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High School Sports

Catapano to retire as athletic director at Sanderson

By Nick Stevens

Mar 9, 2010

Bob Catapano, athletic director at Sanderson High School, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that he will retire at the end of the school year after spending 28 years in the position.

Catapano said his retirement is effective June 30.

Wake County Public Schools posted the athletic director position at Sanderson High School on Tuesday morning.

"It's all good," Catapano said of his retirement. "This has been timed. The posting of the position was timed to allow the school to find the next athletic director and allow that person to work with me for at least a few weeks."

Born in Glen Rock, N.J., Catapano played soccer at N.C. State where he was a four-year starter for the Wolfpack. Catapano started his career with Wake County Public Schools after graduation with a four year stint at Martin Middle School before moving to Sanderson High School.

At Sanderson, Catapano built one of the state's most successful soccer programs.

Catapano was the head soccer coach for the Spartans for 20 years, and in that time his teams won 17 conference championships. He compiled a 363-44-21 record, and set a then-national record of 103 consecutive games without a loss. The record spanned five seasons.

For the last 28 years, Catapano has been the athletic director at Sanderson. He was inducted into the N.C. Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame last year, ten years after being inducted into the N.C. Soccer Hall of Fame in 1999.

Over the course of his career, Catapano was a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association's Realignment Committee, sat on the National Federation soccer rules committee, and was an instructor for the National Federation's Fundamentals of Coaching program.

"Bob Catapano is truly one of the exceptional athletic directors in WCPSS and North Carolina," Wake County athletic director Bobby Guthrie said in an e-mail Tuesday. "Being selfish, I would like Bob to stay around at least as long as I am around."

"He is a true wealth of knowledge, and he always will try to do the right thing for his school...He will be missed by Sanderson and WCPSS."