The Winter Season in Full Swing

The Coach

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George DeMaio Jr., better known to sports fans throughout the state as "The Coach", was born and raised in West Haven, CT. Coach attended West Haven High School, where he lettered in basketball and baseball. For his contribution to West Haven athletics, Coach was named Athlete of the Year in 1966. Coach proceeded on to Southern Connecticut State University where he helped found the University radio station.

He graduated from SCSU in 1970 and received his Masters Degree in 1977 from Southern as well. From 1970 to 1974, DeMaio taught fifth grade at Thompson School in West Haven. In 1983, while working for Southern New England Telephone, DeMaio was hired by KC101/WAVZ as their Sports Director.

It was here that DeMaio started his immense coverage of high school girls and boys athletics. "The Coach" has received numerous honors for his coverage of high school sports. Among them, honorary inductions into the Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame in 1995, and The Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. He was named Assistant Coach of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association for his work at North Haven and also received New Haven's Tap Off Club's Distinguished Service Award.

Presently on News/Talk 960 WELI and ESPN Radio 1300, "The Coach" continues to give high school girls and boys the coverage he feels they deserve. He has orchestrated state-wide Friday night coverage of high school football in the fall on WELI for the past several years, including a radio record of all 68 scores of high school games on Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day in 2008. The Coach hosts Saturday high school football games, on ESPN Radio 1300, as well. Since 1997 he has covered basketball and hockey on ESPN Radio 1300. Of course, 960WELI gets daily coverage of high school athletics by "The Coach" throughout the school year. "The Coach" was involved in East Haven Biddy Basketball from 1979 to 1999. He has been a Little League and softball umpire. He was involved in Team Connecticut Girls AAU basketball from 1994 to 2001, coaching two teams to the National Tournament. He coached North Haven High School Girls Basketball as an assistant to his son Jeffrey for 10 years.

He retired as an 8th Grade Social Studies teacher at East Haven Middle School in December 2008, "The Coach" resides in North Branford with his wife Brenda. He has 2 sons, Matthew and his wife Debbie and their daughter Rebecca living in Old Saybrook, and Jeffrey, who lives in Wallingford with his wife Cory and sons Samuel and Nathan. The Coach received the Gold Bat Award from the West Haven Twilight League in 2005
On September 27, 2007, "The Coach" was inducted into the New Haven Gridiron Club's Hall of Fame. In March of 2008, he was honored by the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors with the Distinguished Service Award - Outside the Field of Athletic Administration.

On March 13,2009, the Coach will receive the Alumni Appreciation Award from SCSU and on March 29th, he received the Chapter Merit Award from the Gene Casey/New Haven Chapter National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame.

Coach George DeMaio holding the plaque he received at the Walter Camp Breakfast of Champions from the Walter Camp Football Foundation; the Coach

was also the emcee for the event on January 16, 2010

Also, on November 3, 2008, Coach was honored by the March of Dimes as an Elm City Legend at the Omni Hotel in New Haven.

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Tuesday, January 08, 2013

The Winter Season in Full Swing

The Basketball and Hockey seasons are in full swing. Sticks, pucks and basketballs have replaced footballs. The Hockey season is going well. However, there are just 17 teams in Div. 1, 25 in Div. 2 and 15 in Div. 3. The CIAC has even allowed 4 schools to co-op and make 1 team. I don't know how well that bodes for hockey, but in my mind it has to be done to keep the programs going. The question though is: Should the playoff system be tampered with or tweeked to allow more teams to qualify for the State Tournament? I love the fact there are 3 State Champions but when you have only 8 or 9 teams qualifying, leaves some people questioning the system. Hockey is getting hurt because more players are leaving high school to play Junior Hockey or Prep School Hockey.

Basketball seems to be going well although I am hearing and somtimes seeing that numbers are down. It seems that more athletes are concentrating on 1 sport and playing it all year long. In basketball, AAU now takes a large chunk of athletes and some don't want t play for their high schools. That I don't understand.

But all in all, I guess the 2 sports are in decent shape. The broadcasts have been great and the games have been nail-biters and that's all I can ask. I wonder however how many teams will make the big dance in March.

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