Villanova Univeristy Athletics

After a standout collegiate career for some of the top teams in Villanova history and playing one season for the Philadelphia Eagles, David DiFilippo would eventually return to his alma mater for five seasons as an assistant coach. He played for the Wildcats from 1937-39 and graduated in 1940. DiFilippo was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1983.
 
During his playing career DiFilippo was a standout guard on Villanova’s offense line. The team averaged 20.6 points per game and sported a dominant plus-16.3 scoring margin spanning the 1937 through 1939 seasons. In his junior season in 1938, DiFilippo helped the Wildcats average 26.9 points per game while topping the 25-point mark five times in nine outings.
 
Villanova enjoyed some of its best seasons under Maurice “Clipper” Smith during DiFilippo’s career. Over his three varsity seasons the team went 22-2-2 (.885) and ran off consecutive unbeaten seasons of 8-0-1 in 1937 and 1938. Those years were part of a program record 22-game unbeaten streak (19-0-3) which started late in the 1936 campaign and stretched into the early part of the 1939 season.
 
DiFilippo played in five games and earned two starts for the Philadelphia Eagles during the 1941 NFL season. He enlisted in the Army in the fall of 1942 and attained the rank of captain while serving his country. DiFilippo played on the Army Eastern All-Stars, a team of football stars serving in the military who played against NFL teams. He also played on the Kessler Field and First Air Force football teams.
 
Following the conclusion of World War II, DiFilippo began his coaching career with the Tacony semipro team from 1947-51. He was the head coach at St. Thomas More High School from 1951 to 1953 and came back to Villanova in 1955 to coach the freshman team. DiFilippo guided the Wildcats frosh to four straight wins and was elevated to the varsity coaching staff one year later as the defensive line coach, a position he held for four seasons from 1956-59.
 
After briefly working as an Eagles scout and an assistant coach at Temple, DiFilippo gained notoriety while working for a number of minor league football teams – including the Philadelphia Bulldogs of the Continental Football League and Pottstown Firebirds of the Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL). He was both the coach and general manager for the Firebirds, who wore uniforms donated by the Eagles and won two ACFL championships in DiFilippo’s three seasons. He was named the league’s Coach of the Year in 1970.
 
Later in his life DiFilippo worked in the insurance business, operated a beer distributorship and a restaurant known as Coach’s Corner, and lived in Ocean City, New Jersey. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. DiFilippo passed away at age 66 in 1983.