Coach Mike Chiapparelli
Mamaroneck H.S. – Baseball / Ice Hockey / JV Football

In 29 baseball seasons, Mike’s teams have earned 14 League Championships, 2 Sectional Titles, a Regional and a NYS Title and was ranked #10 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. He’s been named League Coach of the Year 13 times in addition to that title from the Journal News and NYS. Currently 10th on the NYS All-Time Win list for Ice Hockey with 5 Section, 2 Regional and 4 League Championships.

Mike earned his Masters at SUNY Cortland, is a dynamic Mamaroneck P.E. teacher, mentors new teachers, is the Director of the town Youth Hockey and Summer Camps and Men’s Softball League and Little League Board Member.

A Mamaroneck graduate, Mike wants all his players to learn from Winning. “We always learn something from losing, but winning brings better rewards. Setting your goals, no matter what your circumstances and accomplishing them reaps you the benefits. Sometimes you have to break them to get them to want to pay the price to want to win, not just play! So I run them at 6:00 AM before school and work them hard. It has paid off. They have learned and matured and are all fine young adults now as a result. We’ve traveled all over the country for competition. These kids expect to beat the best, are not afraid to lose and are never intimidated.”

Mike attacks his role as coach with passion. You can often see him coaching with bags of ice on his right arm after having pitched hundreds of balls in batting practice. He knows the benefit of live pitching everyday. Coach is a whirlwind of energy. When does he rest? Coach will say, “I hate going to bed at night and I can’t wait to get up in the morning!” Coach has a full-size Batting Cage in his backyard. He’s always ready to pitch to anyone who needs a little help with their swing. Even graduates know they can always stop by for some practice and renewed confidence.

“Chap is known as ‘The Shark’. He never stops moving and he may not even sleep as far as we know” – Billy Byron (assist. coach)

“Coach gives it his all for his players and challenges not only their ability but their character. He teaches his players to dig deep inside to find the strength to accomplish excellence.” Coach Chap sets standards by example. “While running distance, stairs and hills every morning before school was tiring, you couldn’t complain when you see your coach not only run all the drills with us but finish first. I suggest you go to just one practice, watch his movements, listen to his words, observe his players and take notes…you’ll learn a lot about life without ever setting a foot on the field. – Sean McGee

Coach Lou Marinelli
New Canaan High School Football

Coach Marinelli has spent 27 of his last 35 years coaching as Head Football Coach at New Canaan H.S.. His teams have earned 5 State Championships and 8 FCIAC Division and League Championships. Lou’s was the 2008 National Football Foundation & Hall of Fame Head Coach for the Fairfield County All-Stars. His honors include the 2007 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year (Finalist), the 2006 MSG Network & The Heisman Trophy Trust Legendary Coach of the Year, the 2002 Gerald R. Ford All-American High School Coach Award, the 2002 Outstanding Coach of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association, the 2000 National Football Foundation Coach of the Year (Fairfield County), the National League Coach of the Week (Metro Area), Connecticut Post and Daily News and Bridgeport News Coach of the Year, Westchester County Football Coaches Association Divisional Coach of the Year and 7 time FCIAC Coach of the Year (Western Division).

Lou earned both his B.S. and M.E.D. from Springfield College and has been a Health & Physical Education Teacher for 29 years.

In the early 1980’s Coach Marinelli took a very down New Canaan football program in the middle of a long losing streak and instantly turned the Rams into a winning team. Its not just wins on the field that make him one of the legendary coaches in New England, underneath those helmets those young men he coaches may not always be the fastest or the strongest, but they will always play the hardest. The reason is simple. When they look to the sideline they see a mentor that has given them everything he can to them.

Reminiscing back 26 years on a victory in the ’82 State Championship game, Pat Shouvlin says “Obviously winning the game was important, but anyone watching him could tell that there are more important things than the final score. And part of it is encouraging not only his own staff and players, but younger coaches who hope and pray they can have the career that Lou has had. I remember the feeling of winning the state championship and having my head coach hug me. Knowing that he believed in me even when I struggled earlier in the season, still impacts me to this day. I know many people say Lou is a great coach because of his winning record, but that is only part of the story. The deep impact on young men’s lives means so much more, an impact that still exists in those players today.

Coach Spencer Mayfield
White Plains H.S. – Basketball

A 6-time “Coach of the Year” with 7 League Championships and two NYS Championships, Coach Mayfield still manages to work as a Scout for the Utah Jazz.

A Graduate of Kean Univ. ’80 with a Masters Degree in P.E. from Lehman College, Coach believes in coaching every player as if they were his own. He believes there is a high correlation between academic success and success on the court. He provides discipline and structure so his team can reach their highest level of success both athletically and academically. He knows that through hard work and a commitment to unselfish play…winning will take care of itself.

He enjoys the learning that comes through working with young people and the challenge to be creative in your coaching techniques. But he is especially thrilled when his former players go on to college and he gets to watch them compete at the next level. These players often come back to visit and share their successes with his current players.

Coach Mayfield is a humble and grateful man who so appreciates those who inspired his life as a coach. Coaching at a young age under his father’s supervision, then under Tony Boffa, of Nyack Jr. High who taught values through sports he continues to appreciate the relationships he’s had over the years with students, colleagues and administrators.

Not many people are aware of the amount of pressure that was put on Coach Mayfield in his first season at White Plains. Pressure to allow a very popular (and talented) three sport athlete from a well known family in the community to take an undetermined amount of time-off (he was a football player and wanted a couple of weeks off before beginning practice) before deciding to allow Coach Mayfield the pleasure of coaching him. Putting this All-County athlete on his team would have made Spencer’s life immeasurably easier not to mention increase his odds of having a very good season. Not allowing this young man to play, incurred the wrath of a few vocal members of a new school and community. Coach Mayfield sent an enduring lesson to his new team, his new school, and to a young student athlete who only missed-out on the first State Championship in White Plains High School history. I have no doubts about the fact that that young man is better-off today from the hard lesson learned from Coach Mayfield. One can only imagine the successes he has had with the many hundreds of young men he has actually coached. The wins and losses are easy to measure but, the other successes are much more important to Coach Mayfield. -Anthony Anderson (former JV Basketball Coach with Spencer)

Mike Kraver wrote in his college essay, “Coach inspired this out-of-shape teen to go out for the ‘12 best’. Battered and bruised during tryouts, I learned to channel my intensity and improved enough to be #13. I was part of the team. Coach would say, “We all must row the boat together. If anyone stops rowing, the boat isn’t going to move.” Hard work turned into success and we won the State Title against bigger, quicker and more talented teams because but each of them had at least one player who wasn’t “rowing the boat”. My lack of playing time did not detract from my experience, in fact it enhanced it. I learned determination, teamwork, and self-respect; the same lessons as the stars.

Spencer’s practices are the most organized that I’ve ever seen. His team is always on task and his players are always focused. Believing that a team plays like it practices, it is no wonder that Coach has had the success he has enjoyed over the years. -Nick Panaro, AD

Coach Tim St. Lawrence
Warwick H.S. --X-Country / Track

Cross country - 375 wins / 8 Losses, 4 State Team Champs, 27 League/Section Team Champs, 17 Nationally Ranked Teams, 1997 National Federation “Coach of the Year”
Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field- 25 League Team Championships, 31 Outdoor League Championships, 12 Nationally Ranked Teams, 55 High School “All-Americans”

Graduate of University of Alabama-Track & Field Captain ’71, Olympic Trials ’72 Pole Vault for NYAC Track & Field 19 Met Pole Vault Titles, Founder of Friends of Warwick Valley Schools, Committee Chair for new facility at the HS, Board Charter Member of Brian Ahearn Children’s Foundation, Rockland County Hall of Fame ’08, Rockland Track “Field Hall of Fame” ’03, Co-Founder-Hudson Valley Flying Circus Pole Vault Club for Youth

“Coaching is teaching at its very best” according to Tim. “We ask each student-athlete to measure up the very best within them in all areas of their life.” “Each athlete brings his own gifts to the team action…moral character, dedication, commitment, humor, motivation and everyone pulls in the TEAM direction”. Common team expressions are “dream big dreams”, “the honor of the struggle”, “never give up” teamwork counts” and while Coach teaches his team to set high goals and focus on the prize, he never let’s them forget to “be Modest, be Humble and be Thankful. The team motto…“The body can never go where the mind has never been.

When you meet Coach Saint, you are taken in with his warmth and positivism which everyone agrees makes him a true motivator for his athletes, and unites his community.
Parents speak of his passion and integrity that motivates their kids to get up at 5:30 AM to run for Coach. There’s the story of the kid who comes in dead last every time and yet, he laces up and steps onto the course ready to take on the glory of running. Why? Coach Saint makes this boy feel like a million bucks. Several of his early runner’s volunteer or run with the team. He is the reason many students even go out for the team. They know no better way to get on the track for success than to spend four years under the guidance of such an inspirational leader.

“I owe my success as a USMA graduate and an army helicopter pilot to Coach and I hope that someday I have the chance to be a “Saint” to someone else.” - Captain Jon Marion.

“A nurturer of champions, friend to all and an individual of unbridled enthusiasm, respect and encouragement.” – Frank Greenhall, Superintendent of Schools.

Solly Walker

Brooklyn Educator and St. John’s University Legend

Solly Walker was the first African-American to play for SJU in his first season (1951-52) when the Redmen made their first appearance in the Final Four.

This graduate of Boys H.S. in Brooklyn excelled both as a student and as an athlete earning All-American and All-Scholastic honors. Walker went on to play for the St. John’s Redmen, leading the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. During the 1952 NCAA Tournament, Solly learned quickly that New York was different than some places in the country as far as Integration was concerned. There were segregated lavatories, water fountains and buses. University officials made it very clear that he wasn’t welcome in Kentucky, but St. John’s said they wouldn’t play if Walker didn’t. Kentucky also didn’t want Walker to stay with the team in its hotel; St. John’s said it wouldn’t stay there if Walker didn’t. They wanted Walker to eat in the kitchen, so Coach McGuire ate in the kitchen with him. Then, there was the relative silence when Walker became the first black to play at the then-new Memorial Gym. Walker scored six of SJU’s first seven points, didn’t score again and failed to get the call on a driving, underhanded layup attempt that landed him several rows deep in the crowd. “I wanted to get the hell out of there!” But Coach McGuire stayed by his sophomore forward’s side. “I learned a great deal from my experience with Coach McGuire as to how to treat people,” Walker said. The situation against Kentucky was uncomfortable for this 20 year old. “My confidence in Coach made me feel very secure.” Today, Solly Walker is considered by some as a “Jackie Robinson of college basketball”. He has been named one of the Top-50 basketball players in the 100-year history of the school.

After college, Solly was drafted by the NY Knicks but chose to pursue a career in Education. He became one of the first black high school principals in NYC. As an educator, Solly continued to serve the youth of our committee as a night center director where he taught hundreds of young men the fundamentals of basketball. These night centers fed Brooklyn high schools with come of this city’s finest ballplayers.

Because of Solly’s efforts, its important that coaches teach Black Sports History to their athletes. They need to understand the journey for black players toward Integration and to value the opportunities that have been created by those who came before them.