For Huntington’s Blue Devils, Fred Fusaro has long been a guardian angel on the football field.
Now 83, the celebrated offensive and defensive line coach continues to shape Long Island football. More than five decades after beginning his coaching journey, Fusaro remains committed to mentoring young players and helping them grow on and off the field.
“The camaraderie you build with kids is what it’s all about,” Fusaro, a former Huntington noseguard, told The Post.
“If you’re going to coach, you have to love it … and I love these kids,” said Fusaro, who is volunteering for his second season with his alma mater as a super senior.
Known as a godfather of Long Island football, Fusaro helped guide four players to the NFL, including Giants Super Bowl champion John “Jumbo” Elliott during his lengthy tenure as Sachem’s head coach. Across 55 years in coaching, he estimates that more than 150 of his players went on to play college football.
Today, Fusaro is honored by having his name displayed above Sachem North’s varsity field. The tribute recognizes his two Rutgers Cups, numerous county championships and the lasting emphasis he placed on character during 34 years leading the Flaming Arrows, which ended in 2002.
“He’s a humble man,” said former Sachem running back Dave Shanahan, who helped the school win a Rutgers Trophy in 1986.
“From the time I was young, he was always there for me and supported the decisions he believed were right for me.”
Still, Fusaro and Shanahan acknowledged that their relationship—and Fusaro’s coaching style—wasn’t always easy. Much of his influence came through the kind of tough love players learned to accept and respect.
“When they know you genuinely care about them,” Fusaro said, “you can pretty much do anything you need to do.”
Winning isn’t everything
Fusaro points to more than 200 victories, but he considers the number of former players who became coaches an even more meaningful measure of his impact.
“I’d say there are at least 50,” Fusaro said. “You want to believe you’re doing something right.”
When Fusaro left Sachem, he was ready to step away from dealing with parents—but not from working with players. His next opportunity came through Shanahan, who had become head coach at John Glenn High School in Elwood in 1995 and welcomed his former mentor onto the staff as an assistant in 2004.
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“I thought I’d be there with him for two years or so,” Fusaro said. “I ended up staying for 19 years.”
Together, the coaches captured consecutive Long Island championships in 2010 and 2011. Shanahan said Fusaro played a central role in those victories while directing the Knights’ defense.
“His schemes were outstanding—he’s a true technician,” Shanahan said.
Glenn’s 2010 squad went undefeated, the only Long Island team to accomplish that feat that season, and finished with a Rutgers Trophy.
“The kids loved him because he worked so hard,” Shanahan said. Fusaro, meanwhile, described Shanahan as “one of my best players.”
Calling the right plays
For Fusaro, football’s X’s and O’s were never the entire lesson. Whether a player planned to continue competing after high school or not, the sport was a vehicle for teaching discipline, responsibility and resilience.
“By demanding more from you and holding you accountable, he prepared you not just for football, but for the much bigger game of life,” Shanahan said.
“The kids really bonded to him.”
When John Glenn boys soccer coach Lou Hanner overheard Shanahan talking about Fusaro, he interjected to call him “first class.”
Fusaro was inducted into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame over the summer — and had an entire first string of those he mentored right there with him for the honor.
“I had 25 players come up to Buffalo for the induction,” Fusaro said.
When Shanahan retired from coaching in 2025, Fusaro said he knew it was time to go back to where it all began for him: the Blue Devils, who are 2-1.
Fusaro found his love for coaching from the staff he enjoyed as a varsity lineman in the 1960s. It led him to play for Ithaca and later coach at the college level with St. Lawrence and Hofstra.
“It brought back a lot of memories being here,” Fusaro said. “I’ve been blessed, truly blessed, to have the kids that I had and the dedicated coaches that I had over the years.”