Rick Zitalone to be 2026 Butler Football Hometown Heroes honoree after spending a lifetime with program
BUTLER TWP — Give recognition to Butler football players, coaches, volunteers and supporters who have made an impact on their teammates, school and the Butler community.
That is the mission statement of the Butler Football Hometown Hero organization.
Rick Zitalone fits that mold in every way.
Zitalone, 81, a 1962 Butler graduate, is the 2026 BFHH honoree. He will be recognized on the field prior to the Golden Tornado’s season opener vs. Sharon on Aug. 28 at Art Bernardi Stadium.
Zitalone was started one year on varsity at safety for Butler in 1961. The Tornado finished 5-4 that season, Art Bernardi’s first season. Butler finished 7-2 and 9-0 the following two seasons.
“I was on that transition team,” Zitalone said. “We knew what was coming. I was just happy to be part of that history.”
Zitalone returned to his alma mater to serve as an assistant track and field coach for 20 years and as football equipment manager for 13 years.
He was a volunteer in both roles before stepping away in 2021.
“It was time for a younger person to do it,” Zitalone said, laughing.
Before all of that, Zitalone served in the National Guard and was a firefighter for 23 years before retiring in 1994.
“Butler means everything to him,” Tornado athletic director Bill Mylan said. “Rick cares very deeply about his hometown. Any event going on in Butler, Rick didn’t miss it. He’s just a super nice guy.
“He was always doing something for our athletic department. He had our annex facility looking nice. When we needed an equipment manager, Rick was the first person I thought about.”
Zitalone worked with student assistants in managing the football equipment. He took inventory on the uniforms, helmets, shoulder pads, etc. When a helmet needed repaired, he fixed it. When pants or jerseys needed replaced, he was on it.
And his football weekends included laundry duty.
“I’d be at the stadium around 2 p.m. on football Fridays,” he recalled. “The uniforms had to be in the kids’ lockers, helmets and chin straps needed adjusted. ... It was time consuming. When the games ended, the laundry duty began.
“I’d finish washing the uniforms Saturday morning. Then it was time for the junior varsity game and the whole process began again. By late Sunday morning, the JV uniforms were clean and we were ready for another week.”
For Zitalone, it was a labor of love.
“Every minute of it,” he said. “I worked with some great students, from the water girls on up. I just loved being around the game, the team. We have a great community here. People I met as a young kid are still my friends and will be after 900 years.”
Zitalone was good friends with track coach Larry Young. He joined that team’s coaching staff “because there was a need there and I wanted to help fill it, even though I had no background in that sport.”
He eventually settled in as high jump coach.
“John Williams was our jump coach, but the long and triple jump pit is located on the other side of the field from the high jump area,” Butler track and cross country coach Mike Seybert said. “John couldn’t be in two places at once. Rick filled a big void there.
“Rick learned as he went. He did a great job communicating with the kids. He was always in a positive mood, upbeat, ready to go. Everyone loved being around that guy.”
Zitalone said he “loved the major meets, the experience of going to states and being around so many great athletes.
“It was really hard to step away,” he said of his last year of helping Butler athletics. “I knew I was getting older and it was getting harder for me. It was a hard choice to make, but I had to give it up.
Zitalone will be the 68th individual honored by the Butler Football Hometown Hero organization, which debuted in 2004.
