Joe Yonto

Who was Joe Yonto?

Joe Yonto was an American football player and coach, serving most of his career at the University of Notre Dame. He served under three national championship coaches during his career.

A native of Orrville, Ohio, Yonto played fullback as sophomore and guard as junior under coach Frank Leahy at Notre Dame. As a senior prior to his 1948 graduation, he served as an assistant freshman team coach after a leg injury ended his playing career. He went on to coach high school football for 16 years at numerous schools, including seven years at Notre Dame High School for Boys in Niles, Illinois.

In 1964 he returned to the University of Notre Dame as defensive line coach under incoming head coach Parseghian, and held that role throughout Parseghian's 11 seasons, as well as six more under Devine, the last four as defensive coordinator. During that period, he was a part of three Notre Dame national championship staffs and he coached a dozen All-America defensive linemen. That list included Alan Page, Kevin Hardy, Mike McCoy, Walt Patulski, Mike Kadish, Mike Fanning, Steve Niehaus and Ross Browner—all of whom went on to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Browner won the Lombardi, Outland and Maxwell Awards, and Patulski also won the Lombardi.