No. 3 Vol. 5
F
May 2021
Chet Parlavecchio Named to Essex County Football Coaches Hall of Fame
By Steve Sears or Chet Parlavecchio, he’s lived a wonderful football life. The 61-year-old Parlavecchio was officially inducted into the Essex County Football Coaches Hall of Fame on Tuesday, May 11 at Calandra’s Italian Village in Caldwell. The honor is apropos, for as a Head Coach he rescued a storied Essex County gridiron program from a crushing winless streak and two years later had them in the state playoffs. Parlavecchio grew up in both Irvington and later West Orange, played football for Seton Hall Prep and Penn State, was drafted by the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, and played for them and the St. Louis Cardinals until a severe knee injury ended his playing days. After being an assistant coach for Governor Livingston of Berkeley Heights, he was in 1986 named Head Coach of the Bloomfield Bengals, a former state power in previous decades who were in the throes of what would become an eventual 40-game winless streak. Also, the Bengals had endured 9 straight losing seasons. The late 1970s and early to mid 1980s had not been kind to BHS football. “Their concern was the situation that the program was in,” Parlavecchio says. “I believed there was never a game that we couldn’t win. That’s the way I played and I tried to bring that into my coaching. I really embraced the challenge.” And a challenge it was for the 26-year-old. His first season at the helm, 1987, was another 0 – 9 season (there were three other like seasons during the skid) for the Bengals. Parlavecchio, who had never been part of a losing team in his life, couldn’t believe what he was seeing on the field. “And then my brother grabbed me, my brother Mark, and he said, ‘Listen. this isn’t you, these kids are not you, this isn’t Seton Hall, this isn’t Penn State. You better realize quick the hand you’ve been dealt and learn how to deal with it.’ That really straightened me out, and I said, ‘You know, you’re right.’ And
from that moment on, we went to work.” 1988 not only saw an end to the 40-game winless streak, but the team also finished 3 – 5 -1. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life, I’ve been very fortunate,” Parlavecchio says. “I still say to this day, the greatest experience of my life was that renaissance of Bloomfield, which would have made a great movie if a writer ever sat down and wanted to write what we went through to get to that point. And the resolve of those kids, and what it did for the entire student body at Bloomfield High School.” Bloomfield’s 7 – 0, week two win over Paramus Catholic had “kids in tears,” Parlavecchio recalls. “I had guys that played for me that had brothers on previous teams that never won a football game. I had kids that were afraid to wear the varsity jackets to wrestling matches because they’d be abused. People have no idea the far-reaching effect that streak had on those young men.” The fans charged the field when that clock hit 0:00. “And people don’t realize that the next week,” says Parlavecchio, “we went on to beat Paramus (19 – 0). We won two in a row. You learn how losing is a habit, but so is winning. They made winning a habit, too.” Indeed, the Bengals did. A year later, Bloomfield had just one loss and made the state playoffs, where they lost 19 – 9 to Elizabeth. Parlavecchio sums it up. “To see them dig themselves out of it to the way they did to play Elizabeth, which at that time was the number one team in the country in high school football, and to realize those kids went from being the worst football team in the state of New Jersey, to almost knocking off the best football team in the country, was incredible. Like I said, it would’ve made a great movie.” In addition to his four seasons in Bloomfield, Parlavecchio also coached at Irvington, Clifton, Elizabeth (where he won his only state title in 2006), and Passaic Valley (two stints) high schools. He served as an assistant coach at Temple University for one season, and was also invited by good friend, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak, to be a special
Photo of Chet holding 50-win football: credit Mike Lamberti
teams and linebackers coach from 2011 – 2013. He closed his high school coaching career with a 123 – 117- 1 record. Parlavecchio credits his wife, Jean, with staying by his side and supporting his career through the years. The couple has two children – daughter Nicole and son Chet. Jr, he now the head football coach at New Providence – and three grandchildren.
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