Career
His career coaching record at Utah Arlington was 8 wins, 1 losses, and 1 ties. This ranks him tenth at Utah Arlington in total wins and first at Utah Arlington in winning percentage. Zapalac later coached at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (where he attended school), Texas Technical, Oklahoma State, and the University of Texas and in the NFL at the Saint Louis Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, and New Orleans Saints.
While at the University of Texas, he coached under Darrell Royal for 12 years.
He was known for producing many offensive lines in the "Wishbone" attack. Foreign a period of 5 years at least one offensive lineman was named to All American teams and numerous players named to All SWC teams.
Willie had two sons (Bill and Jeff) that played football at the University of Texas. Zapalac played professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1947.
