Legendary Ellet Coach Dead at 73

Work came down to most of us last night in the region. We found out that Joe Yost had passed away at the age of 73. Joe, longtime coach of the Ellen Orangeman football team. Joe also an administrator, Joe, an athletic director, a teacher, and just a terrific guy. Many of us in the sports arena and in the education arena. appreciated Joe Yost as a man, a person, and a coach. And one of the people I thought of immediately who knew Joe pretty well was Jay Brophy, my football partner and one of our sports analysts here on the morning show and reached out to Jay to join us this morning to reflect a little bit. And Jay, passing of Joe Yost, this is a tough one. He did so much good for so many, for so many years. Yeah, you know what really? You said it's a tough one, man. That's how it hit me, too, because he's an eye time. Joe was almost, what, four decades at the same school at Ellen. And when I take a ballot, you know, I take a Joey else. The whole community is affected by this. You know, he was the guy, a model. coach on and off the field. It's what you saw. He had the discipline. He had characteristics that you look at when you look at one of the old-time coaches. He was a strong disciplinarian, great communicator, great teacher, and a community guy. You know, he looked at his coaching staff. His brother Gary was on there. Chuck Schumer. uh, Tom Sarver, uh, lame and those guys at all with the school. They've been, they've been together forever. It was just like a community affair. And Joe was just an icon and, uh, the act of public schools. He was, he was, I think you said the word. He was real professional. I remember the first time I met him. Hi, Mr. Horner. How can I help you? You know, those times. And this was the legend, Joe Yose, and I'm meeting him for the first time. He had a way. of making Jay everyone feel important. Yeah, he did. And he was very professional like that. You know what was fun, too? He was coaching against him for a lot of years and noticed. He was always said that guy that came over and shook your hand and talked to football like crazy with you. He was the same guy after the game, did before the game win or lose, no matter what happened. He was the same kind of guy. You know, he met the coach's clinic. He had a smile, and I always picture him with this orange coach's shorts on. One of his doggone coaching T-shirts run on the field. He was always coaching, always talking with people, and he was that kind of guy. I mean, I know the other community of the coaches over there that were on the staff. It's got to affect everybody big time because he was such a part of the community. Yeah, he was real close with Chuck Schumer and that whole crew over there. You know, the one thing, too, Jay, and you coached opposite.

Joe for a number of years, and we're talking with Jay Brofey, one of our sports analysts here on the morning show, and going to the Akron Public Schools football media days, even when Ellett would have some numbers or they would be down or some things might be working. That didn't happen very often, folks. He accumulated a lot of wins. He never said, poor me. He would always just say, hey, here's what we got. We think we're going to improve. We're going to do this. And you know what? Between weeks number one and weeks number 10, his teams will be completely different. And they'd be a tough out, right, Jay? Later in the football season, the way he coached. They always were. And that was the thing. He bought, you don't last almost 40 years as a head coach at a place if you're not effective of what you're doing. And Joe always was. I don't care if it was their most talented teams, less talented team or whatever. They played out of football. They had a style they played and the way Joe taught him and the way he coached. They were very effective in doing it. He did what was best for them and what he thought they could do best. And it was very effective. They were always tough. They were always disciplined. And he was the kind of guy that he had those kids show up. Those kids were there. They lifted weights. They were at school all the time. They came to practice. He was the kind of guy that, you know, he stayed on everybody. He stayed on those guys, and they played hard. And you always got that when you played them. I used to laugh on, if you ever turned the ball over against Joe Yoste. If you ever had a interception. You better be ready for play action because he's going to try to hit one deep on you in the next play. You know, he had a style of what he played, and boy, he stuck to it all those years. And, again, it was a model for success because you're right. He didn't have bad teams. He might have had teams that struggled a little bit or didn't win quite as much as the others or maybe not had all the talent that another team had. But they played that kind of football. And, you know, he coached that way. You know, he never stopped coaching. You're right. You never said, woes me or whatever, or numbers down, anything else. Hey, he went along with whatever was happening, and he coached, and he had fun doing it. And it's a tribute, Ray, Jay, to his leadership. You mentioned it. That veteran coaching staff that he had, they stayed together forever, and that means he's leading not only the kids, but the coaching staff, and they loved being around them. You know, that's exactly it. You know, you're not going to have a staff of guys that stay. And I mentioned probably about five guys that I know that stayed for them to 35 years or whatever with him. Well, you know, all those guys had enough talent to go somewhere else and coach or take-ahead coaching jobs somewhere else. But a lot of them were the basketball coach, the baseball coach, the softball coach. And they still coached with Joe because Joe asked him to. You know, and they were all friends kind of growing up, and he went and got him. He got him out coaching with him, and it was funny because I mentioned those names because I saw him forever. You know, he didn't have a turnover in staff. Those guys were there every year, year in, year out. I saw the same guys that had the same conversations with him, and it does. It's a tribute to being, they enjoy being around him. I think, you know, he had that infectious personality, you know, again.

Very straightforward, very disciplined guy. And, you know, I just always had a pleasure talking to him. Legend of Orangeman football, for sure, Joe Yost, passing away a couple days ago at the age of 73. Jay, thanks for joining me this morning, my friend. I knew you would have some thoughts, certainly sharing the sidelines with Mr. Yost. I appreciate the time, my friend. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. Ray, it's a tough time for him. But, you know, God bless the other community, man. And they lost a good one. For more interviews on 93.5, 1590 WAKR, tune in to the Ray Horner Morning Show Monday through Fridays between 6 and 9 o'clock and listen for more interviews at wakr.net and our WAKR app.