Kornacki: Harbaugh Grandfathers Pave Way for Jim
9/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2015
Jim Harbaugh (center) and his grandfathers, Bill Harbaugh (left) and Joe Cipiti.
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The question was put to Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh by one of the elementary school students invited to ask questions at a media gathering the day before pre-season practice began:
When you run out of the Michigan Stadium tunnel for Saturday's (Sept. 12) home opener with Oregon State, who would you select, anybody past or present, to come out with you?
Harbaugh paused, and it was obvious he liked the question. He thought for a few seconds.
"That's a great question," he said. "A lot of names come to mind. But I think the two, if I could have anybody, would be Bill Harbaugh and Joe Cipiti, two beloved grandparents that are no longer with us. That is who I'd pick to walk out of the tunnel for the first game."
His grandfathers made a huge impact on Harbaugh as examples of self-sacrifice, dedication and love.
"Bill Harbaugh and Joe Cipiti -- they did the dirty work, the blue-collar work," Harbaugh told me recently. "They had multiple jobs."
Cipiti came from Sicily and settled in the Cleveland area with his wife, Jessie, to raise their two children. Bill Harbaugh followed his father's lead, becoming an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad and raising five children with his wife, Marie, in Crestline, Ohio.
They were part of what Tom Brokaw termed "The Greatest Generation," Americans who endured "The Great Depression," survived World War II and raised the nation to great prosperity.
"Joe Cipiti was a mechanic and had a full-time job by the time he was 13 years old," said Jim Harbaugh. "He came from Italy when he was four. He was a true American success story. He eventually owned his own filling station and his own nursery and put a son and a daughter through college.
"Bill Harbaugh worked on the railroad his whole life. Bill Harbaugh -- I had the same respect and admiration for him because he provided for five kids. He allowed my dad to do what he loved -- play football, basketball and baseball, and eventually go to Bowling Green and earn a degree and become a coach. And do a job he loved to do.
"And my dad paved the way for me and my brother to do what we love to do. And my mom was raised with those same blue-collar work ethics and values that were just showered upon us as kids -- John, Joani and myself."
Joani, the youngest in the family, is married to Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean.
John is the coach of the Baltimore Ravens and defeated Jim's San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, also known as the "HarBowl," which Grandpa Cipiti attended.
"We are who we are today because of them," said Harbaugh. "It all traces back to Joe and Jessie Cipiti and Bill and Marie Harbaugh. Attitude and gratitude is how I feel about my grandparents."
When Jack and Jackie Harbaugh were asked what Jim's statement about coming out of the tunnel with their fathers meant to them, Jack, a retired college football assistant and head coach, said, "I flashed back to the Super Bowl when I heard that. We both looked at each other and thought about our parents. Our moms were gone, my dad was gone, and her dad, Joe, was 97. And we thought about what that would've meant to the grandparents.
"And when Jim mentioned walking out with his two grandfathers, he had the same emotion at that moment that we had in realizing what the magnitude of the Super Bowl meant. Jackie's dad was an immigrant from Italy, and Jackie's mom's parents came from Poland. You have to understand what our dads and moms meant to us. We both got emotional and broke down. And it wasn't so much about them going to the Super Bowl as much as it was wondering how the grandparents would've reacted."
Jim Harbaugh (right) poses with (from left) brother John Harbaugh, father Jack Harbaugh, grandfather Joe Cipiti and mother Jackie Harbaugh during a press conference in preparation for Super Bowl XLVII at the New Orleans Convention Center.
Grandpa Joe actually got invited onto a media stage with his grandsons during Super Bowl week in New Orleans.
"You could see pride coming out of his ears and his eyeballs," said Jack.
Cipiti died one year later, but he got to experience something no other grandfather ever has.
"Jim respected them because they both worked in very hard jobs," said Jackie. "My dad would leave the house at seven in the morning and sometimes not get home until 2 a.m. because he was snow-plowing banks or picking up tows. He worked really, really hard, and so did my mother. And Jim connected with that and brought that attitude (to coaching). We believe that you earn what you have."
Jack said the Harbaughs came from Germany in 1736 and settled in the Harbaugh Valley in Maryland that extends into Pennsylvania, southwest of Gettysburg. They were farmers and shepherds that eventually migrated to Ohio.
"My grandfather was a railroad engineer and so was my father," said Jack, who worked as a railroad brakeman during summers. "They had great reputations as engineers and took it seriously. My dad was an excellent baseball and softball player and was a boxer for about eight fights. He did well in the first seven, got his butt kicked in the eighth and decided boxing was not what he wanted to do.
"But the one thing about him was that he was a tough guy. He had a tooth knocked out and I'd say, 'Why don't you get that fixed?' And he said he was keeping it that way, saying, 'It's a reminder to me that this won't ever happen again!'"
Jack said his father would drive the train from Crestline in north-central Ohio to a town just outside of Pittsburgh, spend the night and drive the train back to Ohio. He did that for 35 years and also was a fireman.
They see Jim in their fathers. In what ways is Jim most like his grandfathers?
"My dad was stubborn," said Jack.
Jackie added, "My dad was stubborn, too."
Once a Harbaugh gets set on something, he's hard to budge.
"But my dad also had a great sense of humor," said Jackie.
Jack added, "My dad could make you laugh, too."
So, the Harbaughs are definitely fun, too.
They enjoy life, stick to their guns and get things done.
Jackie said her father was "a stickler for detail," and you can see that trait in Jim as he works in practice with quarterbacks on the importance of taking a snap with precision.
"My dad would send them a card with his thoughts about them," Jackie said. "He would tell them stories about growing up when he was young."
Left: Bill and Marie Harbaugh in their Crestline, Ohio, home. Center (from left): Jim, Jackie, Jack (then defensive coordinator at Stanford), Joani and John Harbaugh with Joe Cipiti in Palo Alto, California, circa 1981. Right: Cipiti and Jim Harbaugh on a backyard swing in Iowa City, Iowa, when Jack Harbaugh was on Iowa's staff.
Jim took Grandpa Joe to the Pro Bowl as an NFL quarterback and received two first-class tickets to the game in Honolulu. Jim gave his first-class seat to his grandpa and didn't mention that it was supposed to be his seat. Jim was scrunched up in the coach section of the plane when his grandfather, after feasting on a steak, came back to talk while working a toothpick.
Jack recalled the message Grandpa Joe had: "Hey, Jim, what are you doing back here! I'm up there eating a steak, got it caught in my teeth."
"Joe never did figure it out," said Jack, laughing about it once again.
Jack said that his father had a way of pushing your buttons to get a reaction and to see if you would stand up to him in order to earn his respect.
"That was great training for Jim when he got to play for Bo," said Jack, who was an assistant coach under Michigan coach Bo Schembechler and then watched his son play quarterback for the legend.
All of these memories of his grandparents came to Jim when asked about who he would choose to walk out of the tunnel with on Saturday.
What would Grandpa Bill and Grandpa Joe think about what Jim has accomplished and that invitation to come out of the tunnel together?
"My dad would be thrilled by that," said Jackie. "He would be able to see that everything has come full circle."
Jack added, "It's the American dream. It's a true miracle and a blessing."
His grandpas will be there on Saturday -- not in flesh but definitely in spirit. They are the men who "paved the way" for that charge down the tunnel that Jim will make with his team.
