Carmen DiPoalo

Carmen DiPoalo’s involvement with athletics began in high school as a three-year varsity letterman in both football and baseball at Monrovia. DiPaolo earned MVP and All-CIF honors in football during the 1957 season continuing on at Citrus College earning Most Outstanding Athlete 1959. Carmen played on the 1962 UCLA Rose Bowl Team highlighting his playing career.

Coach DiPoalo’s coaching career began at Clovis High School with friend and mentor Bob Dinaberg. In 1969 Hueneme High School won the Channel League Championship under DiPoalo’s leadership. In 1970, Carmen reunited with Dinaberg at Santa Barbara City College where he served as the Vaqueros Defensive Coordinator for eighteen years. City College won several Western State Conference Championships, played in two state playoffs, eight bowl games, one of which was the prestigious Potato Bowl in 1991.

In 1979 the Vaqueros defense was ranked #1 in the state. Through the years he coached several All-State and All-Americans. Coach DiPoalo took over the head coach responsibilities in 2000. Carmen got the VAQ’s back on track in 2002 with an undefeated record at home, which was the first winning season in several years, and he concluded with a 23-22 victory over powerful Bakersfield College the last game of his 40-year coaching career.

Carmen has three children and twelve grandchildren, three of whom are currently playing high school football.

Download this page from the 2007 Hall of Fame Banquet Program