When it comes to accolades and accomplishments, Vince Darone ranks as one of the greatest athletes ever to walk through the gates at Pittsburg High School.

  • But Darone was more than a set of numbers or awards. He was an educator, a friend, a family man and a colleague to people who knew him throughout East Contra Costa County.
  • After having already turned back cancer twice, Darone died from the disease on Jan. 31 at the age of 71.
  • "It was just an honor to know that so many people looked up to him," said Darone's son, Tony. "So many people came up to him and shook his hand and gave him hugs, I could tell people liked him as a person."

A member of the Pittsburg Football Hall of Fame, Darone was a three-sport star in high school.

  • On the track, Darone won a Northern California championship and placed third at the state track meet in the high hurdles. He also played basketball for the Pirates.
  • But his true calling was as a running back. He won the Douglas Selby Viera Award given to the team's most valuable player three times, and earned Contra Costa Division and Northern California first-team honors.

Darone went on to attend Utah State, but eventually returned home to play at San Jose State. Plagued by shoulder injuries, he eventually had to switch from running back to the offensive line, and he went on to start for the Spartans on the line.

  • "If he would've never gotten hurt, he would've been in the NFL. There's no doubt," said current Pittsburg football coach Victor Galli, who was Darone's nephew by marriage.
  • Not having a football career was no problem for Darone. He earned his teaching credential, and eventually came back to Pittsburg to teach physical education.

Naturally, he also found his way into coaching. He coached at Liberty and Mt. Diablo, and even found his way to De La Salle to help Galli start his coaching career on the freshman level in the early 1990s.

  • "He never stressed about winning, he stressed doing my best," said Tony Darone, who played at Liberty when Vince was the defensive coordinator. "Win or lose, he'd hug you as long as you did your best."
  • That coaching career took a fortuitous turn in the 2000s during Tony Darone's stint as head football coach at Mt. Diablo. Needing a defensive coordinator, the younger Darone knew just who to turn to.
  • They coached together as a father and son tandem for five years, and in 2009 they led the Red Devils to their first North Coast Section playoff berth in the modern North Coast Section era (since 1975).

"He never tried to be the head coach," Tony Darone said. "He did all the special teams, he ran the defense, he picked up the bags after practice. He did a lot of the work."

Eventually, Vince Darone's career ended where it began. He coached the Pittsburg freshman team in 2010, assisting Galli just as he had almost 20 years earlier.

"It was great to hear him out there," Galli said. "He was just a longtime teacher. He had a lot of influence and impact on people's lives."