This Day in Norwood History-March 30, 1961-Arthur Gulla Named Head Football Coach

Arthur M. Gulla, presently Norwood High School history teacher and assistant football coach at NHS since 1953, has been appointed by the School Committee to the head coaching post held for 15 years and now vacated by Orlando (Andy) Scafati who, as of September 1 of this year, will become Director of Athletics in Norwood Public Schools and head of the Physical Education Department at the High School.

Mr. Gaita Will be replacing his former coach at Norwood High, under whom he played football and baseball during the years of 1946-1949. Gulla, 29, was one of the Blue-and-White’s most outstanding gridiron performers and a 3-year letterman. Among numerous accomplishments, he scored three touchdowns as a junior against traditional Thanksgiving Day foe, Dedham High, in the annual affair of 1947. The following season of 1948 saw his selection to the Boston Traveler’s All-Scholastic Football Team.

Mr. Gulla, the youngest succeeding coach in Norwood history since the great “Benny” Murray (25 years as coach at NHS), who took over as Director of Athletics in 1921 at the youthful age of 26, has lived in Norwood all of his life. Upon graduation from Norwood High in 1949, he entered Georgetown University and, majoring in government, received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Previous years of teaching before coming into the Norwood system in I960 were spent at the Acton-Boxboro Regional High School where he taught history for 4 years and at nearby Walpole High during the 1959-60 school year.

Gulla, who will be the youngest coach among BSL grid directors in the coming season, resides at 42 Monroe Street East with his wife and two children. One of his two brothers, Anthony, played some football and basketball for years of Norwood’s new head coach. The other brother, Steve, was an outstanding fallback on the 1959 High School grid eleven.

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