HAMMOND | Former Bishop Noll football players gathered Friday night as the school paid tribute to Hall of Fame coach Jerry Vlasic.
Vlasic was honored at a pregame dinner and during field ceremonies before the Warriors' homecoming game against River Forest.
"My athletes were successful and I was successful because they were smarter than the coach," Vlasic quipped at the pregame dinner.
Vlasic and the alumni then joined the Noll team for its ritual pregame prayer at the campus grotto.
Vlasic, a 1955 Noll grad, was the Warriors' head coach from 1971 through 1997. His teams recorded 163 victories, including an undefeated and untied season in 1975 and a Class 3A state championship in 1989.
A seven-time coach of the year in the Lake Athletic Conference, Vlasic was inducted into the Indiana Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996.
Please Wait…