John Mazzei Field Ceremony

JOHN MAZZEI FIELD DEDICATION CEREMONY

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10th at 4:30PM.

WE will be in the GYM due to rain forcasted.

Mazzei was born in McCloud and raised in Dunsmuir and was active in all sports and academics at COS. He served as athletic director and head baseball coach 1959 to 1993.  During his tenure he was also head men’s basketball coach, head golf team coach, and an assistant football coach for two seasons.

In the early years of Mazzei’s tenure, he was the only person in the COS Physical Education Department. He also taught English, Life Science, Health and Physical Education courses, and was recognized as one of the best instructors on the campus.

The term “student athlete” had true meaning to Mazzei, who was known for demanding that “his athletes” be committed in the classroom.

In its early years, COS had no facilities for physical education. Using off-campus facilities, he organized the first collegiate athletic teams for the college: basketball and baseball.

Mazzei retired from COS in 1993, after more than 34 years with the district. In 2003, he was inducted as a charter member of the COS Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the 1988 California Community Colleges Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame and was inducted into the California Community College’s Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018.

Mazzei is recognized for virtually single-handedly starting the COS baseball program in 1959. He was instrumental in the design of the baseball field and helped to build it on the Weed campus after having to play at the Weed Sons of Italy Park for the first few years of the programs’ existence.

He was also instrumental in the drive to create both DI and DII divisions at the California Community College level of sports, which created equity for smaller California Community Colleges.

Coach Mazzei, we thank you, and your legacy will live on in the hearts and lives of all Eagles that play on this field.