A funeral mass was offered Dec. 9 at Our Lady of Fatima Church, North Bergen, for Vincent F. Ascolese, 77, of North Bergen. He passed away Dec. 3rd after a long illness, with his family at his side. He was born in Trenton, raised in Jersey City, and later resided in North Bergen. He attended Saint Michael’s High School in Union City. He achieved his bachelor’s from Upsala College, where he was offensive guard ,Team Captain and ECAC 2X All Conference. He achieved his MBA from Seton Hall University. He started his career as a History, English and Driver’s Education teacher in Hoboken High School in 1962.
He was the youngest head football coach in the state of New Jersey for Hoboken High School, where in 1966 he lead them to the first state championship in school history as well as four Hudson County championships. He served as the track coach as well. In 1973 he became the North Bergen Board of Education assistant superintendent, a position he held until retiring in January, 2012. He also served as the North Bergen High School head football coach for 39 years, where his teams achieved seven state football championships, and 14 county championships. He won 369 games which made him the second most winningest coach in New Jersey. He was a member of the Hudson County SIAA, Hoboken, and North Bergen Halls of Fame. He was honored by the New York Down Town Athletic Club with the Heisman Legendary Coaches Award for the Tri-State area in 1995. In 1997 he received the Toyota Coach of the Year Award for the Eastern United States. He was Coach of the Year for NY Daily News four times. Hudson County Coach of the Year 14 times. He was awarded the Frank McGuire Foundation Legendary Coaches Award in 2004. In 2011 he was honored in NY Waldorf Astoria by the American College Football Coaches Association with the National Legendary Coaches award and was honored by the prestigious Maxwell Football Club with the “Life Time Achievement Award” and named Star Ledger 2011 Coach of the Year. The Brett Cooper All American Football Leadership Award is given annually in his name.
He was the both the NY Giants and Jet’s NFL Coach of the week and NY Giants Coach of the Year. Politically, he served as a Hudson County freeholder for 12 years, and was chosen chairman of the board three times.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years Patricia Ann Ascolese. He was the father of Susan, Michael and his fiance Lisa Basile, Jeannine and her husband Frank D’Onofrio, Vincent P. and his wife Lauren, Jennifer and her husband Geoffrey Santini, Gregg and his wife Amanda and was the grandfather of Vincent, Francesca, Nicholas, Gianna, Michael, Olivia, Hudson and Isabella. Also survived by his godchildren Tara McEnroe, Lauren Raddossich and nieces and nephews Kerry, Shannon, Kyle, Stacey, Thomas, Meghan, Keith, Todd, Ryan and Eugene. Services arranged by the Vainieri Funeral Home, North Bergen.