By Cary Shuman
The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame presented its first Tony “The Champ” DeMarco Spirit and Achievement Award to Catholic Memorial head football coach John DiBiaso of Everett at its Induction Banquet Oct. 5 at Anthony’s, Malden.
DiBiaso is widely considered one of the greatest high school football coaches in history. He led the Everett High program to 12 state championships during his 26-year reign. At Catholic Memorial, his teams have made five appearances in the Super Bowl, winning three state titles. He also built winning programs at St. Patrick’s of Watertown and Weston High School before becoming the head football coach at Everett, his alma mater.
DiBiaso humbly accepted the award, which is named in memory of Tony DeMarco, who was from the North End and won the world welterweight boxing championship in 1955.
“First of all, I would like to thank the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame for this prestigious honor,” said DiBiaso. “I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. DeMarco in 2005 when I was first inducted, and he was a fantastic gentleman, achieved so much in the field of athletics, and was such an inspiration for all other Italian Americans in this area, so to be a recipient of this award is really a great honor.”
DiBiaso, an inductee in the Hall of Fame Class of 2005, told the audience, “I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had some fantastic assistant coaches and been lucky enough to coach some great football players, a handful of whom even made the NFL – many played in college, but the bulk of them went on to be fine gentleman, husbands, fathers, and contributors to the community. I’m proud of every one of them. I’ve lived a good life. I got a wonderful wife (Maureen DiBiaso) and two fantastic children (Kristina DiBiaso and Jonathan DiBiaso), who have been by my side the entire time.”
DiBiaso’s acceptance speech was a classic as he used his brilliant sense of humor to enlighten the crowd on his playing career under former Everett head football coach Moody Sarno, the launch of his coaching career “at a little school in Watertown, St. Patrick’s of Watertown (“Forty-three boys in the whole school and 28 on the football team. We lost 19 games in a row.”), and his courtship of his future wife, Maureen Shields DiBiaso.
“When I met her, she was a teacher at Everett High School, 24 years old, and the prettiest teacher I had ever seen,” said DiBiaso. “My basketball players came down and said, ‘there is this beautiful match teacher, she’s so nice, you’ve got to meet her, you have to meet Miss Shields.’”
Miss Shields attended an Everett High School basketball game (John was the head coach at the time). Following the game, John joined other teachers at an Everett establishment where he gave each of his friends $20 to leave, so he would be able to chat one-on-one with Maureen Shields.
“We talked for five hours the next night on the phone. We started dating. She was smart, she was beautiful, and she loved kids,” recalled John.
The rest is history.
“We got married. We worked together at Everett High. We won a ton of championships, Super Bowls, and made it to the Boston Garden,” said John.
And on October 5, John DiBiaso was honored once again for his legendary coaching and his incredible ability to motivate student athletes and guide them on to successful lives through his teachings as a coach and mentor.
And the former Miss Shields was there to enjoy another happy occasion in her life partnership with the incomparable coach, John DiBiaso.
Also honored at the Hall of Fame Induction Dinner were former Somerville High and UMass/Amherst great, Joe DiSarcina and current Xaverian Brothers High School head football coach Alan Fornaro.