On this year's card, which, like Angelo, was making a comeback after a two- year absence, Gutelius wrote, "Christmas in September just hasn't been the same without you."
But yesterday morning, shortly after Angelo, 57, blew a whistle at precisely 9 o'clock to officially reassume command, one person suggested Gutelius's 1987 card was slightly inappropriate.
"It's more than Christmas this year," said Ron Howley, Angelo's assistant throughout his first go-'round. "It's like a rebirth."
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From 1965 to '84, Al Angelo compiled a 172-39-5 record while winning nine Public League championships and a city title in 1978.
He retired, he says now, only because he felt his "time had come."
But when John McAneney, Angelo's successor, announced late last May that he would be retiring from teaching and coaching, Angelo communicated for the first time to anyone how distasteful football retirement had been.
"Until Mac retired," said Steve Ebbecke, who starred for Angelo from 1969-71 and has been his son-in-law for 8 1/2 years, "I don't think anybody knew how much Al missed coaching.
"He was a little crankier than normal during the two-year period, but we all thought it was because of his hip problem (degenerative arthritis). I guess it was both - the hip and missing football."
"Talking to him now," Howley said, simply, "I can see how being away was so traumatic for him."
To understand how someone could relinquish a job in 1984, then exhibit more zest than ever after reclaiming it in 1987, one must know the relationship between Al Angelo and Frankford football.
The man, in a word, is obsessed.
At many Public League games, reporters and fans are lucky to obtain a legible roster. At Frankford, thanks to Angelo, available is a program that would be the envy of any suburban powerhouse.
The highlights include two lists: starters, by position, for every team
from 1965 to the present and every varsity player beginning in 1914.
