New in the 2025 season will be the “Seat of Honor.”
Starting with the home opener vs. Oberlin on Saturday, September 20, the Gridiron Club will honor one dearly departed alumnus per game. A seat will be saved to honor the memory and legacy of the deceased alum.
The first game will honor Nick Restifo ’73.
A split end for the Blue Streaks, Restifo graduated from John Carroll in 1973. But his legacy would be truly be written in the decades to come at the nearby Jesuit high school, Saint Ignatius.
After graduating with a Spanish degree, Restifo “thought maybe I wanted to be a lawyer but was more attracted to teaching and coaching.” His teaching career began in 1974, when he was hired to teach and coach at St. Joseph High School (now Villa Angela-St. Joseph). He “learned a lot of football” and remains grateful for great coaches who mentored him, including Joe Perella ’63 at Cathedral Latin and Bill Gutbrod at St. Joe’s.
Restifo was soon hired as a teacher at Saint Ignatius and soon became the football team’s offensive coordinator in 1983. As a 2021 Saint Ignatius article noted upon his retirement, “In 1981 Restifo was hired to teach at Saint Ignatius, where his buddy Chuck Kyle was teaching and coaching. Friends on John Carroll football team, Kyle recalls his momentous first decision after getting the head coaching job. “I walked out of the president’s office, up two flights of stairs, right to Nick’s desk and said, ‘I’ve just been named head coach. Do you want to be the offensive coordinator?’ He said ‘Sure!’ Within minutes of my being hired, Nick became the first and only offensive coordinator at Saint Ignatius High School.”
Restifo guided an offense that broke the norms of the day, developing a potent passing game and producing incredible quarterbacks (including future JCU star Tom Arth ’03 and future JCU assistant coach Dave Ragone). Thanks in part to Restifo’s impressive offenses, the Wildcats went on to win 11 OHSAA Division I State Championships.
As fate would have it, Restifo passed away suddenly on October 19, 2024 after coaching Saint Ignatius’ freshmen teams. His final offensive play call would go for a touchdown.
To learn more about Restifo, read Saint Ignatius’ In Memoriam piece here and his obituary here.
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