Fayetteville coaching giant John Daskal remembered for intensity, mentorship, humor

It was just after breakfast on Thursday morning when the text message tone on my phone jingled and I opened the screen. It was a single sentence from Kristina Magyar, daughter of former Cumberland County football coaching legend John Daskal. “Daddy passed away this morning,’’ it said. I closed my eyes and thought back to that summer day in 1972 when I was coming to the end of my six-week summer internship in the sports department of The Fayetteville Observer. As we were finishing work, a giant of a man...