Eaglowski got his start at UD as the offensive line coach on John McVay’s first staff in 1965. A Dayton Daily News photo from February that year shows Eaglowski standing with the rest of the staff, including McVay, Jerry Hanlon, George Perles and Tom Hanlon.
Eaglowski, a graduate of Washington High School in Massillon, played football at Heidelberg University. One of his first coaching jobs was with McVay at Central Catholic High School in Canton. When McVay left that job to become an assistant coach at Michigan State, Eaglowski got the head coaching job and spent three more seasons at Central Catholic before joining McVay at UD.
“I had thought about going into college coaching,” Eaglowski said in 1970, “but the No. 1 consideration had to be that I respected the guy I worked for. John McVay fitted this qualification.”
Eaglowski stayed with McVay longer than the original members of the 1965 staff and worked with Len Fontes, Jim Gruden and others through the 1972 season. McVay stepped down as football coach in 1972 to become athletic director.
Eaglowski made a bid for the head coaching job but was instead named director of arena promotions for UD in 1973. Then in 1974, Eaglowski followed McVay to the World Football League, taking a job as a defensive line coach on McVay’s Toronto Northmen staff.
“It was a really tough decision to make,” Eaglowski said. “We had really started to develop roots in Dayton.”
The franchise moved to Memphis before McVay and Eaglowski ever coached a game in Toronto. They coached the team in 1974 and 1975, but the league folded midway through its second season. Eaglowski returned to the University of Dayton as UD Arena manager in May of 1976.
Eaglowski played a prominent role in the arena becoming of the top concert venues in Ohio. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Prince, etc. performed at the arena during Eaglowski’s years on the job.
“He made he made contact with a lot of promoters in the Midwest,” said Gary McCans, the UD Arena ticket manager during Eaglowski’s tenure. “He was the one that that really got the arena rolling as a concert venue.”
The NCAA tournament came to UD Arena nine times from 1976-94 when Eaglowski ran the venue.
“It was (Athletic Director) Tom Frericks’ doing that we were connected with that,” McCans said, “but Joe made sure the whole operation ran smoothly.”
In 1994, Eaglowski moved to a new job on campus as manager of external contracts. He was inducted into the UD Hall of Fame in 1996.
Eaglowski worked as a scout for the Cleveland Browns in the late 1990s. From 2000-16, he served as director of operations for the Dayton Dragons.
According to his obituary, “Joe married Barbara Ann Fisher on June 29, 1957; she proceeds him in death in May 2023. Joe is survived by three sons; Greg (Carla) of Celina; Mike (Jodi), of Germantown; and Joe III (Brenda) of Bellbrook; six grandchildren; five great grandchildren; two sisters, Julie Ann Turkal and Veronica Sweterlitch, and two brothers, Tony (Judy) and Bill. In addition to his wife Barbara, Joe was proceeded in death by his parents: Joseph Michael Sr. and Julia (Samsel) Eaglowski.”
A visitation will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Kettering. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. A private inurnment at David’s Cemetery will follow.
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