Longtime El Cerrito football coach Frank Milo dies at 83

A beloved Bay Area football coach died last week. 

Frank Milo, who coached El Cerrito for 20 years and whose name adorns the stadium the Gauchos play in, died on Aug. 1 of natural causes. He was 83.

During his two decades in charge of the the East Bay program, El Cerrito captured eight league titles and finished runner-up in three section championship games.

Milo was one of the few coaches who defeated De La Salle during the Concord powerhouse’s heyday, beating the Spartans 14-12 when future NFL kicker Doug Brien missed a short field goal in 1989.

Almost a dozen of Milo’s players went on to professional football careers, including Jamir Miller, who was drafted No. 10 overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 1994.

Milo went went 139-70-4 at El Cerrito.

“His kids played so hard from the first snap until the last snap of every game, which was a testament to how dearly they (cared) about him as a coach and a person” former Kennedy-Richmond coach Steve Alameda told the Bay Area News Group on Monday afternoon. “I can say that his teams were so well-prepared, and I’m sure that God has prepared a place in heaven for him.”

Before beginning his coaching career, Milo was a standout football and baseball player at Vallejo High. After that, he played at Vallejo Junior College and San Francisco State. 

It was at San Francisco State that he became friends with Larry Quirico, his future coworker at El Cerrito and lifelong friend. 

“He was an honest guy with great integrity who would do things by the book,” Quirico, whose family would go to theatrical plays in San Francisco with Milos, told this news organization. “He was a great teacher, great coach, and just a super, super person.”

From there, Milo began his teaching and coaching career at Richmond High in 1964 before eventually moving to El Cerrito in 1981. 

Milo served as athletic director at both Richmond and El Cerrito. 

He retired from high school coaching in 2002, but worked as a defensive coordinator at Contra Costa College until 2007. 

The longtime Gauchos coach was also selected as one of the top 20 high school football coaches of the 20th century by the Contra Costa and Alameda county sports writers.

“He had integrity and was loyal, and he demanded accountability and didn’t mess around,” former Contra Costa Times sportswriter Joe Wolfcale told BANG on Monday. “But he also had a softer side, too, and he was fair in everything he did.”

Milo is survived by his wife Peggy, four children and three grandchildren.

SERVICES

Visitation will be held from 3-7 p.m. on Aug. 18 at Colonial Chapels in Milo’s hometown of Vallejo, with a Vigil starting at 5 p.m. The funeral mass is Aug. 19 at St. Vincent’s Catholic Church beginning at 11 a.m., followed by Internment at All Souls Cemetery at 12:30 p.m. and a reception at Zio Fraedo’s in Vallejo from 2-5 p.m.