Holy Spirit High School

Thank You Letter

I would like to thank the South Jersey Chapter of the National Football Foundation for honoring me and our Holy Spirit coaching staff as their 2020 Football Coach of Year. I wouldn’t be accepting this award if it were not for the courage of our former Principal Ms. Susan Dennen and our former Athletic Director Jay Connell for taking a chance on someone with no high school head coaching experience. But as a Holy Spirit grad and having played for great coaches such as Jim Gallagher and Ed Byrnes, I was aware of what our football program meant to the school, our alumni and the Holy Spirit community. We all shared the same vision of having our student/athletes continue to excel in the classroom and on the field. 

I would also like to thank our school President Father Perry Cherubini, Principal Thomas Farren, Athletic Director Steve Normane and our faculty and staff. I truly believe that the fact that we have been in school five days a week since September 8th , played a huge role not only in our success on the field but it brought a sense of normalcy to our whole student body. Our Administration, faculty and staff deserve a ton of credit for keeping our school safe and for providing our students with the opportunity for in person instruction. 

The 2020 football season is one that will not be forgotten for a long, long time. I would like to thank the WJFL and Derrick Sellers for providing a competitive regular season schedule and for creating a playoff format at a time when high school players needed a goal to strive towards. Their idea of matching up the top public and non-public schools and having them determine a “South Jersey Football Champion” by playing games on the field instead of leaving it to the media was unique and something our kids will remember forever. 

Every team in the State of New Jersey had their share of challenges and successes, good luck and bad luck over this past season. Our team was no different. We were fortunate enough to be able to play our full regular season schedule and through the South Jersey Championship without any Covid cases. While we had some players miss multiple games because of close contact, the discipline our kids showed during the season was remarkable. A football program cannot be successful without good players, who are good kids and who accept and understand what it takes to win. Our kids compete every day and play with great effort, desire and for each other. The success we had this past season can be attributed to each of them and all the hard work they put into it. 

As I mentioned earlier I am honored to accept the Coach of the Year Award but I only deserve 1/13th of this award. As the head coach I am the captain who is steering the ship and we have twelve other members on our staff who equally deserve a share of this award. There is no doubt in my mind that Holy Spirit has one of the best groups of assistant coaches in the State of New Jersey. These guys spend endless hours preparing, teaching, and mentoring our players year round while receiving very little pay. They don’t do it for the money; they do it for the love of our players, our football program and of Holy Spirit High School. Our program would be nowhere near as successful as it is without coaches like Charlie Roman, Mark Barbetto, Tiger Minetti, Kevin Burns, Marty Cortellessa, Andrew Dipasquale, Rob Mancinelli, Nicky Hall, Rocco Tabasso, Joe Ailes, John Knoff, and Joe McDevitt. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late Coach Bill Walsh. Bill’s persuasive ways talked me into taking the job in December of 2014 and for the next three seasons he helped groom myself and our young coaching staff into being the best coaches we could be. 

And lastly, I would like to thank my wife Rhonda, my family and the wives and families of each of our coaches for allowing us to spend so much time away from them so that we can do what we love to do. 

Thank you and God Bless 

AJ Russo

Bill Osborn graduated from Wildwood High School in 1984, where he was the most decorated student athlete in school history, becoming an All Star in 3 Sports- football, basketball and baseball. The Wildwood High Board of Education retired his jersey number #12. 

He was a varsity player all four years and earned All County, All Conference, All South Jersey in 3 sports and All State in both football and baseball. 8 times he was selected 1st team All Cape Atlantic League All Star by the CAL Coaches.

As a Student-Athlete, he was on the honor role 4 years, 2 year National Honor Society Member and played 4 years in the HS Band. 

The Press of Atlantic City named him to the Football and Baseball 1980’s All Decade 1st team and they selected Bill as the High School Male Athlete of the Decade (1980’s). He was inducted into the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989. The Cape Atlantic Junior Football League recently inducted him into their Hall of Fame. 

Bill earned a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh where he was a rare college student athlete to earn varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball at a Division I University. He went to Pitt as a QB, changed positions to a DB after an arm injury forced him to Red Shirt his 1st season. After 1 year as a DB, starting 4 games, he became a 3 year starter at WR. He broke his color bone in the next to last game his Senior season, forcing him to miss post season All Star games and his Sr College Baseball Season. When he graduated, Bill had finished in the Top 10 All Time at the University of Pittsburgh in total receiving yards and receptions.

Following graduation from Pittsburgh, Bill spent a season with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Barcelona Dragons of the World Football and the Arena Football league’s Pittsburgh Gladiators. Although injuries curtailed his professional aspirations as a player, he began scouting in the NFL for the KC Chiefs before transitioning into a broadcast career where he became the color analyst for his Alma Mater for 13 seasons. He also became the color analyst and sideline reporter for the Philadelphia Soul and the Arena Football League for 10 plus seasons, including the Soul’s 1st Arena Bowl Championship. He’s has done radio and TV for ESPN, Comcast, CN8, Fox, 610 WIP among others, for over 25 years. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Maxwell Football Club.

Bill has worked for 20 plus years in sales as an executive in the Health Care Field for 2 Fortune 500 Companies, before helping start the company VICIS, which developed a revolutionary new football helmet the ZERO1. Bill is also the President of the Bill "Ozzie" Osborn Foundation, which he started with his sister Donna in the name of their Father, Bill Osborn, which raises awareness of Colon Cancer and the benefits of early screening and detection. 

Bill resides in Marlton, with his wife Jami and two sons, Billy III and Trent. 

Ron Jaworski is known throughout the Delaware Valley and South Jersey as the former quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles and the voice of ESPN Monday Night Football. He is endeared by all Eagle fans for leading the team to the 1980 super bowl. Ron started 116 consecutive NFL games, a record he held through 1999.

He founded and was part owner of the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul and helped create the Atlantic City and Albany, New York franchises. Unfortunately, the pandemic forced the league to close. Ron is past president of the Maxwell Football Club and was the driving force in bringing the banquet to Atlantic City. 

An outstanding businessman, he owns 7 signature golf courses in South Jersey. Well beyond all of Ron’s excellence on the football field and in business is his work in the community. Although involved in many philanthropic endeavors the one closest to his heart is the “Jaws Youth Playbook” which focuses on a mission to improve the overall health and wellness of at risk youth. Many South Jersey athletes and schools have benefited by this program. Over 1,000 bicycles have been given to disadvantaged youth during the holidays for the past several years. Refreshment stands, fields, equipment, and jersey’s are but some of the areas the JYP has assisted. 

Ron has been honored by a number of groups including the South Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the United Way. He is currently an NFL analyst and Virtual Motivational Speake. Ron and his wife Liz have three children, Joleen, Jessica, BJ, and six grandchildren.  

Dave was raised in Egg Harbor City, NJ, where he attended Oakcrest High School and then Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. He retired from the US Navy and then worked in the casino industry for 20+ years in the areas of fire safety, emergency management, risk management, and safety. He currently works as an Environmental Health and Safety Manager covering the Mid-Atlantic region for ABM Industries, a fortune 500 facility services company.

Dave is coming up on 25 years officiating through the Atlantic Chapter NJ Football Officials Association. Officiating is one of the places where everything else in your life goes away for those hours (golf being the other). His goal has always been to officiate a perfect game, and when he does will immediately retire. Dave wants to say thank you to all he has worked with for allowing him to be part of this fraternity.

Dave resides in Tuckerton, and has been married to his wife Denise for 45 years. They’ve raised 4 children and are now proud grandparents to 4 (almost 5!) grandchildren. He sends a special thank you to his better half for her understanding his passion for this undertaking, and for the nights and days of missing family time without having a foul called.

University of San Diego

From Oakcrest High School Graduating in 2016, Terrence went to Cabrillo College rushing for over 1000 yards and was a top 10 rusher out of all California Junior Colleges. From Cabrillo, headed to the University of San Diego and has played three seasons for the Toreros. Rushing for 978 yards with 196 receiving yards, including 27 passing yards and 13 total touchdowns during the three seasons with 1 season to go. 

Charleston University

At Mainland, Randall was a first-team Press All-Star his senior football season.

Earning second-team All-Mountain East Conference in 2018. He was named first-team All-MEC in 2019, leading his team in tackles for loss (16.5) and sacks (seven). He had 64 total tackles that season.

The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Randall as an undrafted free agent Saturday night. The 2014 Mainland graduate will travel to Jacksonville for rookie mini camp Wednesday.

Five members from various chapters within the National Football Foundation were honored with this recognition. Among them, Michael J. Gatley, President of our South Jersey Chapter, was selected for his outstanding leadership and for fostering the continual growth of our chapter while upholding the core principles and values upon which the National Football Foundation was established. Congratulations on your well-deserved achievement, Mike!