The Bees are back to work. And a familiar face, and an even more familiar voice, is back for his 38th season at Baldwinsville.

“I think in July, I think, geez, maybe I’d like to go to Florida. Then the first morning of preseason, I think, 'ah, I can wait another year," Carl Sanfilippo said.

At 68, Sanfilippo shows no signs of slowing down.


What You Need To Know

  • Baldwinsville is buzzing after coming just short of a section title last year

  • Carl Sanfilippo is entering his 38th season as the Baldwinsville football coach

  • Sanfilippo has six players with dads that also played under him at Baldwinsville in the 1990's

“I’m not as quick as I used to be, so I have to be careful where I stand," Sanfilippo said.

He has coached thousands of kids over the decades, which makes practices a little surreal.

“I think I have six kids on this team whose dads played for me," Sanfilippo noted.

Kids like Isaiah Pickard.

“He’ll tell me all the time that he was the best at what he does. I tell him at least once a day that I’m a better athlete than him. He says all the time, 'go ask coach,'" Pickard said.

“It’s funny. I can’t tell the dads, but I think a couple of these guys are tougher than their dads were," Sanfilippo said.

Logan and Toby McIntyre are on the team.

"It's kind of crazy in a way, because coach always says, 'Oh, your dad was the greatest,'" Toby McIntyre said. "He said he was the best running back in the section, but I think that's bull crap," Logan McIntyre said.

And Nico Wellman.

“He had a lot of fun stories, maybe some that I can’t say," Wellman joked.

The game might look a little different than it did in the early 1990s, and so does Sanfilippo. But the voice hasn’t changed, and neither has the message.

"He teaches you how to be a man. More than football, it's how to be a good person," Wellman said.

"He teaches you respect, makes sure you're doing the right things off the field and on it," Logan McIntyre said.

"He teaches us to attack anything in life with a positive attitude, and always try to win," Pickard said.

"He's taught a lot of discipline, adversity, respect. Things like that," Toby McIntyre said.

Sanfilippo teaches things that will stick with the players long after their playing days are over.

“Be a good person, everything else will take care of itself. You hope you had something to do with the fact that they did the right thing," Sanfilippo said.