Submitted photo. On his 90th birthday, Aug. 4, 2021, Bob Shaw holds the game ball of the 1966 showdown between Niles McKinley and Massillon.

Given his distinguished career, it would be easy to assume that Bob Shaw would have considered his coaching days at Niles McKinley High School as just a blip on the radar.

Shaw’s resume included collegiate stops at Michigan, Arizona, Cincinnati, Arkansas and West Virginia. He also coached in the USFL.

Yet while football took Shaw out of Niles, nothing could ever take Niles out of Shaw.

“He loved the town, no matter where he was, his heart was always in Niles,” city councilman Mike Lastic said. “And Niles loved Bob. To this day, he is revered as a coach, a teacher and a friend.”

Shaw, 92, passed away on Wednesday at his son’s house in Cedar Falls, Iowa following a seven-year battle with dementia.

Beginning in 1959, Shaw served as a Niles assistant under Tony Mason. He was part of a staff which led the Red Dragons to a 48-game unbeaten streak, including state titles in 1961 and 1963.

Shaw took over the Niles program in 1965, and in 1966, he led the Red Dragons to a 10-0 finish — the last undefeated team in Niles history — recording wins over Warren G. Harding, Canton McKinley, Massillon and Alliance.

Shaw left Niles at the end of the ’66 campaign, and following a one-year stint at Bucknell, he served as a defensive coach at the University of Michigan. Shaw returned to Niles in 1969 and guided the Dragons through the 1972 season.

Shaw’s record as a head coach at Niles was 30-8-2. Including his time as an assistant coach, the Dragons sported a 101-15-10 mark while he was at Niles. As a head coach, he defeated Massillon three times and snapped the Tigers’ 32-game unbeaten streak in ’66.

From 1973-76, Shaw rejoined head coach Tony Mason at the University of Cincinnati. As a defensive coordinator, his 1973 defense ranked sixth in the nation and his ’76 squad ranked fifth. The Bearcats went 26-18 during the stretch, including a 9-2 finish in ’76.

Shaw followed Mason to Arizona (1977-79), then had stops at Southern Illinois and Arkansas before joining up with the New Orleans/Portland Breakers of the USFL. When the USFL folded, Shaw returned to the college ranks, first at Akron then at West Virginia.

Shaw was the defensive coordinator at West Virginia in 1988 when the Mountaineers went 11-0 in the regular season before falling to Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl in what amounted to the national title game.

“Coach Shaw was a tremendous coach, but first and foremost he was a great teacher and a wonderful human being,” Lastic said. “He was a true football coach and a mentor in every sense.”

Lastic graduated from Niles in 1961, then went on to serve the district as a teacher, coach and principal for 37 years. He said it wasn’t a coincidence that so many Niles student-athletes from his era went on to become educators.

“Coach Shaw was such a role model and an inspiration for everyone who played for him or coached with him,” Lastic said. “I think many of us wanted to follow in his footsteps because of the impact he had on our lives.

“For Coach Shaw, it was never just about football.”

Jim Pappada (Class of ’68) was also among the many Niles players from the Shaw era who went on to become coaches and educators. Pappada called Shaw “a great coach and an even better human being.”

Pappada recalled the moment during his junior year when he was inserted into a varsity game for the first time.

“Coach Shaw calls me over and says, ‘Now Pap here’s what the defense is going to do to you on the first play, on the second play…,'” Pappada said. “Sure enough, everything happened exactly as Shaw described it would.

“He was one heck of a coach, and a great teacher. I still know all about my isosceles triangles because of his geometry classes. But seriously, he taught the game of life. That was always the end game for him.”

Pappada said Shaw never lost touch with his former players.

“Every time he ever came into town, he called me up and we would get together, that’s just who he was,” Pappada said.

Tom Shehy (Class of 1972) was a seventh-grader in 1966 when his family moved from their farm in Pennsylvania to Niles. The Shehys moved into town on the night of Nov. 11, 1966.

“As soon as we drove into Niles, there was chaos,” Shehy recalled. “There were all sorts of sirens blaring and horns honking. I remember my dad saying, ‘Let’s not unpack yet. Let’s find out what we are getting ourselves into.'”

As it turned out, the Shehy’s were in the midst of a citywide celebration, as the Red Dragons and their fans were returning from Warren. The Dragons had just defeated Warren G. Harding to complete a 10-0 season.

“That was my introduction to the craziness of Niles football back in that era,” Shehy said.

Shehy noted that as a junior in high school he went from “being seventh on the depth chart to a starter.” He then became the team captain as a senior.

Shehy would later attend Wittenberg University — thanks to Shaw.

“I came home from school on a Friday and I found my bags packed at the bottom of the steps,” Shehy said. “Coach Shaw shows up and says, ‘Come on, we’re going to Wittenberg for the weekend.’ I was resigned to working the third shift at Republic, but Coach Shaw had other plans for me.

“I mean, what coach does that? Coach Shaw cared. He truly cared about every one of his students and players. Everything he did in the classroom and the football field completely revolved around preparing us for life beyond high school.”

Shehy grew up a huge fan of Michigan. When Shaw was coaching at Arizona in the late ’70s, the Wildcats played a game at Ann Arbor. Shaw sent a pair of tickets to Shehy, and went out of his way to introduce Shehy to Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler after the game.

“He treated me like a son, he treated all of us like sons,” Shehy said. “I can’t emphasize enough how much he cared about the youth of Niles. He loved this city.”

Though he would go on to coach on the biggest stage in college football, Shaw always referred to Niles’ 20-12 victory over Massillon in 1966 as the most memorable game of his career.

Trailing 12-0 midway through the fourth quarter, Niles seemed on the verge of suffering its third loss to Massillon in three years after committing seven first-half fumbles. But with 15,000 fans looking on, the Dragons scored three touchdowns in the final 4:44 to defeat the Tigers, 20-12. “Unless you lived in Niles in that era, there is no way for anyone to understand exactly what football meant to the community,” Shaw said in a 2016 Tribune Chronicle story. “Niles football was the focal point. Life revolved around Saturday nights in the fall. You didn’t dare get married on a Saturday in September or October, because if you did no one showed up.

“The importance of that game from a community standpoint, and the way we rallied makes it the greatest game I’ve ever been a part of. Football was big business back then. If Niles lost, you could bet our house would have been egged that night. If we were lucky, fans just put ‘For Sale’ signs in the yard.”

Funeral arrangements for Shaw are pending at Joseph Rossi and Sons Funeral Home in Niles. Shaw will be buried in Newton Falls.

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