OWINGS MILLS, Maryland (AP) — When John Harbaugh reflects on the life of Joe D’Alessandris, stories from a time long before he became an offensive line coach in the NFL stand out in his mind.
“He worked in the steel mill when he was 17 and 18. … You know, the molten steel that comes out of the big vats?” Harbaugh said Monday after practice. “Let’s bring back the steel mills, because guys like Joe D’Alessandris worked in the steel mills as teenagers. And he mentioned that the older guys in the steel mill taught him that you take a shot of whiskey before you go on shift. A shot of whiskey to get ready for duty.”
Harbaugh spoke after practice on Monday, a day after the Baltimore Ravens announced the death of D’Alessandris at age 70. D’Alessandris had recently retired from his post as offensive line coach on Harbaugh’s staff, with the team citing an unspecified illness as the reason. It’s another tragic loss for the franchise after former receiver Jacoby Jones died in July at age 40.
D’Alessandris coached offensive linemen for more than four decades, eventually working for four NFL teams, before joining Harbaugh and the Ravens in 2017.
“He was kind of an inspiration to all of us,” Harbaugh said. “We definitely want to honor him with this season, and we want to honor Jacoby Jones with this season. We’re going to dedicate our season to those two people this year and do everything we can to make them proud of us when they’re watching, from where they’re watching.”
D’Alessandris has also been an assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers. Prior to his NFL career, he coached at several colleges as well as in the CFL and World League.
Although he played at Western Carolina, D’Alessandris was from Aliquippa, a city near Pittsburgh.
“He told me stories about his childhood in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a football hotbed. A small town where everything was football,” Harbaugh said. “There was the Italian quarter, there were all the different enclaves. … They came together and played against each other and with each other.”
“When I was growing up, from morning to night, it was all about football, it was a football town. Then they got to high school and were all on the same team, they were a real force, and those are some of his best friends to this day.”
Former Ravens offensive lineman Matt Skura paid tribute to D’Alessandris on social media in one of many ways.
“There are a few special people who go beyond the role of ‘coach’ and impact your life the way Joe D did mine. He and I bonded quickly because we were born in Pittsburgh and spent our time at Duke,” Skura said. “He coached with the values he learned working in the paper mills: toughness, hard work, grit, and he brought an old-fashioned lunchbox mentality every day. You knew you were going to be coached hard, but it came from love and his desire to bring out the best in you.”
D’Alessandris’ impact went beyond his position group.
“He was so much more than an offensive line coach. He was family to everyone he met,” former Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III said on social media. “The way this man treated my family from the first day he met them showed me his true character. He always strived to be more than the guy who told you what to do and how to do it. He showed you how to live, how to love and how to pursue your passion so you never have to have a real job in your life again.”
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