Sports

Ed DiSimone elected to RI Interscholastic League Hall of Fame
‘He’s a living legend, a man who is the epitome of his craft’

By Pete Fontaine, Special to the Gazette

“The pride of Johnston High” will soon receive what Gary Mazzie said “is indeed a deserving honor for a great man!” Edward L. “Ed” DiSimone, who has been the face of Johnston High School and its storied athletic program for a half century, is one of 12 distinguished people who have been elected to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2012 will receive the prestigious honors tomorrow evening at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick. Included in this year’s RIIL Hall of Fame class are former high school athletes, coaches, an administrator and sportscaster who have – among other things -- distinguished their city, state and nation. Interscholastic League officials recently announced that the Class of 2012 includes: the late James Adams, Bob Angel, Robert “Bob” Bellemore, Ernie DiGregorio, Paul Donovan, the late Robert E. “Bobby” Doyle, Kathleen Hazard, Kevin Jackson, Bernard Thomas “Slick” Pina, Domenic “Zip” Raiola and DiSimone. “We at Johnston High School are really, really proud and excited as well as happy for Ed,” said Mazzie, who shares the title of co-Director of Athletics with DiSimone. “He’s been a fixture around here for years. He’s a living legend, a man who is the epitome of his craft and a true Hall of Famer in every since of the word.”

Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena, who is also a graduate of Johnston High, said upon learning of DiSimone’s selection to the RIIL Hall of Fame: “Ed was a staple back when I was in school and we’re thankful he’s still serving our community in that capacity. He’s just a great guy and certainly deserving of the honor!” Meanwhile, former Panther basketball great Dan Mazzulla, who went on to become a highly-successful coach at JHS and now serves as the town’s parks and recreation director, offered: “He’s the kind of man who gets a lot of things done but never takes enough credit. He’s one of those great success stories who enjoys staying in the background and give other people credit when something good happens.”

DiSimone is a 1952 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School in Providence where he starred in football, baseball and track for three years. He then went to the University of Rhode Island where he starred in football and was a member of the Rams 1955 undefeated team that went o to play in the famed Refrigerator Bowl. He still holds the single game scoring record of 30 points and while he played at URI, DiSimone was named first team All-Yankee Conference. He graduated from Rhody in 1957 and after being drafted by Minnesota of the NFL he turned that offer down to play in the Canadian Football League.

He was inducted into the URI Hall of Fame in 1982 and is also a member of the prestigious Providence Gridiron Club Hall of Fame. DiSimone was commissioned in the United States Army in 1990 as a 2nd Lieutenant and retired form the US Army Reserves in 1983 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a physical education teacher at JHS from 1960 to 1989 and served as athletic director during those same years. He also coached baseball at JHS and led the Panthers to the school’s first-ever state championship back in 1963. His baseball Panthers won baseball division titles in 1963, 1954, 1966 and 1969. He also coached football from 1961 to 1964.He has long been a member of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Athletic Administrators Association and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. DiSimone joined the faculty of the new Johnston High School in 1960 and retired in 1989. However, he did such a great job he was asked to return in 1997 and, as Mazzie noted: “he’s been here ever since.” He only came back to JHS, in fact, because he told the school administration he’d only do that if they got him some help. Thus, DiSimone and the late Bob Smith, who coached baseball and basketball for the Panthers, became a unique team and were inseparable until Smith’s tragic passing when he succumbed to a battle with cancer.

Mazzie also emphasized that “during his tenure at the school and during the inception of the athletic program, Ed has maintained extremely high standards both in his expectation of the program and in his expectations of himself. He ran the program with integrity, sincerity, honest and respect. His philosophy and work ethic have never changed.” People who have known or worked with DiSimone through the years will tell you he loves his job and has encouraged his students not only to be competitive, but to always participate with a sense of pride, teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play.
“Ed also taught his students and players to compete with enthusiasm and also to pour that same enthusiasm into their studies,” Mazzie noted. “As far as Ed is concerned, athletics is an extension of the educational process. It provides students with an opportunity to honor their school and community. He has always stressed that athletes must respect not only their teachers and coaches, but to treat their teammates, officials and opponents with the utmost respect. Throughout his career he has always emphasized the values of tolerance and good sportsmanship.”

DiSimone also believes that coaches must maintain high standards and must encourage their teams to do the same. All coaches, he says, should set an example for their players, be cognizant of each or them as individuals an treat them all equally. He has mentored a significant number of coaches and athletic directors during his career and has served as a model of consistency and he has raised his own children with those same values. “Students involved in athletics come together not only for their love and respect of sports,” DiSimone said recently. “But to socialize and interact with one another. Regardless of victories or defeats, the athletic program is the heart and spirit of a school.” Ed and his wife Patricia DiSimone, who were married back in 1956, have two children, Lauren “Wilkins and Diane Colantonio. They have three grandchildren, Emily Wilkins, 24, Alana Colantonio, 21 and Jessica Colantonio, 16.

Legendary Johnston High School Athletic Director Edward L. DiSimone, who will enter the RI Interscholastic League Hall of Fame tomorrow, has had the school’s gymnasium named in his honor, is joined by his wife Patricia during a recent function.