Spectrum 9-04 - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's Monthly ...

There will be an odd, hollow feeling this coming fall when youth foot
ball season rolls around in these parts.
Kids will still climb into shoulder pads and put on cleats, but it won’t be the
same. The grass will seem a little less green, the air a little less clear, the world a bit less
full of possibilities.
But we’ll soldier on and give it our best, because Frank Guida would have wanted
it that way.
Guida, known as “Coach” to four decades’ worth of youth football players on the
mid-Peninsula, passed away at the age of 85 on Saturday after a short battle with cancer.
It was the only major battle he ever lost.
He was a World War II veteran who won the Purple Heart, escaped from a German
prison camp and met Gen. George Patton. Yet Guida saved his boasting for the
exploits of his youth football teams. He was famous for referring to each of his players as
“champ.”
“I call them champ so I don’t have to remember all those names,” he once said.
“But really it’s to remind me of why I keep coaching year after year. My kids are all
champs to me.”
His devotion to the community is legendary. In addition to co-founding youth
football in Redwood City, he was involved in Little League baseball, Indian Guides,
Cub Scouts and the PTA — the latter organization which named him “Mother of the
Year” in 1967. He was President of the Board of Realtors, won Redwood City’s Outstanding
Citizen Award in 1996, and was named National Pop Warner Coach of the
Year in 2004. He
coached youth
football for 41
years (retiring in
2004), and is a
member of the
Pop Warner National
Hall of Fame.
“What makes Frank Guida special?” asked longtime friend and fellow youth coach
Larry Howard. “What makes people go to New York and see the Statue of Liberty? He’s
a landmark.”
Guida raised threes sons and a daughter,
all three boys having played football for
him in the Pop Warner program, which he helped organize in 1963. Coaching primarily
at the junior midget level (11-13 year-olds), his teams collected 30 division titles, 15
conference crowns, eight regional titles and one national championship (the Ray Lockettled
1985 team). Former players include
Milo Lewis (University of Alabama)
Ronald Nunn (USC), Charles Tharp (Illinois)
and Chris Ricardi (University of
Hawaii).
His coaching secrets were a passion
for the game, attention to detail and an insistence
on discipline. His players learned
to work hard and not back down to anyone
— traits that were evident in Guida
even as a young man.
When World War II broke out and
the U.S. seemed to be too slow getting involved,
the Cleveland-born Guida enlisted
in the army in Canada, which had already
entered the fray. Fighting in North Africa,
he was wounded and captured by the German army.
“The Germans looked at his papers and asked why an Italian-American was in
the Canadian army,” recounts Guida’s son, Jim. “As my dad tells it, he looked the officer
in the eye and said, ‘So I could go kick Hitler’s ass sooner.’ And knowing him, I believe
he said it.”
During a prisoner transfer to Milan, Italy, Guida escaped, roaming the Italian coun-
The Spectrum • Redwood City’s Monthly Magazine
OBITUARY
Longtime Redwood City youth football coach dies at 85
“What makes Frank Guida special? What makes people go to
New York and see the Statue of Liberty?
He’s a landmark.”
— Larry Howard
Friend and fellow youth coach
By Rick Chandler, Special to The Spectrum
Frank Guida
Frank Guida wearing his trademark coaching hat
tryside until he was taken in and hidden by a local family. Eventually he made it to an
American base, where, bedraggled and unshaven, he got into a chow line for his first hot
meal in days.
That’s when Patton entered the mess hall for an inspection.
“It didn’t take Patton long to find me,” Guida once recalled. “He looked at me
and yelled, ‘Hey! Who let that Arab in here?’”
Returning to Redwood City after the war, he opened Guida Realty and was active
as a realtor/broker for more than 25 years. Frank Pasquale Guida is survived by his four
children, Carol, Edward, Jim and Bob,
daughters-in-law Pam, Teri and Wendy
Guida, sister and brother-in-law Luisa and
Tudor Bogart, sister Maria Ryskiewicz, sisters-in-law Greta and Frances Guida, many
nephews and nieces, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Mid-County Youth Football, c/o
Marianne Pignati, P.O. Box 3541, Redwood City CA 94064, or St. Anthony’s Padua
Dining Room, 3500 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park CA 94025.
A private family service was held last week. An open celebration of Frank’s life
will be held Feb. 26 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Red Morton Community Center, 1400
Roosevelt Ave., Redwood City.
Encore Performance Catering
Celebration Holiday Catering of Life
Large and small occasions
More than 17 years of full-service catering
Dave Hyman (Owner)
(650) 365-3731 • www.epcatering.com
February 2005 • 19