Warren Wolf
Sport: Football
Born: August 1, 1927
Died: November 29, 2019
Town: West New York & Brick
Warren Wolf was born August 1, 1927 and grew up in West New York. As a teenager during World War II, he played football for Memorial High School under coach Joe Coviello. He joined Coviello’s staff at Memorial in 1948 and stayed for 10 season. Warren also was the player-coach of a hometown semipro team called the Hubs Pros. He was a fan of the Chicago Bears and also the Cubs.
While vacationing on the Jersey Shore with his in-laws in 1958, Warren met the principal of newly formed Brick Township High School. The coach Brick believed would lead its football program had just backed out and Warren was offered the job. He accepted, and the team went 4–4 in its inaugural year.
Warren built the Green Dragons a Shore Conference powerhouse—winning 25 titles—and led the school to six sectional championships. Art Thoms, who went on to star for Syracuse University and the Oakland Raiders, played for Brick in the early 1960s and was part of the squad that went 32 straight games without a loss.
In 1974, he coached Brick to a 21–20 win over Camden in a game played indoors in Atlantic City. He did not have a losing season until 1985. In 1992, Warren won his 255th game to break his mentor’s then-state record. His final sectional title came in 1994 over Central Regional, 28–24, on a touchdown pass in the final minute.
Warren retired as Brick’s varsity coach at the conclusion of the 2008 season at the age of 81 and agreed to coach the Lakewood High team. He came back briefly to coach the 2010 season as Lakewood Warren retired with 364 career victories—9 shy of the state’s high-school record. He was also involved in local politics during his years at Lakewood. He was mayor of Brick, served as an Ocean County freeholder and as a state assemblyman. He also served as Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Brick for 33 years. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 92 in Neptune. Moe than 10,000 people attended his funeral service.
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