Ex-St. Francis Football Coach Bill Redell Still at Work Building Top-notch Gridiron Programs

Traveling back and forth on the 210 Freeway in the early 1990s on his way to his office in South Pasadena, veteran football coach Bill Redell would pass St. Francis High and frequently thought about getting a job there.

"I was still in the insurance game and I would often drive by the St. Francis campus and tell myself that if that coaching job ever came open, I'd apply for it," he said.

Eventually the coaching job did become available and he took over the program in 1993. In his seven years coaching the Golden Knights, he led them to a 45-31 mark.

In 1996, Redell led St. Francis to its first Mission League title and first CIF playoffs win in 13 years. Three years later, he took the Golden Knights to the CIF semifinals where they lost to eventual Division III champ Hart High.

"Without question, those years at St. Francis were the highlights of my coaching career. Great administration, good staff and we always had great kids," Redell said.

But, in December of 1999, Redell figured it was time to move on, especially since a new high school, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, was being built near where he lives.

Redell, who was a star football player at San Marino High in the 1950s, took over the Oaks Christian football program in the fall of 2000 and immediately turned the Lions into champions.

The following year, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame for his exploits at Occidental College in 1962 to 1963.

To say Bill Redell was a tremendous triple-threat football player in college is a lot like saying Einstein had brains. Or, Van Gogh was an OK painter.

All Redell did for the Tigers was: complete 67 percent of his passes for 11 touchdowns, rush for 1,567 yards and eight TDs, return kicks, boot 36 extra points and average 38.6 yards per punt. Oh yes...he also found time to intercept seven passes on defense.

He went on to play in the Canadian Football League for the Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, helping the Ti-Cats to victory in the 1967 Grey Cup, Canada's version of the Super Bowl.

"I had a 'cup of coffee' with the Rams, too," Redell recalls, "until a guy named Paul Warfield (the Miami Dolphins hall-of-fame wide receiver) ran by me like I was standing still. After that, I figured I'd devote more time to coaching and my insurance business."