Longtime L-P freshman coach Joe Vasquez ‘left his mark on generations of students’

For generations of La Salle-Peru football players, Joe Vasquez was their introduction to the sport at the high school level as the head coach of the freshman team for more than 40 years.

“I’ve told people this for years that the hardest job coaching at L-P is freshman football,” said Greg Sarver, who played for Vasquez and had him as an English teacher in 1973 and later worked with him as a teacher and coach. “Joe and his long-time assistant Joe Skibinski had to take incoming freshman from at one time as many as 14 feeder schools that were all rivals and transform them into a team. … We didn’t have youth football. They had over 100 kids some years to start with. They had to teach them how to put pads on and how to get in stances.

“Football is a numbers game. You want to keep people as much as possible. You’re going to lose some through attrition. You need someone at the lower levels to be compassionate, nurture and build a program and he was a good person to have at that level to help build a program.”

Vasquez, who died Aug. 20 at age 81, is being remembered as a teacher and coach who made an impact on thousands of students and athletes during his career.

“He was a well-respected classroom teacher who ran a tight ship, yet he made sure his students who struggled found success,” said Bill Booker, who taught and coach with Vasquez. “He was a positive faculty member who always got along with other teachers. He was pure entertainment in the teachers lounge with his insight on the profession.

“As a coach, he was well respected. He was a leader who could rule with an iron fist, motivate, discipline, teach or smile/joke with his arm around a player. His players loved him. His give your best, give everything you have, stay after it motivational speeches were not only directed to young freshmen players for the next game but for their high school and post-high school goals in life.”

There will be a celebration of life for Vasquez from 4-8 p.m. Tuesday at Senica’s Oak Ridge Golf Club in La Salle.

“Coach Vasquez was a great teacher, coach and mentor,” said L-P coach Jose Medina, who served as an assistant coach with Vasquez. “He truly brought the best out of his players and they all worked hard for him. I am sure that he was given an opportunity to move up early in his coaching career but chose not to. He always said that he loved working with and teaching the game of football to freshmen players and he did that for 40-plus years as a coach in the Cavalier football program.

“Even after retirement, he continued to follow the football program. He could always be spotted at Meet the Cavs and home games with his lovely wife, Shirley. I would see him out and about and he would always ask how the team was looking or give me some encouragement when things didn’t go our way.”

Sarver said Vasquez “found his niche” coaching freshman football.

“I think he just liked the challenge of molding the young kids to be football players,” Sarver said. “He was always positive. He was the guy who could find something good in every player, which is a unique quality. He was tough, but he was compassionate.”

Vasquez also made an impact on his fellow coaches.

“As a peer, he kept a great insight on everything,” Booker said. “He was upbeat and positive. He was loyal and a true IV legend giving back to his community throughout his life.”

Vasquez had the same mindset in the classroom.

“He used the same passion in the classroom as he did on the football field,” Sarver said. “He had the rare ability with all his students and players to see their positive qualities. Joe left his mark on generations of students at LPHS.”

Sarver’s long-time relationship with Vasquez left a lasting impression.

Sarver was first Vasquez’s student and player, later a coworker as teachers and assistant coaches to Rich Koehler and Barry Reade and later his boss as an administrator at the school and as L-P’s head football coach from 1999 to 2006.

“It was a unique relationship, and I cherish each and every one of those experiences,” Sarver said. “He was a phenomenal individual. Everybody’s going to say what a great coach and great teacher he was, but he was an even better person.”