The game must go on for Brian Mazzone
Coach returns after dad died in bomber crash
STAFFORD — After each Stafford/Somers/East Windsor football game, Gary Mazzone would be the first to greet his son, Brian, the team’s head coach, with a hug. Those close to the team say that Gary never missed a game.
Gary Mazzone, a retired police inspector in the Litchfield State’s Attorney’s office, was one of seven killed in Wednesday’s B-17 crash at Bradley International Airport. Boarding the World War II era bomber was described as a “bucket list” type event for Gary Mazzone, who had a passion for history.
Saturday was Brian Mazzone’s first game coaching without his father; the first game in which he
wouldn’t receive the traditional hug and “post game report,” as Stafford assistant Bob Grant described.
As the final seconds ticked off in the Bulldogs’ 21-7 win over Valley Regional/Old Lyme, one by one, Stafford players surrounded Brian Mazzone until the entire team had formed one giant hug around their coach. The final whistle blew, and Mazzone — who had remained composed for the entire game — broke into tears.
“I never used to cry, ever,” Mazzone said. “My mom died 10 years ago. Once my mom died, you say ‘hi’ to me and I start crying now. When someone grabs you and hugs you … there’s a lot of emotion in that.”
Mazzone was a walking tribute to his father during the game. He wore Gary’s Stafford football hoodie, which Brian picked up early Saturday morning at his father’s home in Vernon. He wore a camouflage Bulldog hat, an homage to his father’s love for hunting. Mazzone said he had gotten the hat for his father as a Christmas gift years back, and ironically enough, Gary Mazzone had requested a normal Bulldog cap instead. Brian Mazzone then went and got a camouflage hat for himself.
“He went to every game,” Grant said. “Big Gar was something special. We’d go down and sit in the coach’s room, and he’d sit with us. He was one of a kind.”
Prior to kickoff, a “moment of celebration” was held in lieu of a standard moment of silence. All in attendance applauded Gary Mazzone’s life, as Brian broke down in tears and was consoled by Grant. Brian Mazzone said his dad would have loved it.
“We’ve been crying a lot, and we’ve been watching the news,” Mazzone said. “[Gary Mazzone] would be patting his chest, going, ‘See me on the news? I was on CBS nightly news. You see that? I’m on the front page of the paper.’ Every time, even back when he was working, he’d be, ‘I’m in the news today. I’m in the news today.’ He would eat up the attention. I’m very similar to him.”
Mazzone described his dad as “funny as hell” and as a man who was full of life and loved having fun. He was known for his famous prank calls, where he would call a business and apply for an internship, and then never show up. In the days since Gary’s passing, Brian has had many reach out to pass along their condolences. Almost all of them have had a new Gary Mazzone prank story to share, too.
Like Gary, Brian is lively. When his team forced a fumble early in the first quarter, Mazzone sprinted onto the field, pumping a fist and pounding his chest. When senior Tyler Ouellete connected with junior Trent Kology on an 84-yard pass touchdown in the second quarter, Mazzone sprinted the length of the field celebrating, nearly stride-forstride with Kology.
“They always make fun of me when we watch the film and I’m jumping around and running,” Mazzone said with a laugh. “If you notice, I run like an idiot. I’ve got my chest out like this. I don’t know who taught me to run.”
There was never a doubt for Mazzone that he would coach Saturday’s game, though he said it had less to do with his father and more so to do with the fact that he didn’t want to rearrange the schedule. The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference granted the team permission to move Saturday’s game to a later date, though Mazzone didn’t want to force his players to sit through backto-back bye weeks.
That was to be expected of Mazzone, as his assistants, current and former players will tell you. In the face of an unbearable tragedy, his motives were for his team.
“We knew that we had to pick him up, because he’s supported us all this time,” said Ouellette, who threw two touchdown passes in the win. “We knew that we had to come through and support him. It was great to see him here. We all came together, and we all played hard for him.”
Each Bulldog helmet had a “BM” decal in memory of Gary Mazzone. Valley Regional/Old Lyme also wore the decals on their helmets.
Tim King, head coach of the Warriors who opposed the Bulldogs on Saturday, is a longtime friend of Brian Mazzone, and understands what he was going through Saturday. In 2015, King coached two days after his father, George Sr., passed away at age 92.
“It’s a football family,” King said. “For 48 minutes, you battle on the field. But reality is this type of stuff. When I heard about it, it’s the first thing I told our kids. You can worry about grades, you can worry about whatever, but when something happens as horrible as what happened to Brian’s dad, that’s reality. The game of football means absolutely nothing. All respect in the world, I know exactly what he was going through.”
A handful of former Stafford players were in attendance, standing behind the Bulldogs’ sideline, many wearing team gear. Mazzone greeted each with a hug following the end of the first quarter.
“Coach Mazzone was always there for us no matter what happens,” said Julien Rivas, a 2019 Stafford High graduate who played four years for Mazzone. “My junior year, I had some rough stuff happening to me; he and the whole team was there for me. The least I could do was be here for him during the game.”
Mazzone didn’t come to practice on Wednesday. On Thursday, he came and coached for 20 minutes, but spent most of his time just talking with his players. Friday was a full practice.
When Mazzone arrived to the field Thursday, the team was running a twominute drill, and for the most part, the players were acting as if everything were normal as the head coach looked on.
“I was just waiting for someone to say something,” Mazzone said. “I was like, ‘Hey, what the hell? My dad dies and everybody is just going to ignore me like this?’”
Much like his father, Mazzone likes to tell a joke, too. And much like his father, Mazzone wasn’t going to miss a Stafford football game.
“He came here really for the kids,” Stafford athletic director Damian Frassinelli said. “He thought they deserved to play today.”
Mazzone didn’t want his players to think that they had to win Saturday’s game for them. Win or lose, he told them, he would go out to dinner with his assistants, have a few beers and watch the Yankees play. Nothing they did on the field would change that.
As his team lined up following the win to shake hands with the Warriors, Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York,” a song now synonymous with the Yankees, played over the public address system, and Mazzone ended his game as he always had — with a hug. This time, with his entire team and his assistants.