Bob Paroli, NC State football alum and high school coaching legend, dies
It was 57 years in the making, but Bob Paroli and others were finally appropriately honored on October 11, 2014 for earning NC State its first Atlantic Coast Conference football championship .
Players and coaches from the 1957 NC State team received championship rings that day while being honored during the Wolfpack’s ACC game against Boston College. Paroli was a backup offensive tackle for the Wolfpack that season and after earning his degree in 1958 would go on to become one of North Carolina’s winningest high school football coaches.
Paroli, 90, passed away Monday in Fayetteville, where he spent the majority of a 55-year coaching career.
Born and raised in New York, Paroli came South in 1951 to play football at NC State and for coach Beattie Feathers. He left school in 1952 to join the U.S. Army, but returned in 1955 to resume his football career under future legend Earle Edwards.
The Wolfpack finished just 4-5-1 overall in Paroli’s first year back, then went 3-7 in 1956. But one of those victories in ’56 was a 26-6 triumph over rival North Carolina that was NC State’s first in ACC play.
A 7-0 win against UNC launched the ’57 campaign and set the stage for a 7-1-2 overall finish and 5-0-1 ACC mark for the Wolfpack. A 29-26 victory against South Carolina in the season finale clinched the league championship for NC State, which finished ranked No. 15 in the final Associated Press rankings.
Upon earning his degree from NC State, Paroli embarked on a coaching career in the high school football ranks that would eventually make him one of the winningest in North Carolina state history. With the exception of six-year stint at the New York Military Academy, Paroli would spend his entire career at North Carolina schools – Benson (1958-64), Jacksonville (1964-65), Wilson Fike (1971-76), Burlington Cummings (1976-80), Douglas Byrd (1980-2005) and Seventy-First (2006-2012).
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Paroli spent the majority of his coaching career in Fayetteville, first at Douglas Byrd where his teams advanced to the state finals five times, including three straight years between 1995-97. During his time at Byrd, Paroli helped develop future NFL players such as Brad Edwards, Joe Horn, Calvin Lowry, Donnell Woolford and Kinnon Tatum, among others.
Edwards won a Super Bowl ring with the Washington Redskins in 1992, while Woolford and Horn were both NFL All-Pro performers. The football stadium at Douglas Byrd now bears Paroli’s name.
Following the 2005 season, Paroli resigned from Douglas Byrd to become the new head coach at rival Seventy-First High School. It was at Seventy-First that Paroli won his only state championship when the Falcons claimed the 4-A title in 2008 with a 28-7 win against his old school, Douglas Byrd.
At age 81, Paroli retired at the end of the 2012 season with 403 career wins. The total ranked him only second at the time among North Carolina prep coaches behind Jack Holley. While still coaching, Paroli was inducted into the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
Paroli continued to patrol the sidelines in Fayetteville beyond his retirement. He spent several seasons working as an assistant when his son Michael was named head coach at Douglas Byrd in 2016.
He is survived by sons Michael and Tony, and daughter Terri Koesters.
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