Bob Casciola, who served as the president of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame from 1995 to January 2005 and executive director of the organization from 1991 to 1995, passed away April 25 after a brief illness. He was 89.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Casciola, who so ably led our organization during an amazing period of growth and modernization in the 1990s and early 2000s," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "Nobody cared more intensely about the game and its power to change lives than Bob. He credited football with opening doors for him to attend Princeton, which launched his successful banking career, and he worked tirelessly to protect the game for future generations. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob's wife Janet, his children, and the many people he touched over the years, and we are extremely grateful for his enormous impact on the National Football Foundation."
 
"Bob Casciola was enormously respected and a man of great integrity," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "He became a great source of counsel for me, and we worked seamlessly together in 2005 when I succeeded him. As a former coach, he knew how to build a great team at the NFF, which included a blue-chip board and a top-flight staff. He left a great legacy at the NFF for us to build upon, and I have always been deeply appreciative of his support over the years. We are all saddened by his passing and want his family to know how grateful we are for his many contributions to our organization." 

Casciola took over the NFF in 1991, and he immediately set to work strengthening the NFF Chapter Network, which he often called the heart and soul of the organization, helping build it into a force of 12,000 members at 120 outposts who continue to promote the game at the grassroots level. In 1992, Casciola joined NFF Chairman Bill Pearce, and then-NFF Vice Chairman Jon F. Hanson in announcing the College Football Hall of Fame would be relocated from Kings Island, Ohio, to South Bend, Indiana. Casciola helped lead the transition and a new state-of-the-art $17 million facility opened in 1995 to much fanfare. The facility served as an important focal point for the NFF efforts for 17 years before moving to Atlanta in 2014.
 
Hanson would become chairman in 1994, and Casciola was promoted to president in 1995. The many initiatives they launched together included the Play It Smart program, which raised more than $20 million to train academic coaches to work with football team in disadvantaged areas; the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, which annually reached more than 10,000 coaches at 40 sites nationwide on a range of topics from playing techniques and strategies to life skills development and player health and safety; an effort to raise more than $3.5 million to permanently endow several of the NFF National Scholarship Awards; the expansion of Hall of Fame consideration to the divisional ranks; a traveling "Road Show," a 38-foot long Coachman recreational vehicle that traversed the country promoting the College Football Hall of Fame; and the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (MA), which provided resources for using sports as a vehicle for the personal, social and academic development of youth.

"Bob revered the game, and he absolutely treasured his relationships with the Princeton, Dartmouth and UConn football programs," said Hanson, who played a key role in hiring Casciola in 1991 and currently remains emeritus NFF chairman. "Bob always said football opened doors for him, enabling him to have relationships that he could have never imagined…. I am extremely proud of the work we were able to accomplish during our tenure together, including numerous NFF milestones from building the new Hall in South Bend, launching the effort to endow the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards and creating the NFF Play It Smart program. I came to consider Bob a close friend and confidant. I will profoundly miss being able to talk with him, but I will cherish everything we were able to accomplish together."

Recognizing Casciola's many contributions, not only to the game of football but to countless communities around the nation, the NFF named him the recipient of its 2004 Distinguished American Award, adding his name to a list of past recipients that included Coach Vince Lombardi, comedian Bob Hope, Four Star General James A. Van Fleet, actor Jimmy Stewart, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and numerous other influential leaders.
 
An All-Ivy League team selection at Princeton University, where he played for Hall of Fame coaches Charlie Caldwell and Dick Colman, Casciola spent 20 years in the college coaching ranks as an assistant coach at his alma mater and Dartmouth College, under head coach and Hall of Famer Bob Blackman. He became head coach at the University of Connecticut in 1971, before returning to Princeton to lead the Tigers for five seasons.
 
In 1978, he joined First Fidelity Bank of New Jersey and rose to senior vice president, leaving in 1987 to become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association, a position he held for five years.
 
In 1981, Casciola became the color analyst for Princeton football. Two years later, he was chosen to do color commentary for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL and was cited as a member of the best sports reporting team in New York State. In the fall of 1984, he became the "voice" of Rutgers Football on both radio and television on the New Jersey Network covering Rutgers, Princeton and the state colleges in New Jersey.
 
During the 1985 and 1986 seasons, Casciola served as color analyst for the Ivy League Game of the Week on National Public Television. In addition, his broadcasting career included color commentary for the Mizlou Television Network, working the Independence Bowl in 1985, 1986 and 1987; the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1986 and the Senior Bowl in 1988. From the fall of 1987 through 1990, Casciola was color commentator for the Great American Independent Football broadcasts on national television that included the following schools: Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Temple, Rutgers, Army and Navy.
 
For his efforts with New Jersey high school football, Casciola received the Coaches Association Honor Award in 1981. He was also cited for his contribution to high school sports by the Delaware Valley Chapter of The National Football Foundation, receiving the Distinguished American Award in 1984, which was subsequently renamed the Robert F. Casciola Distinguished American Award. He was honored by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority for his work in athletics and was named "Person of the Year" by the New Jersey Tournament of Champions. For his outstanding and significant achievements in college football, the Downtown Athletic Club honored him with a Heisman Scholarship Award in 1994. Casciola, published a book, "1st And Forever," with Jon Land as a part memoir and lasting tribute to the game and its relevance to everyday life in 2018.

"Bob Casciola played a major role in every level of the game of football," said Cosmo Iacavazzi, a 2003 College Football Hall of Fame inductee and 1964 NFF National Scholar-Athlete who played for Casciola during his time as an assistant coach at Princeton and later worked at the NFF as the director of development under Casciola. "He was a player, a coach, a broadcaster, and an executive. He served every position with full energy, commitment and impact. His true love was being a coach. No matter what position he held, he was always coaching. He wanted players, colleagues and fans to understand not only game, but the broader values of the game that can be carried on throughout life. Coach Casciola was a true "life coach", who has helped us all to become better."
 
Bob and his wife Janet relocated to Scottsdale, Arizona, after residing in Monroe Township, New Jersey. He is survived by his wife, four children and seven grandchildren. Services and funeral arrangements will be posted here when set.