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Rip
DePascal was born in Aliquippa, PA, on April 13, 1916.
Rip played baseball, basketball, and football for
Swissvale High School, earning WPIAL honors in football
and graduating in 1939. Rip earned All-Conference honors
in football at the University of Wichita (nka Wichita
State University), and, after completing several years
at Wichita, Rip enlisted in the military to join the
World War II effort.
In July 1943, Rip was assigned to the 498th bomb
squadron in the China Burma India Theater, and, during
his military career, Rip would fly nearly 50 combat
missions, being shot down three times in the Pacific
campaign. Rip was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air
Force and returned to the United States on August 4,
1944, with a Purple Heart, an Asiatic Pacific Theater
Campaign Ribbon, an Air Medal, and the Distinguished
Flying Cross. Rip used his remaining time in the war
playing football for the Army, before receiving an
honorable discharge as a captain on October 20, 1945.
As soon as he received his discharge papers and returned
home, Rip boarded a train for Hershey, PA, where the
Pittsburgh Steelers had been in training camp. Rip
played for the 1945 Steelers, and, after a season with
the Steelers, Rip served as the athletic director, head
football coach, and head basketball coach at St Mary's
High School in Wichita, KS, from 1946 through 1951.
In 1953, Rip began a long and successful career at
Tucson's Amphitheater High School and served as an
assistant football coach, head basketball coach, and
head high school golf coach.
Rip co-founded the Southern Arizona Retired Coaches and
Officials Association, served as a football and
basketball official in the Border and WAC Conferences,
served as baseball commissioner for the Arizona
Interscholastic Association, co-produced a
football/basketball Game of the Week radio program for
local high schools, produced the Sports Round-Up of all
scoring in Arizona, and was the assistant editor of a
Tucson community weekly football and basketball program.
Rip retired in 1988, after 35 years of teaching and
coaching at Amphitheater High School in Tucson, AZ. That
year, Rip was inducted into the Amphitheater High School
Athletic Hall of Fame and, in 1996, he was inducted into
the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame.
Carmine Ralph "Rip" DePascal, died March 26, 2002, at
age 85, in Tucson, AZ. |
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