New Canaan coaching legend Bo Hickey dies at 77
Bo Hickey was a multisport star at Stamford Catholic, NFL running back, state champion football coach, and the man who turned New Canaan boys ice hockey into one of Connecticut’s elite programs.
But former New Canaan athletic director Vin Iovino may have summed up Hickey the best.
“Bo was a legend,” Iovino said.
Thomas “Bo” Hickey, one of Stamford’s biggest sports stars and a longtime coach with the New Canaan football and ice hockey teams, died on Tuesday, his family confirmed.
Hickey, who retired from coaching following the 2013-14 ice hockey season when the Rams defeated Darien for an FCIAC championship, was 77.
As word of his death spread on Tuesday, Hickey was remembered as a loyal friend, colorful character, and a great coach. All underneath a tough exterior.
“You’ve got this giant, rough, gruff guy, and underneath all of it, he was a teddy bear,” Iovino said. “He was nurturing and caring. Things he did innately people don’t learn in any coaching course.
He just did it.”
Hickey was an assistant coach for New Canaan football for 31 years, joining the program back when Lou Marinelli was just starting with the Rams. During that time, New Canaan won eight state and four FCIAC championships, and had a knack for reaching kids and getting them to perform at a high level.
“He saw things in kids a number of times when I wasn’t sure,” Marinelli said. “He’d say ‘give me time, he’ll come around’,” Marinelli said. “And he was almost always right. That was one of his really strong points — his ability to figure a kid out and get the most out of them.”
Hickey was also the superintendent of Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan for 34 years and many discussions and gatherings of friends were held in the garage on that site.
“It sounds nuts, we had great times as coaches down at the cemetery in his garage,” Iovino said. “We solved more problems down in the cemetery in his garage than we solved at any board of education meeting.”
While at Stamford Catholic High School, Hickey played football, basketball and baseball and ran track. He also went head-to-head against the Danbury football and baseball teams Iovino was playing for.
“At one time he was the fastest person in the state of Connecticut,” Iovino said. “He could run. He was just a very, very gifted athlete.”
After high school, Hickey played as a running back on the University of Maryland football team for two seasons. He earned AllACC second-team honors as a sophomore when he led the Terrapins with 894 rushing yards and scored five touchdowns.
Hickey also played in the Continental Football League for the Brooklyn Dodgers under fellow Stamford native Andy Robustelli. Hickey rushed for 551 yards and eight touchdowns in one season.
In 1967, Hickey was selected in the 14th round of the NFL/AFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and, after being cut in training camp, signed with the Denver Broncos. That year, he rushed for 263 yards and four touchdowns on 73 carries as a fullback in a dozen games, but broke his foot late in the season and was then released in 1968.
He played three years in the Atlantic Coast Football League for the Westchester/Long Island Bulls.
Hickey was an assistant football coach at Staples High when Iovino was hired as New Canaan’s AD in 1980. A year later, Marinelli came in as the head football coach.
“Bo was there right from the very beginning,” Marinelli said. “He had coached at Staples before that and had played at a very high level, so he brought a wealth of knowledge, especially to the running backs. We still do a lot of the drills he taught us on day one.”
During the 1993-94 ice hockey season, New Canaan was without a head coach and Iovino said the program was in disarray.
While Iovino was scrambling to find a coach, Hickey told him he had coached youth ice hockey.
“Bo came in and we won the FCIACs that year,” Iovino said. “We were scrambling and he straightened everything out. That was all Bo Hickey. He brought discipline to those kids and I never ever had to worry about anything again.”
Hickey coached the hockey team for 21 years, winning 10 FCIAC titles, including one in his last season when the Rams defeated Darien in the final. They also finished as CIAC runners-up six times.
In October, 2022, Hickey
was inducted into the New Canaan High School Sports Hall of Fame.
Marinelli said that above all, Hickey loved the players and they, in turn, were dedicated to him.
“He’s very generous and he loved kids,” Marinelli said. “He would never sugar-coat anything. He would tell you exactly the way it was. I think it cost him money to coach both football and hockey because he would reach out to kids, pick up dinners, pizzas and bring Gatorade, all out of his own pocket. He never asked for a dime in return.”
“You talk about loyalty,” Iovino said. “there’s no more loyal person on the face of the Earth than Bo Hickey. If you’re a friend of Bo’s, he’ll do anything in the world for you. That’s a rare quality.”