November has been a memorable month for former Everett High School and Anna Maria College football star Joe D’Onofrio.
D’Onofrio was elected to the Everett School Committee Nov. 7, proudly following in the footsteps of his father, Bernie D’Onofrio, who previously served on the board.
Joe is also celebrating another milestone achievement in his position as an assistant coach of the New England champion Everett Crimson Tide Pop Warner 10-U team.
“I played eight years of Pop Warner football in Everett, so I know how special this accomplishment is for our players,” said D’Onofrio. “We made it to the regional semifinals one year. I had some great coaches along the way like Peter Forte.”
D’Onofrio was a touchdown machine as a Pop Warner running back before playing four years of varsity football, two each at Pope John XXIII High School and Everett High School.
“We [Everett High] won the GBL title and made it to the state semifinals in my senior year,” said D’Onofrio, a starting running back on a John DiBiaso-coached team and a 2014 EHS graduate.
He spent a year at Bridgton Academy where he was the starting safety and had “a 100-yard Pick 6 against the Naval Academy prep team,” recalled D’Onofrio.
At Anna Maria College in Paxton (Mass.), D’Onofrio continued his brilliant football career, leading the entire nation in kickoff return yardage at one point. He finished No. 5 in the country in his sophomore year.
Now 28 years old, D’Onofrio is back on the sidelines as a youth football assistant coach in his hometown. He preferred to put all the spotlight on the Florida-bound Crimson Tide Pop Warner 10-U team, rather than illuminating on his own football-playing exploits.
“These players have been together since they were six years old,” said D’Onofrio. “They’re so smart in their techniques and their knowledge of how to run a high school playbook. The 10-year-olds truly are star athletes. These kids are awesome. They pay attention. They’re poised in key situations. They’re respectful of their opponents. It’s been a great ride, and I’m so happy to be a part of their success.”
D’Onofrio will be sworn in as the Ward 6 representative on the Everett School Committee in January.
But first Joe D’Onofrio will join head coach Mel Fiore, the staff, and players in Orlando, hoping to bring home to the City of Everett and Brian Dimond’s esteemed organization a national Pop Warner football championship title.