![[Original size] DJ's Sports Show.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/75856f_7f4ffe7f83c14d209a701ef21c02c17d~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_120,h_120,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5BOriginal%20size%5D%20DJ's%20Sports%20Show.png)
If there were someone I’d consider to have the “rock and roll” persona of my Tremendous 24 group, it’s this guy. The first guest I ever had whom I didn’t know personally beforehand. He is passionate, disciplined, and has a flamboyant personality that you can’t teach. He is a versatile player who has played quarterback and defensive end throughout his career. The former football star turned college coach—the authentic Vinnie Crisafi.
Crisafi was the third guest I interviewed back in October 2020. He was a former teammate of other Tremendous 24 members you guys have learned about, from Airion Scarlett to Colin Williams. Crisafi was born in Union, New Jersey, to his parents Kelli and Marc, where he lived for the first four to five years of his life before eventually moving to Clark, New Jersey, where he spent most of his formative years. After high school, he moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Growing up in Clark is where Crisafi first got his football start; he started playing for the Pop Warner program at around five years old, learning the game from his dad, which taught him discipline and how to win. Early on in his football career, he didn’t enjoy tackling people.
“I was one that never liked getting hit, didn’t like hitting people. Was not a fan of it at all, and then I kind of had to buckle up in a sense that, alright, you can’t be a good football player if you don’t start lowering your shoulder.”
Outside of football, Crisafi played baseball, basketball, wrestling, and track and field, which helped him on the football field. He played catcher when he played baseball, which helped build up the strength and power in his legs, which he attributed to assisting him in the gym and exploding off the edge for football. Meanwhile, wrestling helped him with tackling, hand placement, footwork, and mobility, while basketball and track helped with conditioning, speed, and endurance.
While attending Carl H Kumpf Middle School, Crisafi’s school didn’t have a middle school football team. Luckily for him, he could still play Pop Warner until eighth grade. From there, he attended Arthur L Johnson High School, where he started on the freshman team for the Johnson Crusaders but made a massive jump to varsity as a sophomore the following season, where he talked about the difference.
“You’re not only playing older guys, but the speed of the game is way faster. The mental aspect of it is way faster… You have to process a lot more.”
Crisafi played for Governor Livingston High School in the fourth game of his sophomore year. He played many positions, from safety to quarterback and cornerback. Still, due to injuries, he started as a quarterback in that game, which helped propel them to a 28-21 victory and boosted his confidence on the football field.
“That game really showed me what it takes to play on the varsity level as a young kid…You won, but you didn’t play your game to the best of your ability…That moment right there boosted me, boosted my confidence, boosted me mentally, physically, and it just set me on the right path.”
During his three years on varsity for the Crusaders, Crisafi helped lead them to an 18-9 record. The Crusaders made the playoffs every year of his varsity tenure. Unfortunately, they never reached their ultimate goal of winning a state title, losing to the eventual state champions his sophomore season in Rumson Fair-Haven in the first round, losing to Lincoln in the semifinals his junior year, and the eventual state champs in Manasquan in the quarterfinals his senior season.
Crisafi finished high school as team MVP, William Waterson Award Scholarship winner, and 2017 Male Athlete of the Year. He then continued his football career at Caldwell University, playing for the Cougars over schools such as Springfield and Fairleigh Dickinson. After a tough decision, he gave up baseball because he was more passionate about football.
Caldwell offered Crisafi’s father a coaching position that made his decision easy, the man who made him the person he is today on and off the field.
“I always had this thing I was going to play baseball in college…Something just really smacked me in the face like do you really want to stop playing football? My love for baseball slowly kind of faded away my senior year… My heart wasn’t in it, and I want to be a football coach too.”
Crisafi joined Scarlett and Williams to assemble the first football team in Caldwell history in 2017-18, and they all became good friends. While in college, Crisafi continued playing quarterback his first two seasons before transitioning to tight end for the team's betterment. It showed his unselfishness and how great of a teammate he was.
The Cougars struggled to garner wins during Crisafi’s time there due to being a startup program. However, he threw the first touchdown pass in program history and was named the 2022 Arthur L. Johnson Male Athlete Of the Year.
Before a game, Crisafi loved listening to Dave East, Metallica, Phil Collins, Lil Baby, etc. Outside of football, he enjoys playing video games, hanging out with friends, drawing art, making music, and shopping. His all-time NFL top five are Jerry Rice (his goat), Lawrence Taylor, Barry Sanders, Tom Brady, and Jim Brown, with Michael Jordan as his NBA GOAT. His top five NBA players were Jordan, LeBron, Kobe, and Magic, with a tie between Wilt/Shaq.
After graduating from college in 2021 with a degree in criminal justice, Crisafi has done what he set out to do when we spoke years ago: coaching. He has coached as an assistant at Caldwell (where he currently coaches), Towson University (2022), and Woodbridge High School. He’s turned players into All-Defensive selections, and so on. Here are some of his coaching accolades thus far.
Coached 4 CSFL Defensive Selections (Caldwell University)
4 All-Division/All-Area Defensive Backs (Woodbridge High School)
Led Woodbridge to a 17-11 overall record
He will attend Kean University to pursue a teaching degree. He wants to continue impacting the youth and the next generation, not just on the football field but in people’s lives. Crisafi hopes to become a Division I football coach and be financially stable for himself and his future family.
When asked about his legacy, Crisafi gave a great response:
“Just to be a guy that’s reliable. A person always trying to make people laugh and smile. Just an overall good guy people want to be around… When he was younger, he was a good kid. When I’m older, his values and what he preaches is what everyone should preach and should want to live their life… I want to be someone kids can look up to…Just people can look up to, and people can say he was a genuinely good dude, and he lived his life to the fullest.”
From doing whatever it took on the field for his team by playing multiple positions, Crisafi transitioned to what he set out to do with his life’s purpose: coaching, leading, and inspiring the next generation. He is a standup guy with an old-fashioned blue-collar work ethic that has shown why he has Greatness Within him.
Comments