YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Bucci passed away on Saturday. Although he spent 34 years coaching football at Cardinal Mooney, he was also Youngstown’s top quarterback while attending East High. Don Bucci stated in 2010: “I was a young child when I started coaching a lot of these kids up here.” He made this statement while still serving as Cardinal Mooney’s athletic director despite having been the school’s football coach for ten years. His office was decorated with photos and mementos from his career as the 12th most successful high school football coach in Ohio history.
“I felt they come into our program. It becomes contagious to be a good kid and work hard,” Bucci had said.
Ed Muransky played for Bucci in the late 70s and eventually played in the NFL. “I have my Michigan stuff on today because none of this in my life if it wasn’t for Don Bucci and Cardinal Mooney,” Muransky said.
“His raspy voice and his way of yelling on the field and saying hello to me for 50 or 60 years I’ll really, really miss,” Muransky said.
Early in the 1990s, Chris Amill played for Bucci. Amill stated, “I always considered him as a second dad to me. We spent a lot of time together.
He and Muransky agree that Bucci’s methods were legendary. 50 to 60 times a day, we would drill the identical double team with the tight end. Full hitting” declared Muransky.
“I don’t know if he’d be able to coach today. We had 6,7,8 hour practices. There are time limits on everything now,” Amill said. “But he was a perfectionist. He wanted things to be done right. He wanted things to be done perfectly. And when we look back at it, those things now. That’s why we are who we are.”
Don Bucci won four state championships — and won 77% of his games. He retired after the 1999 season. “There are so many things that make this the perfect time to step down. It really does,” Bucci had said. “God almighty what a legacy,” Muransky said. “It’s a sad day because he’s a fixture in all of our lives from Mooney.”
