WE CAN CHANGE THE GAME!

By Jason Smollett.

To those of you in the annals of football, Joe Galat is a name that is synonymous with all that is good about America’s gridiron game. The man who has held every position in professional football was born in Painesville, OH and has dedicated his life to playing, scouting, coaching, managing and teaching the game he was truly born to be a part of. To the surprise of nobody, Galat continues to study the game and educate others on how to play the game and what football represents. All of this after a life on the front lines.

Galat played for Harvey High School in Painesville, Ohio. A decade before Galat’s enrollment, his coach mentored legendary football Coach Don Shula. Don returned to his alma mater each year to encourage and motivate the players at his former high school. Shula encouraged Joe that although he lacked size, his courage and his quickness could change the game. As it turns out, he was right. “Mighty Joe”as he was known by his High School teammates was eventually selected to The All-Ohio All-Star Team.

Joe attended Miami (Ohio) University where he captained both The Redskins Football and Wrestling teams. The University known as The ‘Cradle of Coaches’ remains a force in the Mid-American Conference today. Seven of Joe’s teammates went on to play in the NFL while Joe Galat was named Outstanding Student Athlete and a member of the all Mid-American conference team. After graduation, Galat’s football apprenticeship would continue under the legendary coaching trio of Bo Schembechler, Carm Cozza, and John McVay (Vice-President of the San Francisco 49ers) tallying five Superbowl Rings, the first coming in 1981. Galat’s experience and quickness as a player led to Coach Joe Galat’s implementation of a unique defensive system of zone blitzes and gap control that changed the game.

After a respected tour as an innovative assistant coach in the NCAA at Yale, Miami, Kentucky and in the NFL with the New York Giants and Houston Oilers, the pride of Painesville was finally hired as Head Coach and General Manager of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes by then owner George Allen. In a hockey crazed province, Joe surprisingly hired the first French Canadian Coach in the CFL, Mr. Jacques Dussault. Galat told Dussault “we can change the game” and diligently initiated clinics to teach and motivate the game in the province of Quebec. Joe’s legacy is the intense interest in football that remains strong to this day in the French Canadian Community.

GIVING BACK

With all this time spent on the big stage of coaching and managing professional and college football teams, Galat always made a point to volunteer his time to attend Youth Football League Functions. Jim Taft, (Former Pop Warner Commissioner of 25 years) recognizing the many advantages of having a man like Joe Galat in an organization, asked him to serve as President of American Youth Football. Galat’s strategy for the growth of American Youth Football (AYF) became simple: change the rules and traditions of the game creating unlimited weight divisions and restrict older kids from playing younger age kids. Galat created the philosophy “AYF Community Circle of Giving Back”. Today AYF has the largest enrollment and is the most innovative youth organization in the USA. The National Football League has selected AYF as a National Youth Football Partner and works with Galat and his youth football organization on making the game better for the kids. AYF has given back over 12 million dollars worth of equipment to their member communities. In youth sports where parents and coaches often lose their focus on the kids, Galat often notes “we can change the game”. Future Hall of Famer and current New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss is also changing the game as a spokesperson for AYF . “Randy is a true champion of our cause and has taken the AYF mission of giving back into his own hands”, stated Joe Galat. “He has stepped up as a leader; his work is going to help a lot of kids.”

THE GREATEST TURF ON EARTH

While returning to Montreal for his Daughter’s admission to McGill University in 1999, Galat was asked by John Gilman, founder and former Chief Executive Officer of FieldTurf, to help introduce the upstart company called FieldTurf, a near perfect replication of a grass sports field. Gilman told Galat that with his contacts and range in the world of football, FieldTurf would be able to get in the door of the High Profile Football Teams in the NFL and NCAA. The rest is history.

Galat called on many NFL and Major College coaches and general managers. With John and Joe working the phones, the contracts came at a steady pace while the results of independent research proved that FieldTurf was a safer and more durable surface than a good natural grass field. In addition to his Presidential duties with American Youth Football, Coach Joe currently holds the title of Vice-President of High-Profile Sales at FieldTurf. To anyone that knows the company, no other artificial turf producer has ever had as many high-profile installations as FieldTurf – in large part due to Galat’s work within the circles of NFL and NCAA football. As John Gilman and Galat agreed all along, “we can change the game”.