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 Be
it as an athlete, a coach or an educator, Alan Guandolo found
success in every aspect of his life’s endeavors. Guandolo was a
standout three-sport athlete at Beaver High School and was a
multi-year letter winner in football, basketball and baseball. He
was an offensive and defensive back for the Bobcats, earning
all-conference honors on defense as a member of one of Beaver
greatest teams ever, the 1968 squad that went unbeaten at 9-0-1. He
was also a two-year letter-winner in basketball, earning all-section
honors and leading the team in scoring, and in baseball, where he
played both second base and shortstop.
Guandolo then took his
talents to Geneva College, where he once again was a three-sport
athlete. Guandolo played shortstop for four years for the Golden
Tornadoes baseball team, where he was named to the all-District 18
team. He also led Geneva into the NAIA playoffs as a sophomore. He
also played wide receiver on the football team, leading Geneva in
receptions for three seasons, and spent a season with the basketball
team. With his abilities, it was only natural that Guandolo would
choose to pass along his knowledge and enter the coaching and
teaching ranks. After various assistant coaching stints, he became
the head baseball coach at Blackhawk High School in 1978 and led the
Cougars to their first winning season, first section title and first
WPIAL Championship game appearance in school history.
But it was as
a football coach that Guandolo left his mark on Beaver County’s
great gridiron legacy. He was named the head football coach at
Monaca in 1981 and led the Indians to the playoffs in six of the
next seven seasons in an era when only the top two teams in each
section advanced to the post season. In that span Monaca won two
WPIAL championships, one WPIAL runner-up trophy, and three section
titles. His coaching record at Monaca was 66-14-3, an .825 winning
percentage, which was the highest in school history. He was also
named Coach of the Year four times. In 1988 he took over the program
at Freedom and led the Bulldogs to the playoffs for just the second
time in school history in 1990 and was selected Coach of the Year
for a fifth time. He stepped down in 1992 with a career record of
94-35-5.
Not surprisingly, Guandolo also found professional success
as well. He would go on to earn a doctorate degree in education and
become Assistant Superintendent at Freedom for five years,
Superintendent at Monaca for five years and spend nine years as the
Superintendent at Blackhawk. Guandolo resides in Beaver Falls with
his wife, Karen. They have three daughters, Leah, Celene and Terra.
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