Mauro Panaggio (January 19, 1928https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188811201/mauro-panaggio – April 11, 2018) was an American basketball coach at the high school, college, and professional levels. He holds the record for the most coaching wins in the history of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, and was named to the CBA's 50th Anniversary team as coach. Panaggio grew up in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. He played basketball in high school, then for

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

in Buffalo before transferring to

SUNY Brockport State University of New York Brockport (also known as SUNY Brockport or Brockport State, and previously The College at Brockport) is a public university in Brockport, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). History ...

in Brockport, closer to Rochester. He then moved into coaching at the high school level, working first at Wellsville Central School District and then in the

Rochester City School District The Rochester City School District is a public school district that serves approximately 24,900 students in the city of Rochester, New York. It is currently operating with a budget of $983 million, which comes out to approximately $39,500 per st ...

where his teams won two state championships. He also coached a year at Rush–Henrietta Central School District. Moving to the small college ranks, Panaggio then coached at his alma mater, Brockport, where his teams won four

SUNYAC The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) is an NCAA Division III athletics conference consisting of schools in the State University of New York system. It was chartered in 1958 as the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic ...

titles between 1967 and 1977, reaching the Final Four twice. His record at Brockport was 148–76. He entered the world of professional basketball in 1978 with the CBA's Rochester Zeniths, whom he coached until the team folded in 1983. He was the first coach of the

Quad City Thunder The Quad City Thunder was a Continental Basketball Association franchise that was based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. They played in the CBA from the 1987–88 season until the CBA folded in 2001. The Thunder were successful on the co ...

starting in 1987; he retired briefly in 1991 but quickly returned to coach the

Rockford Lightning The Rockford Lightning was a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association. They were based in Rockford, Illinois. History The Lightning were the oldest team in the CBA, originally existing as the Lancaster Red Roses fro ...

. That provided the opportunity to coach against his son,

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

, who had succeeded him as coach in Quad City; the occasion was noted as historic at the time. After a few years at Rockford, he went on to brief stints as coach of two other CBA teams. He was CBA coach of the year three times. Panaggio's wife, Rita, died on March 16, 2018 at the age of 87. They had six children. Panaggio and his wife were living in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

, at the time of their deaths.

References

1928 births 2018 deaths Basketball coaches from New York (state) Brockport Golden Eagles men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Continental Basketball Association coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Sportspeople from Rochester, New York {{US-basketball-coach-stub