In Loving
Memory of
Josh Balara
The Josh Balara Memorial Scholarship is a tribute to Josh’s legacy that epitomized exemplary character, kindness and sportsmanship. Josh was a student and football player who attended Dallas High School before being recruited to study and play football at Dartmouth College. Josh received many accolades throughout his academic and athletic career. Most of all, Josh enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. One scholarship will be awarded annually to a senior football player from Dallas High School.
Dallas community mourns Balara's death
As quiet as he was off the football field, Josh Balara’s actions on the field said it all.
If flattening defensive tackles and sacking quarterbacks could be translated into words, Balara would have seemed like he was talking a mile a minute.
Balara, a Dallas High School graduate, was a gentle giant away from Mountaineer Stadium, but the minute the pads came on he was a mountain of a man.
A quarterback’s best friend on one side of the ball because nobody could get through him, and a quarterback’s worst nightmare on the opposite side of the ball because more often than not, Balara put him on his back.
Sadly, the Dallas football community is mourning the loss of one of the greatest linemen to come through the program after Balara died Thursday at the age of 21 following a lengthy battle with adrenal cortical carcinoma.
“He represents the best of the best,” Dallas football coach Rich Mannello said. “He is everything that is great about this community. If you were looking for the perfect son, a young man in the community, a student, it’s Josh Balara. Football aside, if you could draw it up, you want your son to be Josh Balara.”
A two-way lineman on the 2019 Dallas football team who finished second in the state, Balara blazed a path not only for his teammates on the field, but was a leader off it. There were sushi Sundays at the Woodlands and a host of other traditions that were either carried on or established all because of Balara’s influence. His teammates respected him and the younger players in the program were in awe of him.
His presence alone signified he was one of the best in the state, but following the magical run the Mountaineers went on in 2019, he was named a first-team all-state offensive lineman.
Balara was more than a football player. He went from a 190-pound freshman getting manhandled in his first two varsity football games that saw him get sent back to the scout team to an all-state, 302-pound force by the time his senior year ended.
He parlayed his work in the classroom and the football field to being recruited by, and eventually committing to Dartmouth, when at the time, Dartmouth was only looking to bring in five offensive linemen. When he proudly said he was going to study engineering and was asked if he liked trains, he laughed like he would after tackling a running back five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Mannello recalled one of Balara’s first starts as a freshman against Scranton Prep. He was going against one of Scranton Prep’s captains, a senior who was getting the best of Balara. Mannello left him out on the field just long enough to get a taste of what varsity football was like, but at the same time not to discourage him.
Balara came off the field and stood next to Mannello. All Mannello told him was that at some point in his career he was going to win a fight like that, but that day was just not Balara’s.
Balara never had another day like that during his career. He went from 190 pounds as a freshman to 220 pounds to 260 pounds to 302 pounds.
“He proved it, sometimes the unspoken word is a powerful way to lead,” Mannello said. “Every lineman that comes through this program is evaluated by Josh Balara’s criteria. Did they do what he did? It’s either yes or no. If it’s yes, the kid is going to have great success. If it’s a maybe or no, it’s not good enough.”
STEVE BENNETT
THE CITIZENS VOICE
MARCH 20 2023
