Best Team You Never Heard Of

Tringali, who now owns an advertising specialty business, came to hear Kuharich that night nearly 20 years ago. "We all knew Joe had cancer," he says. "And it had been a long time since I'd seen him. I remembered him as such a virile man, so, for me, this was a sad occasion. But he touched me deeply that night because, in his speech, he took the time to urge everyone to get out and support my football program. It was supposed to be his night, not mine. He didn't have to do that. I couldn't believe he'd do such a generous thing. You know, in college, I was so afraid of that man, I couldn't even get up the nerve to say hello. I'd develop a stutter just trying to talk to him. But that night, I came up to him with tears in my eyes and gave him a big hug and kiss. I don't know what came over me, but I know it felt right."

Kuharich died of a massive heart attack at age 63 on Jan. 25, 1981, Super Bowl Sunday. The Eagles, his old team, would lose the game to the Oakland Raiders 27-10. Kuharich's name will never appear on any list of great football coaches. The crowning achievement of his career is now all but forgotten, no more than a footnote in he history of a school without a continuing football tradition. And yet he knew, and his players still know, that for one season he coached one of the best damn teams ever to play his game. Maybe, when all is said and done, the best.