Nick Falkenberg throws a pass during the Central Jersey Group III state title game on Dec. 7, 2013. (Photo by Albert Rende.)
One of Rob Radice’s contributions to amateur football is his work with Nick Falkenberg.
And that makes everything quite convenient on the evening of Sunday, March 9, when the 52nd Annual Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame dinner takes place at the Princeton Hyatt.
Falkenberg will be Lawrence High’s Scholar-Athlete honoree at the event, while his head coach, Radice, will receive the Contributions to Amateur Football Award.
They couldn’t be happier for each other.
“I just think he’s a student and an athlete,” Radice said of his quarterback. “He always took academics very seriously. His mother (Maria) always told me stories. She was serious about him academically, and he was a serious kid about it. He understood the concept of having to have good grades, not just to play football but just for other parts of life. This was a no-brainer.”
Falkenberg had similar feelings for his coach.
“The work he’s put in the last 14 years at Lawrence, he deserves every kind of award,” the senior said. “He’s not only won countless football games but made boys into men. As a football coach he’s a ‘life lesson’ type of guy. He’s just a great coach.”
Those life lessons may be Radice’s greatest contributions, although they would only be part of a long list.
A 1986 Lawrence graduate, the father of two compiled an 84-56 record as LHS head coach before stepping down after this past season. He served the previous 10 years as a Cardinal assistant.
Under Radice, Lawrence won four Colonial Valley Conference division titles (at least one in all three divisions), and went to the NJSIAA Central Jersey playoffs eight times. This past season was the greatest in Lawrence history as the Cards went 10-0 before losing to Hopewell Valley in the Central Jersey Group III championship game.
Two players—John Nalbone and Brett Brackett—went on to the NFL via Monmouth University and Penn State, respectively. Anthony Russ and Ethan Posey attended Harvard and Dartmouth, while Keith Sherman (Lehigh), Brackett, Ryan Welsh (Washington & Lee) captained their college teams.
While not all his Cardinals played college football, more than 90 of them went to college. Radice also started and ran College Night at the Mercer County 12th Man TD Club dinners for the past three years.
And that’s just part of Radice’s attractive résumé. He has had his players volunteer at the Special Olympics of New Jersey for the past eight years, and they also participated in Read Across America at the Lawrence Township elementary schools.
“The kids took such great leadership whether it was Anthony Russ or Keith Sherman or Shurman Riggins,” Radice said. “They would do a sensational job doing Unified Basketball. They just had a ball.
“They learned it wasn’t all about them. They got to see the big picture, it’s about the team, not about individual effort. We used that hand in hand to go along with the teaching process.”
A resident of Hopewell Township, Radice has been a coach and vice-president of the board of Hopewell Valley Pop Warner association for five years.
He stepped down from his Lawrence duties this year so he and wife Clare can enjoy watching their children, Megan and Trevor, play for their various athletic teams.
“I just love to coach and love to be around it,” Radice said. “I think those things are important to give back. But I also want to give back to my family and see my daughter and son play sports.”
And he can’t do that as a high school football coach, which has turned into a year-round profession.
“If you’re doing it right, you’re doing it all the time,” he said. “I would refuse to go on vacation. I’d be driving back from LBI (Long Beach Island) just to run some summer lifting sessions.”
But it has all been worth it to Radice, whether on the youth level or in high school.
“When you see a (Pop Warner) kid—who didn’t really know how to do much on the field—get in a stance, catch the ball, read the drop of a linebacker … when the kid learns those things and you see them get better and better each week and each game, it’s really rewarding,” he said.
“In high school to be coaching this really green, immature kid into becoming a young man at the end of the process and buying into it, it’s great. Football, more than any other sport, is about life, dealing with adversity, moving forward, all those other things.”
Although he is the first LHS coach to win a playoff game and go to the finals, Radice is proudest of taking a part in changing some kids’ lives who may have never gotten to college without his input.
“There’s a special bond you form with players, I want to be there when they need me,” he said. “Even after they graduate, I’m still there to mentor them. That’s what makes me proudest. I’ll probably miss those personal relationships more than anything.”
One of those is with Falkenberg, the cannon-armed quarterback who earned First-Team All-West Jersey honors last fall. He also has a 3.1 GPA and 1560 SAT scores.
Along with the Special Olympics, which Falkenberg takes special pride in due to having an older brother with autism, Falkenberg was part of the Student Leadership organization that helped less fortunate children on Christmas and show freshman around school, among other things.
“It’s awesome to get this award,” Falkenberg said. “There’s a lot of people on my team that would be a great candidate for it too, but I’m very honored. Coach has beat it into our head that we’ve got to practice until it’s dark, then focus on academics.”
Maria shares that philosophy.
“Definitely,” Nick said with a laugh. “If she sees a C she goes nuts.”
As for the Special Olympics, he feels it has helped his relationship with 20-year-old brother Joey, who lives in South Jersey with his dad.
“Doing (Special Olympics) brings me closer with that group of kids,” Falkenberg said. “And whenever I see my brother Joey I do that same thing and it’s awesome.”
That attitude was reflected by the whole team, which presented special needs manager Matt Ross with a game ball after one of the Cardinals playoff wins.
“I’ll forever cherish those moments in the playoffs,” Falkenberg said. “Even the championship game, win or lose, playing in front of 8,000 people is something a lot of people might not ever do.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Falkenberg hopes to do it again, as he has narrowed his college choices down to Wesley, Ursinus and Monmouth, where he may attempt to walk-on.
“I think he’s got a great potential,” Radice said. “He’s going to get better and better. He got better every year in high school. He can really excel in the college game. He’s got all the tools, a strong arm, great feet, all those intangibles. I think he’ll be great.”
He and Radice have both been great for Lawrence High, and football in general over the years, and on March 9 they will be justly rewarded for that.
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