Mauro Panaggio (January 19, 1928https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188811201/mauro-panaggio – April 11, 2018) was an American basketball coach at the high school, college, and professional levels. He holds the record for the most coaching wins in the history of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, and was named to the CBA's 50th Anniversary team as coach. Panaggio grew up in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...

. He played basketball in high school, then for

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master' ...

in Buffalo before transferring to

SUNY Brockport State University of New York Brockport (also known as SUNY Brockport or Brockport State, and previously The College at Brockport) is a public university in Brockport, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). History C ...

Brockport Brockport is a Village (New York), village in the Sweden, New York, Town of Sweden, with two tiny portions in the Clarkson, New York, Town of Clarkson, in Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, New York (state), New York, United States. The popu ...

, closer to Rochester. He then moved into coaching at the high school level, working first at

Wellsville Central School District Wellsville is the name of several locations in the United States: * Wellsville, Kansas *Wellsville, Missouri *Wellsville (town), New York * Wellsville (village), New York * Wellsville, Ohio *Wellsville, Pennsylvania Wellsville is a boro ...

and then in the

Rochester City School District The Rochester City School District is a public school district that serves approximately 24,900 students in the city of Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-m ...

where his teams won two state championships. He also coached a year at

Rush–Henrietta Central School District The Rush–Henrietta Central School District is a public school district in New York State that serves approximately 6,000 students in the towns of Rush and Henrietta, and portions of Brighton and Pittsford in Monroe County with over 1,100 empl ...

. Moving to the small college ranks, Panaggio then coached at his alma mater, Brockport, where his teams won four SUNYAC titles between 1967 and 1977, reaching the Final Four twice. His record at Brockport was 148–76. He entered the world of professional basketball in 1978 with the CBA's Rochester Zeniths, whom he coached until the team folded in 1983. He was the first coach of the

Quad City Thunder The Quad City Thunder was a Continental Basketball Association franchise that was based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. They played in the CBA from the 1987–88 season until the CBA folded in 2001. The Thunder were successful on the co ...

starting in 1987; he retired briefly in 1991 but quickly returned to coach the

Rockford Lightning The Rockford Lightning was a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association. They were based in Rockford, Illinois. History The Lightning were the oldest team in the CBA, originally existing as the Lancaster Red Roses fr ...

. That provided the opportunity to coach against his son, Dan, who had succeeded him as coach in Quad City; the occasion was noted as historic at the time. After a few years at Rockford, he went on to brief stints as coach of two other CBA teams. He was CBA coach of the year three times. Panaggio's wife, Rita, died on March 16, 2018 at the age of 87. They had six children. Panaggio and his wife were living in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the time of their deaths.

References

1928 births 2018 deaths Basketball coaches from New York (state) Brockport Golden Eagles men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Continental Basketball Association coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Sportspeople from Rochester, New York {{US-basketball-coach-stub