CIF state football: Napoleon Kaufman inspires as coach at Bishop O’Dowd
- Dec 15, 2016
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 2, 2024
Former Raiders star Napoleon Kaufman has led Bishop O’Dowd High to the State championship game Saturday night in Moreno Valley. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
OAKLAND — On a muted December afternoon, 36 stadium lights bathed Bishop O’Dowd High School’s artificial turf in cinematic luminosity.
Had this been a movie set, and not real-life Oakland, an angelic glow would have followed Napoleon Kaufman as the coach strolled among his young charges, hands in and out of sweatpants pockets, preaching and teaching but rarely raising his voice.