Drew Gordon, former business owner and retired champion head football coach at La Salle College High School, has died at 73

Drew Gordon, 73, of Ambler, 2009 Pennsylvania state champion football coach at La Salle College High School and longtime owner and president of Gordon Truck Leasing, died Monday, Sept. 4, at his home. The cause of death was not disclosed. Mr. Gordon had been living with a heart condition.

A star quarterback at Bishop McDevitt High School in the 1960s and Villanova University in the 1970s, Mr. Gordon was both the son and father of a football player and coach. He became head coach at La Salle in 2006 and won the Philadelphia Catholic League championship his first season.

His teams went on to win five more league titles and four straight District 12 championships over nine seasons. His 2009 team went 14-1 and was the first from the Catholic League to win a state championship, and Mr. Gordon was named coach of the year by two panels of national experts.

A week before the Explorers overwhelmed State College High School, 24-7, in a December snowstorm at HersheyPark Stadium, Mr. Gordon told the Daily News: “Playing football is the best. Coaching is next.” As for that particular team, he told The Inquirer a day before the big game: “They’re a very close group. They have an idea of what they want to do, and they execute.”

That team was just like its coach. Many colleagues noted Mr. Gordon’s “commitment and meticulous preparation” to everything he did on and off the field. In 2006, when he was hired as head coach at La Salle, he said: “The things in my life that I’m committed to, I go all out.”

Mr. Gordon and La Salle lost the state championship game in 2010. His record from 2006 through 2014 is 91-26. In 2015, when he stepped down at La Salle, he said: “Fall is certainly going to be difficult without football.” So he spent the next season as Bishop McDevitt’s offensive coordinator.

He coached the Glenside Gorillas earlier in a local youth league and was offensive coordinator at La Salle in the mid-1990s when his son, Brett, was the star quarterback. He is in athletic halls of fame at La Salle, Bishop McDevitt and Villanova. The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame honored him in 2010 as an influential contributor to amateur football.

He also worked for 17 seasons as an analyst for Villanova football radio broadcasts.

“He was a fiery competitor,” said his son, who also served as Mr. Gordon’s offensive coordinator at La Salle. “He was a type-A guy who had a compassionate side. As tough as he was, he cared about the players.”

Indeed, Mr. Gordon knew all the academic advisers at La Salle and routinely checked up on the scholastic status of his players. He was particularly active with La Salle’s Character Development Program, and school principal James Fyke said in a tribute: “His message resonated powerfully with our students.”

Tony Resch, former athletic director at La Salle, said Mr. Gordon “truly cared about the young men in his care.” Former La Salle basketball coach Marty Jackson said: “Drew was a special human being.”

Andrew Joseph Gordon was born April 4, 1950. He grew up in Ohio and Glenside, and graduated as an all-star quarterback at Bishop McDevitt in 1968. He set a single-game passing record at Villanova that his son eventually broke, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and worked at first in pharmaceutical sales and banking.

He and a partner started a truck leasing company in 1978, and he sold it in 2008. He married Bernadette Valera, and they had son Brett and daughters Caroline and Jaclyn. They divorced later.

Mr. Gordon played golf and liked to get away in Ocean City. He went to church every Sunday, took mission trips to El Salvador, and doted on his grandchildren. His father, Andy, was a quarterback at Villanova in the 1940s and coached at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in the 1950s.

» READ MORE: Gordon keeps passing tradition alive at La Salle

In one of many online tributes, a friend said: “The love and respect of his family was Drew’s most favorite possession.” Another friend said Mr. Gordon was “a mentor who saw the big picture. His legacy should inspire many.”

His family said in a tribute: “He was a beacon of love, support, and courage to all who knew him.”

In addition to his children and former wife, Mr. Gordon is survived by seven grandchildren, three sisters, two brothers, and other relatives.

More than 1,000 people attended services on Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Donations in his name may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105; and the Travis Manion Foundation, Box 1485, Doylestown, Pa. 18901.