Bob Guidi has seen plenty of baseball during his 57-year coaching career, but he still swears one of the best defenses he’s seen was last month at Shawsheen Tech.
“Without a doubt, (it was) the best defense I’ve ever seen and I played at Tufts,” Guidi said, who still has a hop in his step while recreating cut-off throws, and a twinkle in his eye when talking about the game at age 77.
His love of sports started when he was a student-athlete himself at Winthrop High School. He played four sports — football, basketball, tennis and baseball — and was later inducted into the Winthrop High Hall of Fame in 2010. He went on to play three sports at Tufts before graduating in 1964 and starting his coaching career.
He’s spent most of his life on sidelines and in dugouts across the North Shore. The only thing that slowed him down — like most of us — was the pandemic. That’s how he ended up taking the head coaching job at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School.
“I just enjoy coaching,” Guidi said. “I hadn’t coached anything for a year and a half. I was willing to coach anything.”
So when Guidi saw the opening in Mystic Valley he jumped on it — and the school liked what they saw. The truth is, how could they not?
Thousands of student-athletes have played under Guidi since he started coaching in 1964. A retired math teacher, he began his journey as the freshman baseball coach at his hometown of Winthrop.
A few years later, he became the head coach of the St. Mary’s baseball team. While the Spartans compete in Division 3’s Catholic Central League today, Guidi started his 13 years at the helm against Division 1 competition. The switch in leagues took place during his tenure.
Guidi coached those Spartans to nine tournament appearances, three CCL titles and the Eastern Massachusetts championship in 1977. That year he was named the Boston Globe’s coach of the year. He finished his run at St. Mary’s with a 145-77 record.
Since then, Guidi has coached all levels of football and basketball. He coached varsity basketball at Matignon, Lynnfield and North Shore Community College. He also coached football at several schools, and had a 12-year run as a baseball coach at Wakefield.
He recently coached basketball and baseball at Belmont before COVID-19 put a halt to both.
It’s quite the resume, and it’ll continue to grow at Mystic Valley. Guidi returned to Lynn last month, and his Eagles handed Lynn Tech a loss on Fraser Field.
If you ask him, Guidi will say the season is going great, but how could the storied coach not be enjoying himself after returning to his home on the diamond this spring?
