Colleagues, coaches reflect on Fiste’s legacy

The Lynn basketball community lost one of its greatest advocates Tuesday with the death of former coach, educator and School Committee member Arthur Fiste, who collapsed at his Jenness Street home early Tuesday morning after experiencing chest pains during the night, according to longtime friend and co-worker Vincent Spirito.English High principal Andy Fila said Fiste, as a member of the School Committee at the time, was key in establishing the Walter Boverini Basketball Tournament, which features all four boys and all four girls Lynn basketball teams.”He initiated the whole process. If you said he was the father of the Boverini tournament, that’s a good way to put it,” Fila said.Fila , who planned to get together with Fiste and former Superintendent of Schools Nick Kostan in Florida next month, said Fiste was a great supporter of English High athletics.”He didn’t miss too many (English) games,” Fila said. “Going back, he was a great player. He was an excellent coach. Just a great guy and a great supporter of the high school, before and after he was on the School Committee. He’s going to be missed by us. He was a good friend of mine, obviously.”English High basketball coach Buzzy Barton will also miss Fiste.”I knew Arthur very well. He was one of the guys who spoke up on my behalf in getting the (coaching) job,” Barton said. ” He’s a good man. It’s a loss to the basketball world. He was a great basketball man.”Tech basketball coach Marvin Avery called Fiste a great coach and an advocate for the city of Lynn.”It’s a sad thing. It’s sad to see him go,” he said.Winthrop High boys basketball coach Dave Brown, who grew up in Lynn, had Fiste as a teacher in the sixth grade. He said Fiste was one of the first people to push him in the direction of basketball while at the same time making sure he focused on school.”I learned a lot of things about basketball (from him) and as a student-athlete, I appreciated what he did for me. He was a great guy. He’ll definitely be missed in basketball circles and in the Lynn community itself,” Brown said.Fiste, 72, played basketball at English High and at Tyler Junior College in Texas. He went on to coach basketball at Salem High and Gloucester High, as well as at Salem State College. Fiste taught at Cobbet Elementary School for many years and then became vice principal at Connery Elementary. After retiring from teaching, he ran for School Committee, where he served two terms.