Tag Archives: John Belli

04.15.22
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Stories from a magical Cherry and White Day

Brian Krulikowski and Kurt Warner will have plenty of chances to re-enact this photo.

Plenty of good stories abounded at Saturday’s magical Cherry and White Game.

Magical, because as “blah” as the last few games seemed to be, the first Stan Drayton Extravaganza made us all forget those ones.

That’s a good thing.

Another was the fact that many former Owls made the trek back to the Edberg-OIson Football Complex, including guys like Nick Rapone.

Brian is keeping some pretty good Temple company here.

Catching up with Nick–Bruce Arians’ defensive coordinator–was a blast.

Rapone was not only a big-time assistant coach for one Temple coach but he handled the special teams under Bobby Wallace at Temple.

I reminded Nick how Arians called a timeout in the last two minutes of a 35-30 win at Rutgers (the same RU team that beat Penn State) and berated Nick.

“Nick, what did he say?” I asked.

“He wanted us to get out of a prevent defense and go to an all-out blitz,” Rapone said. “They got to our 30. After we went to a blitz, we pulled off three-straight sacks and they ended the game back on their 30. We did the same thing against the Rams (this year) in the NFL playoffs. It didn’t work but that’s Bruce. You know what he always said, ‘No risky, no bisky.’ I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s why Bruce is a Super Bowl champion.”

Wayne Hardin’s players toast the great John Belli (RIP) at Saturday’s Cherry and White Game.

I told Nick I thought he should have been picked to get the Temple head coaching job after Matt Rhule left and mentioned that one of his former Temple players, Cap Poklemba, told me that “Nick Rapone was the best coach I ever had.”

“I love Cap,” Nick said. “Tell him I said hello the next time you see him.”

Did not get a chance to talk to Kurt Warner but his presence at the Cherry and White Game probably means a pre-game reunion in Lot K with former Arena Football teammate (and great Temple Owl) Brian Krulikowski is likely in a future Temple game.

Too bad we could not get a recreation of the photo that tops this post on Saturday, but there will be plenty of opportunities ahead.

Joe Greenwood, Nick Rapone and Eddie Parker.

Drayton’s appearance at Joe Greenwood’s Lot 10 tailgate cannot be underestimated, too. He promised to “get this thing back to the way you are used to it” and received a standing ovation from Greenwood, Sheldon Morris, Eddie Parker, Alshermond Singleton, Keith Gloster and just about every former Arians’ player.

Drayton said it in a manner that made you believe he meant it. His wife, Monique (the First Lady of Temple Football), connected with everyone at the tailgate, making a point to hug every single fan. That’s the kind of connection we haven’t seen here since the Matt Rhule and Al Golden Days when Al and Matt were doing the hugging (or at least shaking of hands).

Moreso, Drayton’s promise to bring in “other quarterbacks” to compete with D’wan Mathis for the starting job indicates that he won’t coddle fragile personalities if it stagnates the advancement of the organization as a whole and that’s the way it should be.

Finally, the Wayne Hardin Crew took time out to propose a toast to departed tailgate leader John Belli.

John will be honored this fall with an empty chair with his name on it before every home game. Hopefully, members of his family, particularly son Andrew, will grace us with their presence this fall because we know where that’s where John’s spirit will be.

Monday: A Story to Look Out For

02.24.22
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We interrupt regular programming for … sadness

Thanks to the great Steve Conjar for this photo.

Sometimes one word so perfectly describes a person you think immediately of one guy when you hear it.

Every time I heard the word raconteur I thought of John Belli.

And I smiled. He was the best raconteur I ever knew or will ever know.

No one fit that definition more than John, at least among the real people I’ve met in my lifetime:

I thought of John this morning and I was incredibly sad when I heard he passed away.

This post today was supposed to be about something much less important so we interrupt this regular programming to talk about something much more important.

The wonderful gift God gave to all of us we call John Belli.

The last I saw him–the morning of the Boston College game–he seemed to be the healthiest of our regular tailgating group. He was in much better shape than almost all of us and his mind was as sharp as always.

For most of the last 20 years, I used to see and talk to John before and after every Temple football game.

That’s why I had to take a step back away from the computer and shake my head. Not ashamed to say a few tears rolled down both my cheeks and had to reach up with my shirt to wipe them away.

This was the last person of my age group I expected to leave us so soon. It does not compute but it goes to show that you never know and should never take any day for granted.

Someday, we will find out why he passed so early but that is so unimportant now.

He was not only a friend who shared the same love for Temple football I had but a frequent poster to this site. He was THE most frequent poster.

The ONLY thing we disagreed about was politics. Football, we were Sympatico. At some point, we both agreed to not mention politics.

John followed me when I talked to Geoff Collins about Nick Sharga at the season-ticket holders party and urged him to watch the film and how Sharga led the Owls to the championship. Collins agreed with me and swore on a stack of bibles to use him more than even Matt did but, in reality, he made Sharga disappear the next season. Probably the difference between 7-6 and 10-3 but that’s on Collins and not me and John.

In the first two years of the Matt Rhule regime, we were both frequent critics of Matt (sorry, Matt) but always thought that Rhule could be a good coach if he ditched the spread and went to a fullback-oriented, play-action offense.

Low and behold, Matt did exactly that in Year Three–using a run game established by the blocking of Nick Sharga and the running of Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstrong to set up a dynamic play-action downfield passing game behind Temple all-time leading quarterback P.J. Walker.

Since Matt told me personally on the day he was hired the only way he followed Temple football the year he was at the Giants was by reading Temple Football Forever, I somehow feel Matt got the message then, too.

“Mike, Matt owes us $7.4 million bucks,” John said.

He was only slightly exaggerating because, without Sharga, Rhule doesn’t get the Baylor job.

After Temple beat Penn State, Belli whispered in Rhule’s ear: “Hey, Matt, see what the fullback can do for you?” Matt nodded and laughed.

Then Rhule leaned over and kissed 90-year-old Wayne Hardin on the cheek and gave him the game ball, telling him, “Coach this is for all the times you came so close to doing what we did today.”

John played for coach Hardin at Temple so we had come full circle.

We had a party in Lot K that night. When the cops came around and tried to kick us out at 9–almost four hours after the game ended–a police captain came by on his motorcycle and said to his underlings: “Let them be. They waited 74 years for this.”

John never got to 74, like most of us do, and that means a lot of great stories only he can tell in the manner only he can tell them will never be heard again.

Those of us who heard his stories and the wonderful way he communicated them will be sad from this day forward. The tailgates will never be the same without him.

Monday: What we had planned for today