Euclid City Schools

Tom Banc definitely belongs in Euclid's record books. No Euclid High School football coach ever had such a successful coaching career, won so many games, coached so many stars, had so many league titles, or coached for so many years. In addition, his teams never had a losing season. He set very high the bar for coaching excellence. When people talk of the golden age of Euclid football, they invariably will cite the years of his coaching tenure, 1985-1999.

Tom had a successful career before he came to coach the Panthers. He was first the head basketball coach at Lake Catholic High School before he became the highly successful football coach there. His teams were perennial powerhouses that regularly made the playoffs and twice made it to the Regional Finals, in 1982 and 1983. His record at Lake Catholic for six seasons was 39-19-3 with one league title.

A native of Euclid, Tom is a high school graduate of Euclid's arch-rival, St. Joseph High School (now known as Villa Angels-St. Joseph High School). In high school he captained his basketball team and lettered for two years, and in football he lettered for one year. He is a graduate of John Carroll University.

In 1985, Tom came to coach the Panthers and proceeded to ring up 128 wins against 33 losses over 15 seasons, averaging over eight wins a season. His worst season was his first when his team went 5-5. Two times his teams lost four games, and twice they lost three games. Three times his teams lost two games, and six times they lost only one game. Three times that single loss came in post-season playoffs. Four times his teams finished the regular season schedule undefeated. In 1994 his team was the Associated Press #1 Team in Ohio.

His teams won nine league titles (Greater Cleveland Conference) over 15 seasons and posted an 88-12 record (88% winning percentage) in the GCC and Lake Erie League.

Inevitably, Tom won many coaching honors. In 1991 he was the Plain Dealer Coach of the Year, in 1994 he won the Associated Press Coach of the Year Award. Nine times he was the GCC Coach of the Year, and nine times his teams qualified for the Ohio post-season playoffs.

He is the only Ohio coach to have mentored two players who won three Mr. Ohio Football Awards, Robert Smith twice and Tony Fisher once.

In his 21 seasons as a head football coach, Tom's teams won 167 times, lost 52 times and tied three times. His total winning percentage is over 75%. At Euclid, over 15 seasons his teams won 128 times and lost 33 times for a 79.5% winning average. Tom has been a winning coach during his entire football head coaching career.

Tom is still greatly involved with Euclid Sports as he functions as the Euclid Schools Athletic Director, a position that he has held since he stepped down from coaching in 1999.

Together with his wife Fran, he lives in Mentor, OH. He has two married sons: Tom, who lives in Carbondale, CO, and Tim, who lives in Aurora, OH.

Inducted on October 2, 200*