Former Wyoming Area football coach, Paul Marranca, far right, stand with his Warrior teammate from the class of 1967 during a special presentation several years ago.
Submitted photo
Paul Marranca, former head football coach at Wyoming Area, will have the Wyoming Area Football Alumni Association weight room dedicated to him under the title of the Paul J. Marranca Performance Center on Thursday, July 18 at 4 p.m.
Submitted photo
Two former Wyoming Area head coaches, Paul Marranca, left, and the late Jack Henzes are shown during a Ring of Pride ceremony. Marranca played high school football at Wyoming Area under Henzes and later was his assistant coach at Dunmore High School. The Wyoming Area Football Alumni Assoc. will be naming the weight room in Marranca’s name.
Fred Adams file photo | For Sunday Dispatch
The Wyoming Area Football Alumni Assocation weight room will renamed the Paul J. Marranca Performance Center on July 18 after the well-known former Warrior football coach.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
WEST PITTSTON – The Wyoming Area Football Alumni Association (WAFAA) has been operating the weight room a Boston Ave., since 1997 when the WAFAA converted a part of the old Mason-Dixon truck terminal turning it into a topnotch weight facility for the Wyoming Area football program.
Former Warrior head football coach Paul Marranca of 27-years, who amassed a career record of 230-98-2 with a winning percentage of .703, was the 1980 PA Coach of the Year, a 12-time Wyoming Valley Conference Coach of the Year and a Big-33 coach in 2000.
On Thursday, July 18, 2024, the weight room facility will be renamed and dedicated to Marranca with the official title of the Paul J. Marranca Performance Center at 4:00 p.m. followed by reception yet to be determined.
The dedication will coincide with a weekend of activities involving the WAFAA.
The annual Warrior Pride football camp will take place on Friday, July 19 and the Annual WAFAA Golf Tournament will tee off on Saturday, July 20.
Coach Marranca a 1967 Wyoming Area graduate playing on the school’s first football team after the school merger. He served as a teacher and guidance counselor in the district for his entire career.
As coach, his teams won seven Wyoming Valley Conference Division titles, two Eastern Conference Championships, and three PIAA District 2 titles.
According to Lou “Bikes” Ciampi, WAFAA president, Marranca mentored and coached many of Warrior’s current coaching staff.
“Recognizing the changing economics in the funding of high school sports, he and several former players founded the WAFAA in 1997,” Ciampi said. “WAFAA’s mission is to support the football program and cultivate outstanding student-athletes by giving them every resource they needed to be successful on the field, in the classroom, and the community.”
Over the past 25-years, the WAFAA has created a state-of-the-art weight room at the Boston Ave. location investing in over $200,000 into this facility.
“It has cost the District not one dime and it is currently used by all Wyoming Area athletes, both male and female,” Ciampi added. The WAFAA has established a scholarship which is given annually to deserving football players based on leadership and excellence on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.”
To date, the WAFAA has given out over $100,000 worth of scholarships.
In 1998, the WAFAA created The Ring of Pride, which each year recognizes former Warriors who excelled in athletic, academics, and in the community, as well as in professional careers. Over 100 former athletes have been recognized to date.
“Today, the WAFAA that Coach Marranca created, and is still involved in, continues to support the football team and the community at large,” Ciampi stated. “Some of the fundraising efforts the WAFAA has done over the years includes new goal posts, air conditioning in the locker room, new lockers, signage to commemorate championship teams, championship rings for our 2019 state champs, the summer recreation program, headsets for coaches, on field equipment like sleds and blocking dummies, speed and conditioning camps, and many other items that have helped build a successful program.”
In addition, WAFAA sponsors a free football camp every year for local mini football teams and any other local youths who are interested in learning the basics of football.
“The Association would not have happened without Coach Marranca,” Ciampi believes. “It is quite fitting we are honoring him this summer. We are looking forward to a crazy great time on the weekend of July 18 and hope to see everyone there.”
