By Jonah Bronstein
The man who coached the greatest basketball teams in Niagara Falls High School and Niagara County Community College history has been selected to join the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame .
Dan Bazzani and the rest of the 2009 class will be introduced today at HSBC Arena and inducted at a ceremony in October at the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo.
“I’m surprised and humbled,” Bazzani said earlier this week. “It’s an honor I wasn’t expecting.”
Bazzani fondly recalled presenting his college coach, Len Serfustini, into the GBSHOF in 2001, and would’ve liked to return the favor if presenter speeches hadn’t been eliminated a few years ago.
“I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Serfustini,” said Bazzani, before rattling of a list of local coaching legends who played at the University at Buffalo under Serfustini. “He was so sound with the fundamentals, and he was a role model.”
Bazzani, who is now the athletics director at Niagara Falls High School, is a 1961 graduate of the original NFHS. A three-sport athlete, he quarterbacked the football team and led the basketball team in scoring.
At UB, Bazzani developed into a team leader known for his defense. The Bulls went 49-18 during his career, including a 19-3 mark in his senior year.
After spending time coaching junior varsity squads at Niagara Falls and LaSalle, Bazzani took over the NCCC program in 1971.
Without the benefit of scholarships, dormitories or a recruiting budget, Bazzani built NCCC into a national power. The Frontiersmen, as they were known at the time, qualified for the national tournament in 1974, 1978, and 1979. The ’78 team came within a last-second shot of winning the national championship.
“We were lucky enough to get some pretty good players there,” Bazzani recalled. “It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.”
Bazzani spent 10 years at NCCC, winning 197 games, but left in 1981, because of philosophical differences regarding financial support of the program. Shortly thereafter, he tried to attain his dream job, head coach at Niagara University, but wasn’t granted an interview.
“I grew up on Niagara basketball,” said Bazzani, whose father, Dante, played for the Purple Eagles from 1937 to 1941. “I was crushed that I didn’t have a chance to play at Niagara, and one of my highlights of my playing career was beating Niagara at the old Aud.”
In 1983, Bazzani returned to his alma mater to coach the Bulls, then a Division III program. While winning 111 games, the fifth-most in school history, he helped UB make the transition to the Division I level, and recruited LaSalle star Modie Cox, who ranks among UB’s all-time leaders in assists and steals.
“When I was done at UB, I didn’t think I would coach again,” Bazzani said. “Then one day, I was teaching at Niagara Falls High School and they had an announcement over the P.A. during second period. (Superintendent) Carmen Granto said, ‘Would Mr. Bazzani report to the main office?’ I thought something had happened.
“He told me the former coach had resigned, and asked me if I wanted to coach. I said I’ll coach for one year, and then I’m done.”
Bazzani stayed on until the school closed in 2000, and was selected to lead the new Niagara Falls program, which could now draw on the entire city for players.
The Wolverines went 144-12 in seven seasons under Bazzani, never losing to a fellow Niagara Frontier League opponent, and reaching the state final four for three straight seasons.
The team reached its zenith in 2005. Led by New York’s Mr. Basketball, Paul Harris, seniors Greg Gamble, Rob Garrison and James Starks, a sharpshooting sophomore named Jonny Flynn, and two more Division I prospects, Miguel Respress and Tyrell Lynch, the Wolverines played a national schedule, losing just once (to a team that used illegal players), claimed a state championship and finished the season ranked third in the country by USA Today, which also named Bazzani its coach of the year.
“It turned out that team had six Division I basketball players (including Respress, who died from a heart ailment the following summer), and a Division I football player,” Bazzani said. “What was nice about that was the pride everybody felt in Niagara Falls. Not only in the city, but graduates all over the country who told me they would pick up USA Today and see us ranked.
“... I don’t think it will ever happen again. I’d love to see it, but you don’t often see a city of our size producing that much talent. It was an incredible team.
“They were a coach’s dream.”
E-mail reporter Jonah Bronstein at jonah.bronstein@niagara-gazette.com
