Coach Pat Foundation To Help
In The Battle Vs. Breast Cancer

‘Coach Pat’ was all about giving throughout his rich life lived and the statewide kicking guru who taught hundreds of youngsters how to better approach their specialty would be pleased to know the foundation established in his honor is looking to give back in a most important way for the health of women.

During October the Coach Pat Sempier Foundation will donate 30 % of all donations to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as a part of the efforts with the theme to ‘Kick Cancer’s Butt.’

To help fight breast cancer select the donations tab when visiting http://www.thepatsempierfoundation.org

The New Jersey high school football world lost Coach Pat on July 1, 2022 when he passed away at the age of 88; however, his tremendous spirit and time-honored process for improving those in the kicking community carries on with the continued work of many of his former pupils in the ultra-important specialty.

It was a 59-year adventure for Coach Pat dating back to 1963 when he had worked on technique with Bruce Nugent of Cedar Grove, one of the state’s first productive scholastic field goal kickers.

From that point on, for nearly six full decades, Coach Pat drove his trusty Toyota all over North Jersey to work with players, and his coaching juices still flowed right up until the time he left for that big football field up above; but not without leaving his impeccable and contagious spirit of always helping kickers.

Coaches through the years fully endorsed Sempier’s work with their kickers, including North Jersey gridiron icons such as Jack Davies (Butler and Montclair), the Verducci brothers Tony (SHP) and Frank (Barringer), Joe Coviello (North Bergen), Ed Stinson (Hoboken and now an assistant at SHP) and Caldwell’s legendary duo of Sempier’s cousin, Andy Durborow, and then Ken Trimmer.

Sempier’s mantra of ‘head down, drive up,’ which was a basic and time-honored approach he taught every day, is still heard by kickers he had worked with, but there was always so much more to the entire experience of being with Coach Pat.

“He taught the fundamentals, and kept reminding you of what you should do, but there was everything else that was so great about being out there with ‘Coach Pat,’” said Tyler Logan, who was a standout for West Essex back in 2019 and works with many high school kickers today. “You heard about all the kickers he worked with for so many years and it’s just an incredible list of past and present greats.”

Coach Pat worked with Garden State products such as Younghoe Koo of Ridgewood, who became a Pro Bowl kicker with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, and Val Ambrosio (of Roselle Park and Cranford), who kicked with success for both Rutgers and Tulane University.

“And, all the current high school and college kickers - including myself - just loved coming back each year and spending time with him talking kicking,” said Logan. “Plus, he was always interested in what you were doing in life in general.

“He was such a special person, and you were inspired by his dedication and persistence in always trying to help you become better at your craft while encouraging you to also be the best you could be with everything you did in life.”

Former pupils of Coach Pat have kicked at all levels of the sport.

There is the aforementioned Koo, who went from being an All-American at Georgia Southern to a successful 7-year stint with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, including making the Pro Bowl in 2020. He was released by the Falcons in September and is now on the practice squad with the Giants.

Ambrosio went from being a Division I soccer starter at Fairleigh Dickinson University to eventually earning a scholarship as the starting kicker at Rutgers before leaving the Scarlet Knights to kick with success at Tulane University.

He provided the winning extra point with just nine seconds remaining when Tulane edged the University of Southern California, 46-45, in the 2023 Cotton Bowl, and he finished his collegiate career at the New Orleans-based school with the highest field goal percentage 84.2 % in program history.

“Younghoe and ‘Val’ both accomplished what they have through their great internal drive and sheer determination, plus -of course- talent,” Coach Pat said back in 2022. “Both rebounded with gusto from any temporary setbacks they may have had along the way, and they are great examples of what perseverance and an unrelenting belief in one’s abilities can mean when it comes to success over time.”

In the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly 1-AA) in addition to Logan, who spent some time at Central Connecticut, there were top kickers such as Nutley resident Angelo Guglielmello of St. Joseph of Montvale, who went on to a solid career at Stony Brook University.

The former St. Joe’s Green Knights all-stater set New Jersey career records for field goals with 40 and kicking points with 253.

Coach Pat always took pride in helping his pupils hone their skills as both a placekicker and punter.

Former Montclair standout Gage Hammond is a junior enjoying a superb career doing both at Wesleyan (Conn.) University as has ex-Seton Hall Prep standout Nick Conforti is also performing both special teams duties with a high degree of proficiency as a senior at Yale.

Conforti, an all-state punter and exceptional placekicker, had a terrific short but very powerful tweet @_NickConforti shortly after Coach Pat’s passing three years ago where he wrote, ‘RIP Coach Pat. Very grateful to have been guided and supported by a legend.'

It was followed by the hashtag: #headdowndriveup.

Coach Pat’s mantra of ‘head down, drive up,’ which is his basic and time-honored approach, was still heard by the kickers he had worked with recently, but there was so much more to the entire experience of working with the legend, and his former pupils have valued that experience as they’ve moved on in their lives.