Joe Folino — the former Staples golf and ice hockey coach who is in the national High School Coaches Hall of Fame, and a star hockey player himself for Boston University — has died.
Folino suffered an aortic aneurysm. He was 89 years old, and lived in Boca Raton, Florida.
Joe Folino
His day job was teaching typing and business at Staples. But he was best known as a 2-sport coach. He stressed fundamentals, and produced winners.
Folino came to Staples not long after earning All-East hockey honors at BU in 1950. He played semi-pro hockey, then helped start the Wreckers’ program and coached them when they played at the Post Road rink (near what is now Lansdowne condominiums).
Among his Staples golfers was former PGA tour member Brian Claar.
Folino was inducted in the High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004. His record at Staples in both sports was 535-86-6. His teams won 6 state golf championships.
After retiring, Folino founded Golf Haus International, an instructional company. He also advised a high school golf team in Florida.
His survivors include his wife, Lorraine, and a daughter and son. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
(Hat tip: Wally Meyer)
He touched many peoples lives and taught many generations at staples
He was also chosen for the Olympic hockey team, however due to politics did not go
He will be missed by many!!!
He was a great guy and mentor…with a great sense of humor. RIP
When I was a senior at Staples, Joe “selected” me to be his secretary in his department office. He scared the hell out of me! By the time I graduated, he was one of the most influential people in my life. I will always be grateful to him – my condolences to his family. RIP, Joe
As a beginning teacher at Staples in 1967, Joe Folino took me aside and provided a map to avoid the pitfalls of school politics. He was a force at Staples and a great coach. He and his wife Lorraine were a dashing and kind couple to new teachers. As a hockey coach, Joe made the skating rink on the Post Rd roar!. We have lost one of the greats!
I played on the Staples Hockey team for one season in 1969 when Mr. Folino was Coach and Bob Holliday was the Assistant Coach. By then the rink on the Post Road had closed and our home ice was Crystal Rink in South Norwalk. We had a very good team that year and I remember in particular Vince Van Buren at center and Scott Robinson who anchored a very stout defense. Fondest memory: a great game we played in Storrs against the UConn freshman team which we won. I went off to play in prep school (Trinity Pawling) after that!
I also played on the golf team very briefly but I remember Mr. Chappa as the Coach. Maybe he coached the JV’s?
RIP Coach…it is very sad news to hear of his passing. He was a great golf coach to many of us at Staples & was a big influence off the course. Thanks for always believing in us. My best to his wife & children.
Memories of Coach Folino using a sawed-off golf club shaft to pound in rhythm on our desks, to encourage us to type in an even tempo … RIP, Coach.
Joe Folino taught a bunch of pond hockey players the fundamentals of
organized ice hockey, his teams went to the state tournament 3 years
in a row, the ’66 team finished 3rd in the state tournament. We kept the Fairfield county champs in their own end for the majority of the consolation
game. We won 7-2.
Some people may disagree, but Joe Folino was a great coach and a True Warrior. (In the Robert Bligh definition of a warrior.)
One of Joe’s favorite expressions was, you got to call a spade a spade.
This truism has been with me, all my life, since then, and been instrumental in finding my way to here, and a foundation block of my being. Joe Folino was a mentor.
THANK YOU JOE, REST IN PEACE!
Dennis M. Doyle Co-Captain with the Late Stewart Coulter Class of ’66.
Mr Folino, your impact on my life has been enormous! Even though you taught me how to type without looking (which I’ve been doing every day ever since), it is your mentoring me through 3 roller-coaster years on the greatest golf team in Connecticut that I will remember you most for. It’s not easy managing a team of teen-aged golfers, with their often selfish behavior and temper flare-ups, but you were a master. You believed in us all! I remain an avid golfer to this day.
Sven Engler (Co-captain with Skip Damman, class of ’80)