Fayetteville coaching giant John Daskal remembered for intensity, mentorship, humor

It was just after breakfast on Thursday morning when the text message tone on my phone jingled and I opened the screen.

It was a single sentence from Kristina Magyar, daughter of former Cumberland County football coaching legend John Daskal. “Daddy passed away this morning,’’ it said.

I closed my eyes and thought back to that summer day in 1972 when I was coming to the end of my six-week summer internship in the sports department of The Fayetteville Observer.

As we were finishing work, a giant of a man wearing garish Columbia blue and orange garb, the colors of the Reid Ross Cougars, walked into the newsroom. That is how I first met John Daskal.

OBITUARY: John Henry Daskal, 1934-2024

FAYETTEVILLE HALL OF FAMERS: Who’s in the Fayetteville Sports Club Hall of Fame?

WINNINGEST COACHES: Here's a look at Fayetteville's winningest coaches in high school sports history

He was there to inform us of the date his football team would be available for preseason photographs. Of all the coaches in the county, he was the only one who took the time to come and let us know when we could take pictures.

It was one of the many positive traits of this impressive fellow, who was more than just a powerful physical presence. He was a man of character and conviction, as coach, as athletic administrator, as a man of faith and as a man of family.

Daskal coached 31 years, spending time at Reid Ross, Terry Sanford, and Pine Forest, and retiring in 1990 as the winningest coach in Cumberland County history with a 211-110-4 record. His 1981 Reid Ross team won the state 4-A Division II title and the school's stadium is named in his honor.

Services for Coach Daskal will be held at his beloved home church, Flat Branch Covenant Presbyterian, where he is honored as an elder emeritus. Visitation will begin Monday at 11 a.m. with the service at 1 p.m. Burial with military honors will be in the church cemetery.

Following are comments from people who knew him best, a man universally described as a person of character and class admired by all.

Bill Yeager, player and coach

Yeager became a player for Daskal at Reid Ross in 1969. He would go on to coach against him when Yeager joined the staff at Terry Sanford, then later with him when the Cumberland County Schools closed Ross and Daskal became head coach at Terry Sanford.

“He was a class act from start to finish,’’ Yeager said. “If you really wanted to emulate somebody, this would be the guy.’’

When asked to sum up what made Daskal a great football coach, Yeager used a single word: intensity.

“He wanted you to play with some intensity, blocking and tackling, the whole bit,’’ Yeager said. “You needed to know what you were going to do and play every down with the most of your ability you could muster.’’

One other word Yeager used to describe Daskal was genuine, adding that if he said something, you could count on it. “You knew where he stood,’’ Yeager said.

Judy Shelton, girls’ basketball coach

Shelton was with Daskal during his Reid Ross years, when in addition to being head football coach he was the school’s athletic director.

“John was very supportive of girls’ sports,’’ Shelton said. “That wasn’t the case with everybody. John thought we needed girls’ sports.’’

In addition to being a good coach, Shelton added Daskal was also an outstanding history teacher.

She called working with him a joy, adding that if you needed a chewing out, he wasn’t timid about administering it. But in addition, he was always fair, she said.

“I think he’s one of the most respected coaches I’ve ever known,’’ she said. “He was a very important person to so many kids, and it had nothing to do with playing football. He saw those kids seeking guidance and he gave it to them.’’

Reggie Pinkney, former player and coach

Pinkney went on to college stardom at East Carolina after his days at Ross and played briefly in the NFL. He coached with Daskal at Ross and Terry Sanford and briefly against him at Westover.

Pinkney felt one of the major roles Daskal played was as a father figure, especially to young men from Fort Bragg who were the sons of fathers who were deployed.

“I’ll always remember he took time out in the daily practice schedule to talk to us about things like that,’’ Pinkney said. “It was about things you may be going through, family situations.’’

Pinkney said Daskal instilled a winning attitude in the minds and hearts of his players. “It wasn’t whether we were going to win or lose, but that we were going to win and by how much,’’ he said.

Trey Edge, quarterback

Edge played with Daskal for one season, possibly the toughest season of his coaching career. It was in 1985, when Ross was closed and Daskal had to put together a team that blended players from Ross, Terry Sanford and E.E. Smith.

“That entire season was built on mending fences and putting things together,’’ Edge said. “That was not an easy thing to do.’’

In the final game of the regular season, Terry Sanford lost to Douglas Byrd and barely qualified for the state playoffs as the No. 3 team from its conference.

Edge said Daskal convinced the team it had earned a second chance.

“He had a confidence, a stillness and a calmness about him that spilled over to the team,’’ Edge said.

The Bulldogs became road warriors and pulled off miracle after miracle, finally earning a berth in the state title game with 4-A juggernaut Greensboro Page. “You can’t do that if you don’t have somebody at the top that is a leader and knows how to relate to 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids,’’ Edge said. “He was the definition of stability.’’

The final game was played at Greensboro Grimsley High School’s Jamieson Stadium. To the surprise of many, the Bulldogs put up a fierce battle, and in the final seconds drove down to attempt the winning field goal on the last play.

In one of the most painful endings imaginable, the play went awry and the ball bounced into the hands of a Page player who raced down the sideline for the winning score.

But even in the face of such a bitter defeat, Daskal stood tall for Edge and his teammates. “He was like a father, a friend,’’ Edge said. “His influence was incredible.’’

Rick Hazlett, defensive end

Hazlett was an anchor of the defensive line for the first team Daskal took to a state title, the Reid Ross squad of 1972. They fell in the finals to a powerful High Point Andrews team led by future NC State legend Johnny Evans.

Hazlett, now a practicing attorney in Charlotte, is one of numerous former players for Daskal who have gone on to outstanding success in adult life. He thinks there’s a reason for that.

“He exemplified fairness, honesty and integrity in his coaching, and it rubbed off on the players,’’ Hazlett said. “He also preached hard work and preparation. His players learned that on the field from him and practiced it for the rest of their lives.’’

Reid Ross held a 50th reunion last November. Daskal attended and made a brief talk.

Hazlett said he mentioned the coming together of Black and white players at Ross during the turbulent times of the late 1960s and early 1970s without the problems the rest of the country was experiencing.

“He talked about how we all came together like a family with one goal, to win football games for Reid Ross,’’ Hazlett said.

Daskal then noted some of the honors he had won. Among them were being president of the N.C. Coaches Association; Compiling a record of 211-100-4 during his career; Winning the NCHSAA 4-A Division II state title in 1981; Having the stadium at Reid Ross named in his honor.

But his speech wasn’t meant to draw attention to himself. It was to thank the players for allowing him to succeed. And to thank them for the role they played in his life.

“It was really he that needed to thank us,’’ Hazlett said.

In the end, Hazlett said the players loved and respected Daskal so much, he was able to get the best possible performance out of his talent.

“We just flat did not want to let him down, and so we worked our tails off to excel for him,’’ Hazlett said.

A man of humor

Daskal was serious and committed when it was necessary, but he was also a guy who appreciated a good laugh.

There are two favorite stories that come to mind.

When he played football at old Fayetteville High School, Daskal was a teammate of the late Dolph Berry, local attorney.

At the celebration held to honor the retiring Daskal, Berry told the story of how Daskal once taught Berry how to use some rather harsh words in Greek, so Berry could yell them at opponents during a football game without getting ejected.

One night they were playing in Durham, and Berry fired off a couple of his favorites at the opponent in front of him. The opponent immediately lunged and knocked Berry to the ground.

Berry cast a befuddled look at Daskal, who stared down at Berry and said, “Dolph, meet Harry Galifinakis.’’

A history teacher, Daskal also liked to play a little trick on his classes, and one of his assistant coaches, Charlie Underwood. When telling the story of Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill, Daskal would tell them to go ask Coach Underwood about it because he was there with him.

Without fail, at least two or three students every year would do it, only to learn from a somewhat perturbed Underwood that he was quite a few years too young to have been with Teddy in Puerto Rico in 1898.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville football coaching giant John Daskal dies, funeral