Guidi guides more than 50 years of success

WINTHROP – There aren?t many things that are the same today as they were more than 50 years ago. But athletes are still athletes. And coaches are still coaches. And, after more than 50 years, there is still no place Bob Guidi would rather be than on a sideline somewhere coaching young athletes.
Guidi has been a fixture on the sidelines of local high school sports since he began coaching in 1964. The Winthrop native has coached three sports every year since and estimates he?s coached well over 2,000 students. And, as a testament to his leadership, nearly every team he has guided has been successful.
Guidi, 72, a retired math teacher, began his coaching career with Winthrop High?s freshman baseball team in 1965. Three years later, he began a 13-year tenure as St. Mary?s varsity baseball coach. After that he had a plethora of coaching assignments, including football, basketball, baseball and tennis He has also been a soccer and basketball official. He now coaches freshman and JV football at Winthrop and freshman basketball and baseball at Belmont High.
The lessons he instilled in his players remain with them today.
?Coach Guidi prided himself on knowing his kids were so well-disciplined and ready to play every game,” said Tom Dawley, who played baseball for Guidi at St. Mary?s, along with basketball and football before graduating in 1978. “He made sure we were 100 percent ready for every game and practice. He had a knack for instilling confidence and making us believe we could beat anybody. Guidi?s old school. Everyone respects him, and if you played for him, he?s certainly someone you?d never forget.”
Sports became a big part of Guidi?s life at a young age. At Winthrop High he found the time to play four sports each year, doubling up on tennis and baseball in the spring, with basketball in the winter and football in the fall. He played on two championship teams while at Winthrop, and was inducted into the Winthrop High School Hall of Fame in 2010.
Guidi was the last selection on a team of 26 players to play on the Hearst newspapers? New England All-Star squad that played several games at Fenway Park. Guidi, full of countless colorful stories of his experiences over the years, remembers Tony Conigliaro trying out for the team as a shortstop – Guidi?s position. But Conigliaro left the tryouts.
?That?s when I thought, ?Wow, I really have a chance to make this team,?” said Guidi, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Guidi garnered the attention of major league scouts in his junior year of high school. But a broken wrist sustained during his senior football season and subsequent surgery derailed his professional aspirations.
Guidi went on to Tufts University. Before graduating in 1964, he played three sports and began his storied coaching career while student teaching at his hometown alma mater. In four years at the helm of the Winthrop freshman football team, two of his squads went undefeated.
In 1968, Guidi took over as the head coach of the St. Mary?s baseball team, where he led the team to nine tournament appearances, three Catholic Central League titles and the Eastern Massachusetts championship in 1977. That year he was named the Boston Globe coach of the year. He finished his 13-year St. Mary?s career with a 145-77 record.
For much of Guidi?s tenure at St. Mary?s, his teams played in the Catholic Conference (before moving to the CCL for his last three years), facing Division 1 schools. St. Mary?s smaller enrollment numbers left the Spartans much better suited for Division 3. But that didn?t stop the Spartans from competing.
?We played in a very tough league, but we competed fairly well because (Guidi) kept us on our toes,” said Jim Mello, a catcher for Guidi?s St. Mary?s squads before graduating in 1975.
Guidi also coached baseball for 12 years at Wakefield High, racking up four consecutive tournament appearances. He has coached basketball at North Shore Community College, Matignon High and for 10 years at Lynnfield