Coach Calso remembered by Woonsocket community
Calascibetta, a 1966 Novan grad, loved by players
WOONSOCKET – On Friday night, Chris Pincince drove from New Haven, Conn. to his hometown to reminisce with former Woonsocket High School football teammates about Robert “Calso” Calascibetta, 69, who died Wednesday following a battle with cancer.
A 1966 graduate of Woonsocket where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and track, Calascibetta returned to his alma mater where he taught physical education and coached sports for 30 years. In 1982, he became the Villa Novans’ football head coach and held the title until the late 1990s.
“A love of Woonsocket is what you took from Coach Calso,” said Pincince when reached Saturday.
Accompanying Pincince on the car ride home was his father, Roger, who was classmates with Calascibetta. Chris Pincince graduated from WHS in 1990 and was the starting quarterback/captain when the 1989 Novans went undefeated during the regular season (9-0) but lost to Rogers in the Class A Super Bowl. Today, Pincince is the head football coach at Connecticut’s University of New Haven.
From an X’s and O’s standpoint, the style of football that Chris Pincince played under Calascibetta represents a vast departure from today’s multi-layered schemes. There are times, however, when Pincince will channel his inner Calascibetta when he delivers a pregame pep talk to his New Haven players.
“Some of the things he taught us centered around the importance of having a daily work ethic and how to take pride in where you are,” said Pincince. “Good programs teach their players to be happy where they are and don’t let anyone talk badly about the program that you’re a part of. That’s what Calso always preached.”
Pincince was one of three brothers who ended up taking snaps under Calascibetta, known as an offensive-minded coach. Asked what advice he gave siblings Tom (WHS Class of 1993) and Jon (1995), Chris joked, “When you throw an interception, stay as far away from Calso as you can. Both of them, however, continued the tradition of being great leaders under coach.”
Carnell Henderson also attended the same Friday night convocation as Pincince where lasting impressions forged by Coach Calso were called to mind. A 1991 Woonsocket graduate, Henderson was a slot receiver on that memorable ’89 Novan team that fell one game short of a state title. Like Calascibetta, Henderson enjoyed a fine football career at Boston University before serving as Woonsocket’s head football coach from 2008-13.
“Whatever you do, be passionate and it will bleed through. That’s what he showed us as players,” said Henderson, presently the principal at WHS. “Guys like Coach Calascibetta were a pillar of the program. To have the opportunity to coach was a chance to walk in his shoes and walk on that same sideline. You knew what it took to get there because you came through those ranks. It was truly a blessing.”
Scheme-wise, Calascibetta ran a ground-and-pound offense that included Wing-T principles. It was fitting because he was a speedy running back during his playing days at Woonsocket and Boston University. As the Novan teams of the late 80s began to distinguish themselves with players such as Pincince, Henderson, Doug Watters, Greg Cabral, and Mike Hession, Calascibetta opened up the playbook and incorporated more run-and-shoot tactics that allowed the team’s best athletes to flourish.
“He gave us a lot of freedom to do things that he wasn’t necessarily comfortable with, such as the forward pass,” said Chris Pincince, “but he was very supportive in everything we did. He did a great job of getting all of us to head in the same direction.”
Added Henderson, “We had the talent to air it out and he recognized it. He put those talents to use.”
Mike Watters was a freshman in the spring of 1982 when Woonsocket officially tabbed Calascibetta as the school’s football coach. Back then, ninth graders weren’t permitted to play on the varsity team, but Watters had his sights set on joining the Novans as a sophomore and embarked on a high school career that saw him play multiple positions under Coach Calso.
“He was one of those guys where you either understood where he was coming from or thought he was a nut,” said Watters, a 1985 Woonsocket grad. “You either loved him or not. Either way, he made an impression on you.”
Added Pincince, “He was in your face but did great job instilling a work ethic from a daily football standpoint.”
Watters had Calascibetta as a PE teacher and would often join his coach during study breaks to go over game film. Calascibetta was hailed for coining up with terms such as “Woonsocket Pride” and “Bleed Maroon.” It was through those ideals that a lot of WHS students benefited as Calascibetta also coached girls basketball, boys tennis, and track.
“He was a second dad for a lot of the guys,” said Watters. “As a motivator, he was always searching for perfection, sometimes maybe unrealistically. You came to appreciate that as you got older and started living your life.”
It was Calascibetta who took a flyer on Watters by giving his former charge his first start in football coaching. In 1987, Watters took over as the WHS freshman coach. Since then, he’s embarked on a 20-plus year run as a college and high school coach with his most recent stop coming as an assistant at St. Raphael Academy.
Watters carved out a friendship with Calascibetta that included golf outings, traveling to football coaching clinics around the region, and heading to New England Patriots games in Florida, where Calascibetta settled after retiring from education in 2001.
“It was the behind-the-curtain stuff that you would never see or think about. When you’re a kid, you think of your teachers and coaches in that context and that’s it. You don’t realize they’re human beings. I got to know a different side,” said Watters. “You realized that he was vulnerable just like everyone else. We always saw him as a guy with a whistle. Come to find out, he was an actual person.”
It would never fail when Watters attended a coaching clinic. Someone would find out he was from Woonsocket and ask, “How’s Calso?”
“Everyone knew who he was,” said Watters about a fitting ode to a gentleman who personified Woonsocket athletics.
“There’s a lot that goes into guys like Coach Calso because of the way he carried himself and the amount of respect and pride he commanded,” said Henderson, noting that Calascibetta attended last year’s Thanksgiving football game between Woonsocket and Cumberland at Barry Field.