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Memorial Service Will Honor A Football Legend

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2008

SUN CITY CENTER - There will be a memorial Mass celebrated for Mike Holovak at 11 a.m. Saturday at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 702 Valley Forge Blvd, Sun City Center.

Holovak was an All-American football player at Boston College in 1942. He went on to become head coach at BC and of the Boston Patriots, now known as the New England Patriots. He also served as a PT boat commander in the South Pacific during World War II.

The Patriots' second-winningest coach, Holovak led the Boston Patriots to the American Football League title game after the 1963 season.

He died Jan. 27 in Ruskin of complications from pneumonia.

"As a coach, he probably meant more to me than any other individual, professionally," said Gino Cappelletti, a one-time Boston Patriots wide receiver and placekicker who played for Holovak from 1961-69, in a South Shore News & Tribune story published Nov. 3, 2007. "He showed a lot of confidence in me that I was lacking in myself. He made me believe that I had talent."

Holovak is survived by his wife, Pauline, who lives in the Sun City Center area, daughter and son-in-law, Michele and David Harrison of Gloucester, Mass.; daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Michael Oatess of Tampa; granddaughter, Stephanie Pizarro of Tampa; granddaughter, Lisa Harrison of Boston; and grandson Michael Harrison of Gloucester.

The Rev. Robert Gately, also a BC alumni and former Navy chaplain, will conducted the memorial service.

Tribune staff

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