Larry Panciera (October 11, 1921 – September 8, 1998) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

where he led the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...

to three

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

appearances in eighteen seasons. Panciera coached the Huskies from 1962 through 1979, finishing with a 297–160–5 overall record.

Early life

Panciera was born October 11, 1921, in

Westerly, Rhode Island Westerly is a New England town, town on the Coast, southwestern coastline of Washington County, Rhode Island, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661, and incorporated as a List of municipalitie ...

. He enrolled at

Rhode Island State College The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-gra ...

in 1940 but joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, he returned to college and played football and baseball for the

Rhode Island Rams The Rhode Island Rams are the intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Rhode Island, based in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. The Rams compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conferenc ...

while completing his degree. After graduating, Panciera spent three years at

Killingly High School Killingly High School is a public high school in Killingly, Connecticut. The school reported 792 students and 65 FTE classroom teachers for the 2014–2015 school year. Killingly High is the only public high school in the Killingly School Dist ...

Danielson, Connecticut Danielson is a borough in the town of Killingly in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,155 at the 2020 census. History Danielson was originally named "Danielsonville" for Gen. James Danielson, the builder of th ...

, serving as the school's first athletic director and coaching the football and baseball teams. Each team won state titles during his tenure.

Coaching career

In 1950, Panciera joined the staff of the

Connecticut Huskies football The UConn Huskies football team is a college football team that represents the University of Connecticut in the sport of American football. The team competes in NCAA Division I FBS as an NCAA Division I FBS independent schools, independent. Conn ...

team, as freshman coach. Four years later, he added assistant coach of the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team under head coach J. O. Christian before succeeding him in 1962. In his career as head baseball coach from 1962 through 1979, the Huskies reached three

and saw 40 players sign professional contracts. Panciera owns the highest winning percentage of all baseball coaches at UConn. He died on September 8, 1998, after a prolonged illness.

Head coaching record

The following table shows Panciera's record as a head coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Panciera, Larry 1921 births 1998 deaths Rhode Island Rams baseball players Rhode Island Rams football players UConn Huskies baseball coaches UConn Huskies football coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Connecticut People from Westerly, Rhode Island United States Army personnel of World War II