After leaving his mark in football and wrestling at Ridgewood High, Paul Ferraro has continued his career in athletics by advancing through the collegiate football coaching ranks to the National Football League. He received the Ridgewood High School Award For Excellence In Athletics in 1977 and also was recipient of the Stroker Award presented by the Stroker Family and the Ridgewood Junior Football Association.

Acknowledged as one of the greatest two-way football players in the school’s history, he was acknowledged as a first-team All-Decade linebacker for the 1970s by The Record and was a two-time First-Team linebacker on the All-County, All-Suburban and All-NNJIL All-star Teams. He was the first single-season 1,000-yard rusher in school history and held the single-season rushing record of 1,079 yards (accomplished in nine games) for 28 years.

His rushing average for a season, 119.89, still stands. In addition to the three varsity letters earned on the gridiron, he was awarded two in wrestling. He was first-team All-Suburban, Second Team All-County and a two-time All-NNJIL pick (first team as a senior). He won a District Championship and was a Regional Runner-up. He went on to play four varsity seasons of football at Springfield College where he was team captain and an All-East selection. His Division 1 and professional coaching career began as a defensive assistant at the University of Massachusetts in 1982 and had stints is various defensive capacities at Syracuse, Villanova, Dartmouth, Catholic University, Maine, Ohio University, Bowling Green, Georgia Tech and Rutgers before being named assistant special teams coach for the Carolina Panthers in 2005. He joined the Minnesota Vikings as head special teams coordinator in January of 2006. He is one of six children of Dr. Mario and Betty Jean Ferraro. Dr. Ferraro, a legendary Maroon football player and a long-time coach in the Ridgewood Junior Football Association program, died in 2002 and is also one of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees. Paul’s brother Michael was a standout at Paramus Catholic, and Pete, Chris and Mario all toiled on the field for RHS. His sister Mary was a cheerleader for the Maroons.