JHS Athletic HOF inducts star-studded class

The Johnston Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its 2024 class this past Sunday in the school auditorium, celebrating 10 individual figures and two teams in a star-studded lineup.
The individual honorees included: Tim Tedesco (wrestling); Jake Coro (baseball); Nick Raposo (baseball); Jon Soto (wrestling); John Willette (baseball); Kyle Nelson (football, baseball, basketball, track); Ryan Yankee (basketball); Zach Clesas (baseball) and Gary Salzillo (contributor). The teams inducted were the 1989 boys hockey team and the 1995 slow-pitch softball team.
Highlighting the roster was former coach Chris Corsinetti, who won the Gary V. Mazzie Lifetime Achievement Award.
Corsinetti has been a significant presence in Johnston athletics for more than 30 years. He started by working at the town rec center as a teenager and went on to coach the middle school girls basketball team.
He then would join the late coach Dan Mazzulla’s staff coaching the girls basketball team at JHS. After serving as Mazzulla’s assistant for 15 seasons, he was elevated to head coach in 2011 and stayed in that position until 2019. During his JHS tenure as both an assistant and head coach, he was instrumental in the team winning multiple Division II titles and guided the Panthers to the state Final Four in 2018.
“I’m extremely honored to get the award. I’m very appreciative to the Mazzie family. The standards that Gary set at the high school, his legacy lives on through this hall of fame and to receive this award is an honor,” said Corsinetti.
Corsinetti thanked his mentors and family, specifically his wife Gina, son Anthony and daughters Kara and Ali, for their support over the decades.
“Just looking back, we’ve lost a lot of great guys along the way that helped me. Guys like Dan Mazzulla that helped me get into coaching. Looking back on my first year at the high school in 1997, seeing recent players (at the induction), I wouldn’t change a thing. The relationships you make are rewarding,” said Corsinetti. “(My family was) so supportive throughout my time at JHS. Coaches’ wives are very special and my wife’s support contributed greatly to our success.”
Corsinetti and his brother Anthony, co-owners of Hartford Paving, have also contributed resources over the years to the town’s athletic department. Corsinetti is proud to give back to Johnston.
“My parents always told my brother and I to give back to the community, how important it is. That’s something we’ll always do and we always try to lead with our hearts. I started in the rec department under Dan Mazzulla and Vin LaFazia. I got into coaching, reffing. It’s a close knit community and recreation is the center of that. It’s a special community,” said Corsinetti.
More than anything, Corsinetti is thankful for those he bonded with over the years both on the court and off.
“When you first get into coaching, you do it for the love of coaching and the love of the sport you’re coaching. Very quickly it becomes your love for the players, those relationships, the sports become a secondary thing,” Corsinetti said. “Those teaching moments, the bus rides, team dinners. The relationships built along the way were probably more rewarding than the championships.”