Joe Tarby Jr., who first coached Pop Warner football in Woburn in 1962 and was the organization’s president since the early 1970s, said at an award ceremony four years ago that “the most important word in the English language to me is being called coach.’’
On that evening, when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Mastersports Inc., he added that a true coach is a leader, role model, mentor, and sometimes a father figure to “those that may be misguided, troubled, or need help.’’
During the six decades he lived in Woburn, Mr. Tarby offered innovative strategies on the field and a helping hand off it to generations of youngsters, not only on the gridiron but as a Little League coach and a founder of Woburn Youth Hockey.
A former Everett High School football player and a former president and board member of the Pop Warner Football Conference of Eastern Massachusetts, Mr. Tarby died of kidney failure July 9 in Winchester Hospital. He was 89.
“He was born to be a coach and he gave back unselfishly to his community,’’ said the Rev. Richard Clancy, who was a Pop Warner Midget team captain for Mr. Tarby more than 40 years ago. “He coached us hard, his practices were incredible, and he stressed that nobody was better than the team.’’
Mr. Tarby, who remained physically strong, offered kicking pointers a few years ago to players at Malden Catholic High School, where his son Richard was an assistant football coach. Mr. Tarby – 84 at the time – “was too close to a players’ drill, got hit, and went flying, then quickly got up and said, ‘They ain’t that tough,’’’ his son recalled.
Richard, who lives in Woburn and was a Pop Warner coach for 37 years, said his father was once offered a high school coaching job in another community, but he turned it down. He recalled his father saying on the ride home, “I really think I can do more in Woburn.’’
Mr. Tarby’s children Joseph III and Gail Prizio also live in Woburn and were involved with Pop Warner.
In the 1970s, Mr. Tarby would bring a group of Pop Warner players to a three-week overnight summer football camp on Cape Cod directed by Armond Colombo, a legendary Brockton High School coach.
“Joe was a football man through and through, and a friend,’’ said Colombo, who was so impressed with Mr. Tarby’s love of the game that he added him to a camp coaching staff that included New England Patriots players John Smith and Jim Plunkett and Harvard University head coach Joe Restic.
Joseph R. Tarby Jr. was born in Everett, the son of Joseph and Katherine Tarby. He was close to his father, who had played football at Everett High and Providence College.
“Our father passed on his love of sports to us, and I always tagged along with my brother and his friends to the field or going ice skating,’’ said Mr. Tarby’s sister, Mary Dunkman of Saugus. “Joe was a lot like his father, who would give you the shirt off his back.’’
Leaving high school after his junior year, Mr. Tarby enlisted in the Army in 1944 and served as a sergeant with the Sixth Infantry Division in the Philippines and in South Korea. In May 2011, he received an honorary diploma at an Everett High ceremony.
After returning home from the Army, he began working in 1948 for Colonial Beacon Oil, which is now part of Exxon Mobil. Two years later, he married Barbara Mason, who served on various Pop Warner and Little League committees.
One day when he was working at home on a football practice schedule, his wife, who died in 2002, decided to let him know he wasn’t paying enough attention to her. She dressed in a football jersey and shoulder pads, “which definitely got dad’s attention,’’ said Richard, who added that “our parents taught us the true meaning of commitment.’’
Before moving to Woburn in 1956, Mr. Tarby played in the semi-pro Mayflower hockey league at the Skating Club of Boston. According to his sister, his playing drew interest from the Boston Olympics, a one-time Boston Bruins farm team.
On his way to the Skating Club, Mr. Tarby would pick up Dick Rodenhiser, who was then a Malden youngster.
“Joe was a terrific defenseman who could carry the puck the length of the ice,’’ recalled Rodenhiser, who subsequently played for Boston University and on the US Olympic hockey teams that won a silver medal in 1956 and a gold in 1960.
“Some nights we would just play pickup games from 11 at night until midnight, and if they gave us an extra five minutes we were in heaven,’’ Rodenhiser said. “Joe, who was a few years older than me, gave me good advice and also a part-time job working on an oil truck when I returned from the Olympics. That was his nature.’’
A service has been held for Mr. Tarby, who in addition to his three children and sister leaves five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Clancy, who delivered an emotional eulogy at St. Charles Church in Woburn, recalled that after each season’s final game, “coach would tell us how much he loved us and that if you ever found yourself in a tough spot and you’re all alone with no one to help you, ‘Call me and I’ll be there.’ ’’
At the Master Sports ceremony in 2012, Mr. Tarby said that as time went on, “I realized the impact you have on a young person’s life – helping them to be not just great players, but, on a higher note, to be better human beings.’’
Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.
