A Painful Loss Page 1 of 4 Newstimeslive.Com a Painful Loss 5

Newstimeslive.com A painful loss Page 1 of 4

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 3:32 pm EDT subscription services | advertise | con News NEWS HOME LOCAL LOCAL 2005-05-25 SPORTS A painful loss REGIONAL Stephen Kaplanis, beloved Immaculate football coach, dies of heart BUSINESS attack at 50 By Eugene Driscoll and Ed Flink POLITICS POLICE THE NEWS-TIMES Stephen A. Kaplanis, a legendary football coach who spent OBITUARIES nearly as much time working at his church as he did on the field, died of an apparent heart attack at his home DEATH NOTICES Tuesday. He was 50. WEATHER ONLINE FORUM Emergency services received a 911 call at about 4:30 a.m. saying Kaplanis was unconscious at his house. He was ARCHIVES pronounced dead later at Danbury Hospital, where family members and the Rev. Peter Karloutsos of Assumption Opinion Greek Orthodox Church were at his side. EDITORIALS LETTERS The football team at Im-maculate High School of Danbury where Ka-planis coached since 1997, found out at about 8 WHADDYA SAY a.m. School was put on hold as they cried and prayed in the school's chapel. THUMBS UP/DOWN COLUMNISTS Karloutsos Stephen Kaplanis, Immaculate High ONLINE FORUM spent most football coach of the day AP with Kaplanis' wife, Kim. The couple's son, Christopher, just finished his second year at AP HEADLINES Penn State University, while daughter NATIONAL Lauren just finished her first year at the University of Delaware. WORLD AP VIDEOS Friends and family stopped by the house News-Times file photo Tuesday to pay their respects. AP MULTIMEDIA Immaculate High School football coach Stephen Kaplanis gives notes to his players during an early Features season practice. "The family's faith is very strong," Karloutsos OUR BEST FRIENDS said. "What is holding them up is the fact that this man, even though he died at 50 years old, lived the lives of 10 people in all that he HOME AND GARDEN did, and all that he accomplished and all the lives he touched. His intensity and passion for life was what everybody will remember." MEDICAL DIRECTORY Kaplanis was a lifelong Danbury resident. He SENIORITY played football, baseball and wrestled at BABY ALBUM Danbury High School before graduating in 1973. He graduated from Western JILL Connecticut State University in 1977. INSIDE BUSINESS A year later, Kaplanis and others founded HOLIDAY GIFT the Danbury Athletic Youth Organization GUIDE (DAYO). It's a non-profit, all-volunteer group SENIOR SERVICES that sponsors youth sporting events such as DIRECTORY T-ball, basketball, cheerleading and football. AT HOME Kaplanis turned the Danbury Trojans midget EVERYTHING KIDS program, a youth football team, into a national powerhouse. During some 20 years HIGHER EDUCATION coaching the Trojans, Kaplanis won two News-Times file photo BRIDE GUIDE national championships. His final record was Coach Kaplanis and quarterback Jason Nielson 200 wins, nine losses – the stuff of legend. celebrate Immaculate‘s Thanksgiving Day win over Resources Notre Dame. Your Town News http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=71643&channel=Local 5/25/2005 Newstimeslive.com A painful loss Page 2 of 4

FORMS "He was born to be a football coach," said Art Haddad, an assistant baseball coach at Bethel READER REWARDS Immaculate High School. "He was a grinder as a player (at Danbury High School). The guy would never give up. He'd give his heart and soul. And he carried that into his work ethic as NIE a coach. He's probably the role model that every parent looks for in a coach."

Kaplanis touched the lives of hundreds of young people during his tenure with the Trojans. Get Local News vi He also coached teams for two other youth football leagues, in addition to coaching youth baseball and wrestling. Email

"When he was coaching Pop Warner, he had this huge van," said Norm Winnerman, a Subscribe former athletic director at Danbury High School. "He would pick up his players all over the Unsubscribe News Search place. The kids from Mill Ridge, the kids from down the block. If they couldn't get to practice KEYWORD: at Rogers Park, he would swing by the neighborhood and pick them up."

email G DATE: At Immaculate, Kaplanis took over a struggling SECTION: varsity football program in 1997 – and quickly taught players how to win.

Kaplanis was The News- Times coach of the year in Archive Search 2003, when he led the Mustangs to their sixth division title and qualified for the Southwest Conference final and the Class S state playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Players said Kaplanis wasn't a guy who yelled and screamed – unless he had to. Instead, he made players part of his extended family and led by example.

"He was a great role model for not just the kids, but for the younger coaches, the way he conducted himself with his family, his church, football or at a barbecue," said Peter Connolly, athletic director at Immaculate High School.

Patrick Maguire, 17, co-captain of the Immaculate High School football team, said Kaplanis as a coach was all business. He was a guy who buzzed up and down the sidelines, his mind spinning, trying to do a hundred things at once.

Maguire got a glimpse of the coach's character in September.

During a scrimmage, Maguire smashed head first into the ground. He temporarily lost movement in his arms and his legs. It was touch and go for a few hours. He recovered.

A short time later, after a win over New Milford, Kaplanis gave Maguire the game ball.

"He brought me the game ball and started to come to tears. I didn't think it would affect him like that. He was like a father to me," Maguire said.

After learning of Kaplanis' death Tuesday, Immaculate football players gathered for an impromptu game of touch football outside the school.

"We just figured coach had been so huge in our lives and he loved football so much, what better way to remember him than to play football?" Maguire said.

Yet Kaplanis wasn't just about football, said the Rev. Corey Piccinino, a priest at Immaculate.

"It was more than just a game. Once you were affiliated with Steve, it was a lifelong relationship. It went beyond the game," Piccinino said. "I would be at the funerals and wakes for students' families and he would be there. I would be at the hospital and he would be there."

Even though Kaplanis was a fitness fanatic who ran five miles a day and worked out every morning, he had a history of heart problems. At age 32, he had a heart attack and cardiac http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=71643&channel=Local 5/25/2005 Newstimeslive.com A painful loss Page 3 of 4

surgery.

It didn't slow him down. After working as a manager in the hotel industry, Kaplanis took a job at Iovino Brothers Sporting Goods. He eventually bought the company, which sells T- shirts and prints uniforms for various teams and sports leagues.

He also was a fixture at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church. He was past president of the parish council and, for 20 years, he helped organize the church's annual Greek festival.

He was the third generation of the Kaplanis family to attend the church. His brother, Paul, is a Greek Orthodox priest, and a second brother, Nicholas, is heavily involved in the Danbury church, as well.

His mother, Nitsa, still sings in the church choir.

The family means so much to the church that church leaders are taking the unusual step of holding Kaplanis' wake Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m.

"It's out of respect for the family," said parish council president Paul Pavlou. "There's not a bad word to say about that man."

Danbury firefighter Jimmy Russell grew up with Kaplanis. While he loved coaching, his family – his wife Kim, his two children – was his cornerstone.

"That's the whole thing with Steve. His family, that was it. Everything revolved around his family. He didn't care about making a million dollars at his business, although he did very well," Russell said. "He never talked about having money or driving fancy cars. He always made sure his family had enough."

Friend and Immaculate baseball coach Tom Neville said Kaplanis lived every moment.

"He was a workaholic. Anything he did, he put every inch into it. We grew up together and he was always the same Stevie," Neville said.

Winnerman, the former Danbury High School athletic director, said Kaplanis did the city proud.

"All I can say is that if you had a kid who grew up like him, it wouldn't be bad."