University of Tennessee Athletics
Vol Footballer from WWII-Era Dies
December 24, 2007 | Football
Lawrence ???Red??? Zontini, who played wingback in the early 1940s and lettered on a Tennessee squad that won the Sugar Bowl, died Dec. 8 at Thomas Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Charleston, W.Va. He was 87.
Zontini was the last of three brothers who left a lasting legacy at Sherman High School, where the football field now is named after them. Sherman High is located in the town of Seth, about 20 miles south of Charleston.
John Zontini played at Marshall University, where he earned the nickname ???The Sheik of Seth.??? Louie Zontini played at the University of Notre Dame and in the National Football League with the Chicago Cardinals, Buffalo Bisons and Cleveland Browns.
???All of the Zontinis were good,??? said Sherman High graduate Chuck Cornell, 85, a retired football coach who lives in Delaware, Ohio.
???Red was a great football player. He was a good leader. He was a hard worker in practice. I remember him mostly as a running back. He was a power runner. He was tough. He would knock your head off. It was good to have him on our side.???
Cornell and Zontini were teammates in high school but not in college. Zontini played at Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston), while Cornell played at West Virginia Technical Institute.
???It is sad to see him go,??? Cornell said. ???There aren???t many of us left from that rough-and-rugged era. It was hard-nosed football back then. It was ironman football. Everybody played both ways.???
Zontini initially played college football at the University of Tennessee, where he was a wingback for the Volunteers??? 1942 squad that defeated Tulsa in the Sugar Bowl.
One of his teammates in Knoxville was Scott High School legend Jim ???Raw Beef??? Myers, 86, a retired football coach who lives in Dallas. The Boone County rivals roomed together in college and became best friends.
???He was one of the best high school football players I have ever seen,??? said Myers, who spent more than 20 years as the Dallas Cowboys??? offensive line coach and assistant head coach under Tom Landry. ???He put the fear of God in everybody who played against him.
???He was a wingback and safety. He was better on defense than he was on offense, in my opinion. He was everywhere. He was like having a tiger by the tail, trying to calm him down. He wasn???t that big, but by gosh he could hit. He was an outstanding player.
???We went to Tennessee together. He didn???t have as much success down there. But out of everybody I played against, he was the best.???
Zontini left college after the Sugar Bowl, enlisting in the Army Air Corps and flying 28 missions in Europe during World War II. He earned three Air Medals and received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2004.
He enrolled at Morris Harvey College after the war.
???The thing that impressed me the most about him was he was a soft-spoken gentleman,??? said Sherman High graduate Bob Peal, 84, of Uneeda. ???My wife (Jewell) and I went to school with him at Morris Harvey. I don???t think I ever heard him raise his voice. He was a very good person.???
Zontini became a teacher and coach, spending four years at Sherman High followed by 30 years at Lincoln Junior High School in Charleston.
He managed the Greenbrier Pool in Kanawha City and worked part-time at Kanawha City Florist during the summers.
He attended Bible Center Church and delivered Meals-on-Wheels in the Charleston area. He also was active in the Lions Club.
Zontini was born on July 28, 1920, in Lancaster, Pa. He was a son of the late Max and Mary Zontini.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Hilda Humphrey Zontini.
He is survived by his nieces, Mary Frances Elsom, of Ohio; Mary Jo Favazzo, of Massachusetts; Mary Murray, of Ohio; and Consetta Irene Baldwin, of Virginia; his nephews, Tony Zontini, of Virginia; Robert Zontini, of Florida; John Edward Zontini, of Florida; and John Stanko, of Ohio; and his sister-in-law, Norma ???Pat??? Mitchell, of Charleston.
-- Story courtesy Coal Valley News, managing editor Jacob Messer (jacobmesser@coalvalleynews.com or 369-1165).
