Peter "Coach" Mazzaferro

Peter Mazzaferro, the all-time winningest football coach at Bridgewater State University, died on Friday night, May 30, 2025 at the age of 94.
Pete, a long-time resident of Bridgewater, was born on June 24, 1930 in Torrington, CT. He was a faculty member in the Bridgewater State Department of Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies for 34 years in addition to being the football coach.
A 1954 graduate of Centre College in Danville, Ky., Pete was a three-sport athlete, playing defensive end in football, ran the quarter-mile in track and was a member of the basketball team.
With a career record of 209-158-11 at three schools, Pete ranks ninth on the national all-time list for victories by a Division 3 head coach.
Pete was 195-137-7 at Bridgewater State and is the all-time leader in Division 3 wins by a coach in New England.
He coached the freshman football team at Springfield College while pursuing a Master's Degree and was drafted into the U.S. Army where he was stationed in Texas and Virginia.
Pete was a teacher and coach at Philmont, N.Y., and his first collegiate head coaching job was at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania where he was 12-19-3 from 1959-62 in addition to coaching basketball.
His first head coaching job in Massachusetts was at Curry College in Milton where Pete's team was 2-2-1 in 1963.
Pete coached at Beaver Falls High School in western Pennsylvania in 1965 before being hired as an assistant at what was then known as Bridgewater State College in 1966.
While attending coaching clinics in the Catskills, Pete had met Bridgewater State coach Ed Swenson, who offered him a job on the Bears' staff.
After two seasons as an assistant, Pete became the head coach in 1968, beginning a 36-year stint on the sidelines.
"If I had never met Ed Swenson back then,'' Pete once said, "I guess I never would have known about Bridgewater State.''
The Bears won six New England Football Conference championships under Pete and reached the NCAA tournament in 1999 and 2000. They also qualified for the ECAC postseason in 1989 and 1992.
Pete was named the New England Football Writers Divisions 2-3 Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1999.
He received the George C. Carens Award in 1996 for outstanding contributions to college football and the New England Lifetime Achievement Award from the All-American Football Foundation.
Pete was inducted into the Bridgewater State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994, the Centre College Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2020.
Bridgewater State named the turf field at the Swenson Athletic Conference the Pete Mazzaferro Field during a ceremony he attended on Sept. 8, 2023 with many former players on hand.
On May 2 this year, Pete was at the Easton Country Club for the annual Bridgewater State Football Alumni dinner where he visited with former players.
Pete wrote a book entitled "Dropkick Me Through The Goalposts'' where he discussed his long career in football.
After his Bridgewater State career ended, Pete was an assistant coach at Curry under former New England Patriots linebacker Steve Nelson in 2005 and at Stonehill College in 2006.
Pete was proud of his association with Bridgewater State University. During the 2024-25 academic year, Pete was on hand for several of the Bears' football games and attended a number of men's and women's basketball games.
Pete was a great storyteller with an incredible memory about the details of numerous sporting events. He loved telling the story of how his alma mater, Centre, pulled off one of the greatest college football upsets, beating Harvard University in 1921.
Survivors include his son, Scott Grum of Sugar Creek, Ohio, and a nephew, Gary Spino of Milton, Mass.
Relatives and freinds are respecfully invited to attend the visiting hours on Friday, June 6, 2025 from 4-7 PM in the Chapman Funeral Home, Bridgewater.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Coach Peter Mazzaferro may be made to the BSU Football Fund. Please send checks to the Office of Alumni and Development, Jones Alumni House, 26 Summer Street, Bridgewater, MA 02324.