On Saturday, August 8, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame will induct its class of 2015 at the DCU Center in Worcester and among those to get the call this year is former Foxboro, Taunton, and King Philip coach George “Bo” Ruggiero, who is currently the coach at Cohasset High.
Ruggiero began his coaching career at Medfield in 1967 and is still going strong more than 40 years later. During his career, he has won 441 games in high school and a further 108 at Bridgewater State College.
He spent eight seasons with Foxboro where he won 117 games, including a season in which the Warriors finished 20-2. The Norfolk resident has led his teams to 11 20-win seasons in his career.
“I’m there because I worked hard and the players I had were very good,” said Ruggiero last week. “The good players translated into winning teams and that simply translated into success.”
“My mantra has always been, when you have good players then more than likely I won’t screw it up.”
In addition to his induction this summer, Ruggiero is also in the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) Hall of Fame and on the Medfield High Wall of Fame. He is the past and current president of the MBCA.
Although he has been coaching for 40-plus seasons and is heading into his eighth at Cohasset and even after a car accident in 2012 that has taken away some of his mobility Ruggiero has no plans of leaving the game that he loves.
“I don’t know what else I would do,” he exclaimed. “When I was 22 and I was in Medfield, I didn’t know what to do but coach and now that I’m a lot older…I still don’t know what to do.”
For more information about the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, visit www.nebasketballhalloffame.org.