Longtime football, soccer coach Camillone dies at 62

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

As a longtime Clark County high school football coach and driver's education teacher, Emilio Camillone would do anything to help students in need.

"You've heard of people who would give the shirt off their back to help others? Well I saw Coach Cam actually do it," said former coaching rival and longtime Las Vegas High co-worker Joe Gallia.

"Once, when a student went into labor on campus, Cam took off his shirt, covered her up and kept her calm while waiting for paramedics to arrive."

Camillone, who in his 32 years in the Clark County School District experienced everything from coaching all-star football teams to the frustration of enduring a string of cellar-dweller campaigns, died Sept. 10 in the Philippines. He was 62.

A gathering of friends is set for noon Saturday at Dona Maria Summerlin restaurant, 3205 N. Tenaya Way.

"He was so dedicated that he would spend his own money to buy kids pizza after games, give them rides home or help kids who could not afford athletic shoes get them," said Neriza Johnson, daughter of the owners of Dona Maria and a former defender on the Las Vegas High girls soccer team coached by Camillone.

"In driver's ed, he taught us as much about life as about driving. He would give us different life scenarios and choices to think about."

Bill Johnson, not related to Neriza, played football for Camillone at Basic High School in 1972 and said that while Camillone could at times be "meaner than a rattlesnake," he cared deeply for his players.

"He motivated me to not only be a better player but also to be a better person," said Johnson, a Metro Police fatal accident detective who also played on a Camillone soccer team. "He loved coaching and he was good at it."

who also played on a Camillone soccer team.

Gallia, who retired last year as a vice principal at Las Vegas High, first faced Camillone on the football field in 1973, when he coached a promising Western High junior varsity team against Camillone's underrated Chaparral JVs.

"Our boys went into the game a little too confident, and Coach Cam's team gave us everything we could handle," Gallia said of that narrow victory. "We never took a Camillone-coached team lightly again."

When Gallia became head coach at Valley High in the late 1970s, he squared off against several undermanned Camillone-coached Basic squads that from 1977-80 went 2-34, with the two wins coming over Bonanza High.

Camillone lost his last 18 games. Through it all, Camillone kept his sense of humor, once telling a reporter:

"You try coaching winning football teams when all five of your away games are the other schools' homecoming games."

Gallia said Camillone, "always did the best he could with what he had. He demonstrated just how good a coach he was in 1981, when he went to Valley and coached the JV football team to an undefeated season."

Camillone was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., and graduated from Long Beach State. He was hired by the School District in 1964 and three years later had his first coaching job as an assistant football coach at Rancho High.

From there, he went to Indian Springs and, as head coach, built the football team into a contender. He also led several Las Vegas High boys soccer teams to the playoffs during 14 years there.

Camillone was selected to coach in five Lions All-Star Football Games from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. He retired in June 1996.

Camillone is survived by a brother, Dom Camillone of Long Beach, Calif.