nelson Cupello, a standout under Mancarella and now MCC head coach. "On our first day at practice, he said, 'I don't know much about soccer, in fact some of you know more than I do, but I hope to teach you something about being a man, a better human being and a responsible citizen.'" Inducted into the NJCAA Men's Soccer Hall of Fame in 1992, Mancarella was voted into the MCC Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
For the past seven years, the Joe Mancarella Memorial Golf Tournament has united friends, colleagues and former athletes to support the Joe Mancarella Scholarship at MCC. "He earned respect because he respected and cared for others, particularly his students," said R. Thomas Flynn, MCC President and a longtime friend.
Born in Watertown, N.Y., Mancarella graduated from Watertown High School. He served in World War II and as a member of an artillery unit in the Korean War. He attended St. Bonaventure University before transferring to Cortland, where he was a starting tight end in football and competed on the Red Dragon varsity basketball squad. He was president of Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity. Mancarella earned a bachelor's degree from SUNY Cortland in 1953.
He taught physical education and coached at Scottsville (N.Y.) High, now Wheatland-Chili High, from 1953-56. He then joined the newly established McQuad Jesuit High School in Rochester, N.Y., where he organized and coached football until leaving for MCC in 1962. He retired from MCC in 1989.
After fighting a long bout with cancer, Mancarella died on June 14, 1993. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and their nine children: Joseph, Margaret, John Patricia, Michael, Thomas, Theresa, Paul and Marc.
