Former Bellingham coach Dale Caparaso: Hurricane Ian spares condo, postpones football

Tim Dumas, The Milford Daily News
·4 min read

Dale Caparaso traded Nor’easters for another form of severe weather when he headed south nearly 20 years ago: hurricanes.

The former Bellingham High football coach is no stranger to the type of powerful storms that hit states along the Gulf of Mexico.

The current head coach at Dixie Hollins High in St. Petersburg, Florida, said Thursday that his condo in Madeira Beach near St. Pete was spared any damage, although the power flickered on and off.

“We got a lot of rain and a tremendous amount of wind,” said Caparaso, 66, who is in his 43rd and final season as a head coach. “We have some friends down in Venice (30 miles to the south) – they got slammed.”

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Early forecasts had the Tampa/St. Pete area possibly taking a direct hit. Caparaso said he and his wife, Anne, had no plans to leave the area ahead of the storm.

Dale Caparaso, left, and his wife Anne were left unscathed by Hurricane Ian, but Anne has been busy at her school, which is being used as a shelter.
Dale Caparaso, left, and his wife Anne were left unscathed by Hurricane Ian, but Anne has been busy at her school, which is being used as a shelter.

“We were thinking it was going to be pretty bad, but we were not going to evacuate,” he said. “We were just going to stay in the condo and ride it out. We’re on the third floor so the water wasn’t going to be an issue.”

Anne Caparaso, principal at Skycrest Elementary School in Clearwater – 10 miles north of Madeira Beach – had more to be concerned with than the condo. Skycrest Elementary, which lost power for short stretches, is serving as an emergency shelter for Pinellas County.

“She’s been pretty busy the last three days,” Dale said.

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Dale Caparaso recalled past major hurricanes that made landfall along the Gulf, and the destruction they left behind to communities and football programs.

Hurricane Laura hit southeastern Louisiana in September of 2020, causing a few schools to cancel their football seasons.

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“A lot of those kids came over to Florida and hooked up with Florida teams,” he recalled.

Hurricane Charley, like Laura a Category 4 storm (5 being the highest rating), destroyed much of Punta Gorda, Florida, in 2004. Charlotte High in that city was ruined and later rebuilt.

“I have not heard any tragedies like that,” Caparaso said. “Yet.”

He said his Dixie Hollins team will not play its game Friday against Pinellas Park but is likely to have it rescheduled to Monday. Some teams are playing makeup games Tuesday due to an official shortage.

Caparaso said it is unlikely schools to the south will shut down their seasons.

“They’ll survive down there. Football is too big around here for them to cancel. Unless several schools got hammered and they had to cancel school – and I have not heard that.”

Final season as head coach

Dixie Hollins is 1-3 this season, including a 47-0 season-opening loss in Orlando to Green Mountain High out of Lakewood, Colorado. Green Mountain (4-0) has outscored opponents 168-6 this season.

“It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done football-wise, but we got a bunch of money for it,” Caparaso quipped.

Dale Caparaso, left, is in his 43rd and final year as a head football coach.
Dale Caparaso, left, is in his 43rd and final year as a head football coach.

He decided before this season to make 2022 his last year as a head football coach. He retired from teaching last spring.

Caparaso, who coached at Bellingham High for 12 seasons and won four Eastern Mass. Super Bowls before leaving for Florida in 2003, is handing over head coaching duties to the man he beat out for the Dixie Hollins job six years ago, Jason Stokes.

Caparaso will remain as the team’s defensive coordinator; Stokes is currently an assistant at Dixie Hollins. Both previously coached at nearby Pasco High.

“The transition is going to be a piece of cake,” Caparaso said. “He’s very secure in what he does; he doesn’t have a problem with the guy who’s been the head coach there hanging around.”

With more than four decades as a head coach behind him, Caparaso said he is happy with his decision to step back.

“It flew by so quick,” he said. “I’m looking forward to my new role and let the younger generation take this whole thing over.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas. 

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Former Bellingham coach Dale Caparaso's condo safe after Hurricane Ian