In honor of Coach Tassinari the Middle School gymnasium is named the Tassinari Memorial Gym.
Anthony D. Tassinari was a legendary Football Coach at Amesbury High School from 1943 until 1955. He Played football for Salem High School and then went on to play and graduate from Boston College. He came to Amesbury in the spring of 1943 to teach Physical Education. In later years he was a Mathematics teacher. For the 1943 -1944 school year he was Head Football, Basketball and Baseball Coach and the Athletic Director. When did this man sleep?
Tassinari was the head coach of basketball from 1943 until the end of the 1951 season. His 1944 and 1951 teams were very good as they were in contention for the Northeast Conference/ NEC league title. After the 1951 season he stepped down and Bikes Wallace became the new coach.
Coach Tassinari was head baseball coach throughout his career at AHS. The 1948 and the 1951 teams were NEC Co-Champions. The 1951 team averaged 9.2 runs per game, a record that still record today.
The sport that Coach Tassinari is most remembered for is football. He is considered the best coach in the history of AHS football. Tass was feared, respected, and loved by his players.
Former player Sam (Porky) May commented” Coach Tass was onto everything. He was smart. He was just a great coach and a fine man.”
In 13 years of coaching football his record was 74 wins, 41 losses, and 4 ties. The 1944, ’45, ’51, ’52, and ’53 teams were NEC league champions. The 1952 team was Massachusetts Class “C” State champions.
Former player Mike Lago commented “Tass was a great believer that you play on Saturdays as you practice during the week. We could see the wisdom of his leadership and we believed in him. He was a great coach.”
From Sept 30, 1950 until Oct 24 1953 Coach Tassinari’s football teams had an amazing streak of 30 games without a loss. This is the longest winning streak in the history of AHS football.
Former player Larry Moran commented “when you are winning games you can’t help but being happy. We were winning games because our coach was a believer in conditioning and he was innovative. He worked us hard in practice and he was very smart, knowing what needed to be done to beat our opponent. Yes, he was tough, but we, as a team, looked up to him and respected him as a coach and as a father figure.”
Coach Tassinari was inducted into the Massachusetts Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986.
Besides being a coach and teacher, Toni Tassinari was very active and well respected in the community. He was a member of Amesbury Planning Board, Precinct four representative, a member of St Joseph’s Church, and more importantly, a devoted father. People looked up to him.
Dave Bailey, former Football Coach and Athletic Director, recalls living across the river from Landry Stadium when he was about 5 years old. “You could hear the sounds of the games on Saturday afternoon and I would dream about playing in the stadium for the great Coach Tassinari someday.”
Unfortunately, Anthony died at the age of 38 of a chronic heart condition on November 27th, 1955. This was a very sad day in Amesbury history.
In 1956 the gymnasium at the now Amesbury Middle school was named the” Tassinari Memorial Gym” in his honor.
Congratulations to Coach Anthony D Tassinari.
