Dean of boys coached Bryan, Libbey football

12/27/2007

John Smilo, 73, a former high school football coach and administrator whose tough-love approach helped shape the characters of generations of young men at Bryan, Libbey, and Bowsher high schools, died Monday in his home in Maumee.

He had been battling brain cancer, his son, David, said.

In Toledo, Mr. Smilo was dean of boys at Libbey from 1975 to 1985, and at Bowsher from 1985 to 1990. He also held that position at Byrnedale Junior High for the 1990-1991 school year, his last before retirement.

Mr. Smilo's job involved meting out discipline during the school day. But when his students needed help or advice outside of school, many turned to him first, his son said.

"He was an in-your-face, no-nonsense disciplinarian - but you felt the love from him," David Smilo said. "He was the guy whose phone rang when a kid got in trouble."

Throughout most of his career Mr. Smilo was also a high school football coach.

He started off in the early 1960s coaching in Wesleyville, Pa., and later in Cambridge Springs, Pa., before arriving in 1966 at Bryan High School, where he also taught U.S. history.

During his five years there, Bryan won Northwest Ohio Athletic League championships in 1968 and 1969.

Seeking a new challenge, Mr. Smilo in 1972 took the head coaching job at Libbey, which hadn't fielded a competitive team for years.

"You must build discipline in a ball club," Mr. Smilo said in an interview that year with the Toledo Times. "The big thing is to get the players to accept the responsibility that they are young men."

The next few years were rough. After three seasons, Mr. Smilo's record was just 2-27.

Yet fellow Toledo coaches noticed playing against Libbey was no longer an easy win; Mr. Smilo's teams were downright competitive.

A 1974 Toledo Times poll of City League coaches put Mr. Smilo as tied for first place as the coach who had done "the best overall job."

Mr. Smilo's son said that his father was honored.

"He was very passionate about the game, and passionate about playing hard. He said to always give your best effort because at the end of the day, if you gave it your best, you'll have no regrets."

One former Libbey player, Willis Chapman, class of 1975, credited Mr. Smilo for helping him to earn a full scholarship to play football at Eastern Michigan University.

"He was someone who was a great father figure, a great mentor, just a great coach and man," Mr. Chapman said.

Mr. Smilo retired from coaching in 1975 so that he could watch his two sons, David and Christopher Smilo, play college football.

John Smilo was born in Chicago in 1934 and participated in football, basketball, baseball, and boxing at Dayton Fairview High School. He went on to play football at Manchester College in Indiana, and after several years in the U.S. Army, continued playing and student coaching at what was then Findlay College.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Findlay in 1961, and played semiprofessional football for a few years with the Toledo Tornadoes.

In 1980 Mr. Smilo received a master's degree in education from the University of Toledo, the same year he was selected "Male Administrator of the Year" by Toledo Public Schools.

Surviving are his wife, Angela Smilo; sons, David and Christopher Smilo; daughter, Debra Smilo; sister, Patra Smilo, and seven grandchildren.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, Maumee. A funeral Mass will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. Joseph Church, Maumee.

The family suggest tributes to Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse.