A perfect example of who Paul Hackney was as a person can be summed up in his one season of being the head coach of the Cardinal Dougherty High school varsity football team.
In 1994, after coach Dominic Damico resigned to take a job at McDonogh School, Dougherty hired Ryan coach Glen Galeone, who had just won his fourth straight Catholic League championship with the Raiders to take over the program.
Two weeks before the season, Galeone jettisoned back to Ryan leaving the Cardinals without a coach.
Luckily, they had a great freshman coach who had what it took to step into a coaching gig two weeks before the season was set to start. He was a man who was willing to completely change his life to make sure the Cardinals had a football coach.
Anything for CD.
“He cared so much about that place,” said Hackney’s former assistant coach and longtime friend Tom Bock. “He cared about people, he loved the school itself. He loved the kids. He loved the school. He really was that person that loved people and really cared about them and their well-being. It wasn’t just about football with him. I don’t think he was the biggest football guy. He just loved helping.
“Three main things I know he loved, first would definitely be his family. Second was the kids he coached. Third was Cardinal Dougherty. He was that guy. He loved his school.”
Hackney, a proud Cardinal Dougherty graduate who helped thousands of kids at CD, Incarnation and the Olney Eagles organization, passed away Monday morning after battling health issues for a while.
Hackney had a way about him that made everyone, whether he worked with them where he was a manager at SEPTA, coached them at Dougherty or was just friends, feel special. But family was his first love. That includes his son Sean, daughters Shannon and Heather, grandchildren A’Brianna and Brandon Felix, Matthew Keeley, Dennis, Declan and Shannon Gullifer and great-grandchild Brandon Michael Felix.
If you knew the man better known as “Coach Hack,” you probably had a story, and somewhere in that story, he probably helped you. He almost certainly made your life better by knowing him.
“Dad was humble and incredibly selfless throughout his life,” his daughter Heather said. “He was well respected and a hero to many. No matter how busy things got, he always made time for the people he cared about, and showed us that family always comes first – no matter what. Everyone who knew him knew how proud he was of his family and especially his grandchildren. He always taught us to be leaders and a rock for those less fortunate.”
Hackney was certainly that for his players at Dougherty.
When he was hired as the varsity coach, he had to adjust his busy schedule at SEPTA, so instead of taking vacation time in days, he took it in hours so he could be at practice.
He built an incredible coaching staff that included Bock, Dave Gill, Dave Gill Jr., Tom Hearn, Ken O’Donnell, Jack Lesher, Phil Amann, Jeff Miller, Bill Butler and one coach who joined the staff because he got along so well with Hackney while doing business with him.
“Ray Ellis, he would sell to Hack at SEPTA, he would sell paper products,” Bock said of Ellis, the former Philadelphia Eagle defensive back. “Hackney asked if he wanted to coach with us. He was a great guy. He joined the staff and they had a great relationship.”
Having a friend who was an NFL star didn’t mean much to Hackney. He loved Ellis for his character, not his former career. But his friendship with Ellis did pay off for others.
“He had that connection, Ray Ellis, and here’s the kind of guy Paul is,” said coworker and longtime friend Lou Innamorato. “We were working together in 1992, right after Jerome Brown died and Paul knew I was a diehard Eagles fan. Ray invited Paul to come to training camp in West Chester. He asked if I wanted to go and I was honored.
“I took my 4-year-old son at the time and Ray and Paul couldn’t have been nicer. We were on the sidelines watching the Eagles scrimmage. I have pics with Reggie White, Seth Joyner, Wes Hopkins. This is all because of Paul Hackney. I have lifelong memories. He was always like that. Working with him and for him, he was always a good guy. A fair guy, if you got him pissed off, you earned it. He was an easygoing great guy. I’ll always remember that.
“If you had a problem with him, you were the problem.”
That’s the kind of friend he was.
“There are very few times in our lives that the people that God puts in your life have lasting impacts,” said Frank Helstab, Hackney’s friend since fifth grade. “Paul was such a man. We may find in our friends very interesting people. Although he was very interesting, his character and persona made him unique. He was always interested which differentiates him from most. He was interested in the people he cared about and that means being involved in an active participation or concerned about someone’s well-being or trying to make a difference in one’s life.
“Friends from day one, he came to Inky in fifth grade, he would do lunch at his house because it was close to his house and Aunt Ellen to Paul, my mom, would have lunch ready for us. So here we are 67 years later with a deeper love and affection. Sharing in the ups and downs over the years. I was in his wedding and godfather to his first born as he was in mine and Godfather to my first born.
“I know one thing for certain, no one could possibly say anything bad or negative about him as long as I have known him. He never said a bad word about anyone, although I can think of some people who deserve it. My nickname for him was John the Baptist. I guess that says it all. So St. John, be ready, you now have a soulmate.”
It wasn’t just his friends who felt that way, although anyone who ever played for him in any sport grew to become his friend.
“He was one of the most genuine and caring men we ever got to be around,” said Tom Garofalo, a 1995 graduate and star cornerback. “He was a true Olney original and nobody was a bigger supporter for the Olney Eagles and Cardinal Dougherty. He coached us to be our best and we had a true brotherhood with all of our teammates and coaches. Thank you Coach Hack for being there for us in 1994 and for leading us to a freshman football championship in 1991.”
He did win, but it wasn’t about that. He wanted his players to be better. And they all were having played for him.
“I would say that he entered my life when I was at the crossroads of being a neighborhood statistic, or if I wanted to try to be something more,” said Pat Sullivan, who played offensive line for Hackney and later fullback. “He made me feel good. He made me feel like I was special and I would be wasting a gift I was given if I did that. I let him in because he didn’t approach me like someone who was better than me. He approached me as if he was the same as me, and that’s why I let my guard down and let him in. He was a giant.”
A giant who put others before himself always.
Sure, he loved the Eagles and hitting the shore for Irish Weekend, but in the end, Hackney just wanted to take care of others.
And he always did.
“Hack wasn’t a guy in the limelight,” Bock said. “He really didn’t want kudos. He wasn’t that person. He would have never wanted to say, ‘Paul Hackney is the reason why I … ’ But he became that to a lot of kids, not just at Dougherty, but Olney Eagles. He was from CD. He wore that loud and proud on the front of his shirt. That’s what he would want people to know. He loved CD and he loved his people.”
