Victor Henry Mancini, age 83, of West Boylston, MA, passed away January 7, 2023, after a long battle with lung cancer.
Husband. Father. Grandpa. Teacher. Coach. Friend. Victor Mancini was born on January 13, 1939 in Weehawken, NJ. He attended Saint Michael’s High School in Union City. He then served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1959, stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was a Physical Fitness Instructor and Rocket Assembly Specialist.
He graduated in 1963 from the University of RI with a Bachelor’s of Science majoring in Physical Education with a minor in both Biology and English. He also was a standout football player, and after college, he played professional football with the Providence Steam Rollers of the Atlantic Coast Football League, winning a championship. In 1964, he earned a Masters of Science from Springfield College, where he also served as an Assistant football coach from 1963 to 1964. From 1964 to 1966, he worked at Delone Catholic High School in McSherrytown, PA, where he was the Chair of the Physical Education Department; the Head of the Youth Physical Fitness Program; Health Teacher; and the Head football, wrestling, and golf coach.
He returned to Springfield College to serve as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, also serving as Football Coach from 1967 to 1974. In 1970 he received a CAGS (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study) from Springfield College. He was awarded his Doctorate in Education from Boston University in 1974.
Victor married Jo-Ann (Atteridge) Mancini on July 25, 1964. In 1973 their son Lee was born. The family moved to Ithaca, NY, in 1974, where Victor was a Professor at Ithaca College until he retired in 2004. He was selected as the first Director of Teacher Education at Ithaca College. He served as the Chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Human Movement for 12 years. A prolific writer and speaker, Vic bridged the gap between researcher and teacher/coach, his work focusing on the analysis of teaching and coaching behavior. He co-authored and co-edited texts in numerous books, wrote over 45 journal articles, and gave over 100 presentations at the national and international level. When he retired in 2004, he was awarded the Curriculum and Instruction Academy Emeritus Award of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.
As a teacher, he cared deeply about his graduate and undergraduate students. He was generous with his time, offering advice on life, school, and sports outside of class time hours. His greatest strengths were his warmth and compassion for his students, and there was nothing that he would not do to help them. He formed lifelong bonds with his former students, staying in touch with many of them for decades.
Victor always was involved in coaching and in the community. He helped build several baseball fields as part of the Lansing Youth Baseball Program. He spent countless hours coaching youth sports, teaching and training young athletes. He especially loved coaching baseball in Lansing, and watching his son, Lee, play at Lansing High School and then at Harvard. He never missed any of his son’s games.
In recent years, he watched Lee coach his own daughters in softball, ice hockey, and soccer, having passed on coaching lessons from father to son. Vic was especially proud of his two granddaughters’ athletic abilities as high school multiple sport varsity athletes and team captains. He was particularly proud that Cara would be playing ice hockey at Amherst College starting this fall.
Victor was an excellent cook, and he loved to share a meal with friends and family. Everyone loved his blueberry muffins, chicken pot pie, and spaghetti and meatballs. He was always cooking and bringing food to friends and neighbors, and he and Jo-Ann had so much fun sharing meals with their neighborhood group. He was an avid golfer. He also spent much of his retirement traveling all over the world with his wife and his friends. With a big heart, sense of humor, and lots of great stories, he made friends wherever he went, including Sarasota, FL and West Boylston, MA. Most of all he loved his friends from Ithaca and Lansing, NY, relationships he forged during the 45 years he lived there.
Victor always put his family first, and he loved his two granddaughters, Faith and Cara, fiercely. His greatest joys were spending time with them playing golf, board games, picking blueberries, going to the Science Center, watching them play sports, and eating ice cream at Purity. He also loved his dogs.
His funeral will be held Friday, January 13, 2023, beginning with visitation from 10:30 – 11:30 AM in the Holt Funeral Home, 510 South Main St., Woonsocket, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at Noon in St. John the Evangelist Church, 63 Church St., Slatersville. His Mass may be viewed live at https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/1934135970 Burial will follow in the parish cemetery. As a former coach and teacher, in lieu of flowers donations may be made in his name to the V Foundation for Cancer Research,14600 Weston Parkway, Cary, NC 27513.
