Even though it's been 32 years since he graduated from Andrew Warde High School, Dante Gallucci is looking forward to returning to the Melville Avenue campus once again. Only this time, he's coaching the Warde junior varsity baseball squad."I'm very excited about coaching at Warde," Dante told me. "You know, I started out coaching because I loved baseball, and I wanted to coach my kid. What I never counted on was the relationships you develop with other kids. Some of these players I've had since they were six or seven, and they have become a big part of my life."
The junior varsity team, which includes his son, John, plays its first scrimmage of the season this afternoon at 4 o'clock against FCIAC rival Trumbull. The JV Mustangs open the regular season next Wednesday, April 2, against Bunnell High School of Stratford at Tunxis Hill Park at 3:45. It's the first of 19 regular-season games.
So how did he get involved with Warde baseball? "I had been coaching first softball, and then baseball for over twenty years," he pointed out. That included Little League, the all-stars, the Nationals, and Fairfield's first AAU team. "One day the (Warde) head coach, Mark Caron, came down to the field and told me they were shorthanded, and could I help them out. After thinking it over for two or three seconds, I'm there."He is thrilled to be coaching his son at the same high school he attended. "I told myself that this was just another team, but last year, the first time I was in the locker room dressing next to Ted Merrill and talking to Bengy (Ed Bengermino), I was thinking, 'How the hell did I get here?' It was a little surreal. Then you realize, 'Hey, I've got a job to do.' It's not about me, it's about the kids.
"Here's the thing: when you are at your old high school, and your kid is at that high school, you feel a bit like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. You know what's going to happen. Should you tell them? So I find myself there, but trying not to alter the course of events, which is tricky."
Dante, who will be at the Meet the Spring Coaches event Tuesday evening at 7 o'clock in the library lecture room, continues to serve as president of the Fairfield National Little League, and under his guidance the league has thrived.
"I started out with Fairfield National in the late 90s coaching T-Ball," he said. "I saw a league that was nothing like the National League I played with in the 60s. Parents were running the show. We had 300 kids and about ten sponsors. We were $2,000 in the hole, and I had to put our stuff on my credit card that first year.
"When I took over the next year, I decided we were going to get back, if you will. Today we have 625 players on 51 teams, 51 sponsors, and over $130,000.00 in the bank. I gave a good part of my life to National, and I stay because I love it. I'm proud of the people who work around me and who got us back to teaching baseball, and mixing in some old-fashioned values at the same time."
His teams have enjoyed tremendous success over the years. "I had a great all star group over the years, going 38-9 and winning three annual tournaments in four years," he pointed out. "We established Fairfield National's first 13-15 (year old) teams, also playing as AAU. That team played not only locally, but in regional and a couple of national tournaments. We came in second in the Northeast Regionals last year. Not bad for a little town. We are hoping this produces a feeder system for the high school."
Dante is a practicing attorney in Fairfield; a career which captured his attention at an early age. "I became a lawyer because it looked like a cool job on TV," he admitted. "After going to UConn and Suffolk Law in Boston, I've spent 25 years serving as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut. In private practice I've handled thousands of criminal and juvenile offender cases, including 17 murder trials. They were not like TV."
The 1976 Andrew Warde High School graduate met his wife, Sheila (Ryan), while they were working at Fairway Beef during his senior year at Warde. "She went to Ludlowe, but we overcame it," he joked. "We've been together since." They have two children. John is 15 and a freshmen at Warde. Caroline will be 14, and she is a soccer and tennis player. She will be attending Warde next year.
The Warde JV baseball team hosts Ludlowe's JV squad on Wednesday, May 7, at 4 o'clock at Tunxis Hill Park. I'm sure he and his family are very much looking forward to that game.
"Many people would say that you can't go home again," Dante said. "I've been down a lot of long and winding roads, and like baseball, they always lead me home."
Good luck with the Warde JV Mustangs' baseball team this year.
Paul
Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.
Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.
Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".
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