Larry Panciera (October 11, 1921 – September 8, 1998) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

where he led the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

to three

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

appearances in eighteen seasons. Panciera coached the Huskies from 1962 through 1979, finishing with a 297–160–5 overall record.

Early life

Panciera was born October 11, 1921 in

Westerly, Rhode Island Westerly is a town on the southwestern shoreline of Washington County, Rhode Island, first settled by English colonists in 1661 and incorporated as a municipality in 1669. It is a beachfront community on the south shore of the state with a popula ...

. He enrolled at

Rhode Island State College The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

in 1940, but joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, he returned to college and played football and baseball for the

Rhode Island Rams The Rhode Island Rams are the athletic programs of the University of Rhode Island, based in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. The Rams compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The football team, howev ...

while completing his degree. After graduating, Panciera spent three years at

Killingly High School Killingly High School is a public high school in Killingly, Connecticut. The school reported 792 students and 65 FTE classroom teachers for the 2014–2015 school year. Killingly High is the only public high school in the Killingly School Distr ...

Danielson, Connecticut Danielson is a borough in the town of Killingly in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,051 at the 2010 census. History Danielson was originally named "Danielsonville" for Gen. James Danielson, the builder of th ...

, serving as the school's first athletic director and coaching the football and baseball teams. Each team won state titles during his tenure.

Coaching career

In 1950, Panciera joined the staff of the

Connecticut Huskies football The UConn Huskies football team is a college football team that represents the University of Connecticut in the sport of American football. The team competes in NCAA Division I FBS as an Independent. Connecticut first fielded a team in 1896, an ...

team, as freshman coach. Four years later, he added assistant coach of the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team under head coach J. O. Christian before succeeding him in 1962. In his career as head baseball coach from 1962 through 1979, the Huskies reached three

and saw 40 players sign professional contracts. Panciera owns the highest winning percentage of all baseball coaches at UConn. He died on September 8, 1998, after a prolonged illness.

Head coaching record

The following table shows Panciera's record as a head coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panciera, Larry 1921 births 1998 deaths Rhode Island Rams baseball players Rhode Island Rams football players UConn Huskies baseball coaches UConn Huskies football coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Connecticut People from Westerly, Rhode Island United States Army personnel of World War II