By Tim Parry

Tom Mazzella, my captain, teammate, classmate and friend at New Canaan High School, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer last night.

Mazzella was a three-year starter at quarterback (though he agreed at times to a move to defense so others like Matt Murphy and Brian Overbeck could get a shot at leading the offense), and led New Canaan to its first FCIAC championship game appearance under Lou Marinelli.

Mazzella went on to become a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, and remained a fighter until the very end. And he was the ultimate teammate, befriending shy loners like me when others didn’t want to include us as a part of the New Canaan football family. Tom knew he was no different from anyone else, even though he had inherited the most visible position on the field in a town that shut down of gameday at such a young age.

Now Tom may have not been the fastest kid or had the strongest arm, but he knew how to win, and rally his teammates together as one. I can remember him on a keeper, breaking two or three tackles and then outracing the defense into the end zone. Heck, Marinelli got gutsy with the Delaware Wing-T offense we were running during our senior year, and split the wingback out wide to take advantage of two wide-receiver sets with Todd Kovacevich and Michael Lewis to take advantage of his passing ability.

After playing at Western New England (if I remember right, and moving to linebacker), Tom went into the Marines. Coach Marinelli was telling me today that Tom was angry that he hadn’t been called into action in Iraq, And when he finally was called into action, doctors found a tumor on his hamstring.

We heard at our 20th reunion last fall that Tom’s cancer was in remission and he was improving, but it returned thereafter and moved to his lungs.

But Marinelli told me that Tom was still in his typical fighting spirit: When hospice came in during the spring, and Tom found out what hospice was, Marinelli says Tom kicked them out and said “I’m not dying, go away!”

Tom Mazzella leaves behind a wife and two young children, and a lot of great memories.

Life as it it is way too short. And for someone to lose a battle with cancer at 40 is awful. But when it’s a gentleman who fought for our country, and was the start athlete in the prime of his life, it’s not easy to comprehend.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Mazzella family, and may you rest in peace, Tom.

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