Vito Ragazzo | |
Birth Date: | 17 March 1927 |
Birth Place: | Aflex, Kentucky, U.S. |
Death Place: | Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. |
Player Years1: | 1947–1950 |
Player Team1: | William & Mary |
Player Years2: | 1953–1954 |
Player Team2: | Hamilton Tiger-Cats[1] |
Player Positions: | End, defensive back |
Coach Years1: | 1950s |
Coach Team1: | William Byrd HS (VA) |
Coach Years2: | 1956–1960 |
Coach Team2: | VMI (line) |
Coach Years3: | 1961–1965 |
Coach Team3: | North Carolina (assistant) |
Coach Years4: | 1966–1970 |
Coach Team4: | VMI |
Coach Years5: | 1971–1973 |
Coach Team5: | East Carolina (OC) |
Coach Years6: | 1977–1978 |
Coach Team6: | Wake Forest (assistant) |
Coach Years7: | 1979–1985 |
Coach Team7: | Shippensburg |
Admin Years1: | 1986–1988 |
Admin Team1: | New England Patriots (scout) |
Overall Record: | 51–72–1 (college) |
Tournament Record: | 1–1 (NCAA D-II playoffs) |
Championships: | PSAC (1981) PSAC West Division (1981) |
Awards: |
Vito Eupollio Ragazzo (March 17, 1927 – February 13, 2017) was an American gridiron football player, coach, and scout. He played college football at the College of William & Mary and professionally with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a forerunner of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Ragazzo served as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) from 1966 to 1970 and at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1985, compiling a career college football coaching record of 51–72–1.
Ragazzo was born on March 17, 1927, in Aflex, Kentucky. He attended Williamson High School in Williamson, West Virginia, where he played football as an end and was a teammate of Dick Hensley. He was inducted into the Williamson High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class in 1998. Ragazzo played college football at the College of William & Mary. In his college career with the William & Mary Indians, he caught 15 touchdown passes, which stood as an National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record from 1949 until Howard Twilley of Tulsa broke it in 1965.[2]