Ara Parseghian
Ara Parseghian was an American football player and coach born on May 21, 1923, in Akron, Ohio.
Parseghian attended South High School before pursuing his education at Miami University and the University of Akron. His background as an athlete extended beyond the gridiron — he also played basketball, giving him experience across multiple sporting disciplines before he transitioned into coaching. That dual athletic identity shaped the early arc of a life spent in close proximity to competitive sport.
As a coach, Parseghian built the central chapter of his career around American football, the game in which he had first made his name as a player. The move from athlete to coach marked a decisive turn, and it was in that second role that he would spend the greater portion of his professional life. He died on August 2, 2017, in Granger, Indiana, having lived well into his nineties. The facts of his biography — a young man from Akron who played both football and basketball, studied at two Ohio institutions, and went on to coach — trace a life organized around American athletic culture and the demands of competition at its higher levels.
Quotes by Ara Parseghian
Success in football is relative. If you take a job at a school that finished with a 1-9 record the year before, you're considered a good coach if you finish 5-5 in your first season. But what happens if you start with 8-2 or 9-1?
I've been blessed in many ways, but none of the heights from football can ever compare to the depths you go through when you lose a child.
The best way I could describe it at Notre Dame was that I was accepted as a member of the family.
I coached at Northwestern for eight years, where the admission requirements were high.
I don't think I was a miracle man. Neither were Lou Holtz or Frank Leahy. We all found ways to win.
One of the reasons I never went into pro football was because I wanted my kids to grow up around an academic environment. And that's exactly what we did.
I'd go to clinics and hear coaches say, 'You block with your helmet. You tackle with your helmet.' I'd say, 'No way! You block with your shoulder. It's a lot stronger blow, and you don't risk nearly as much. Why be stupid?'
