Leading off today: Two well-known and accomplished Section 2 coaches died over the holiday weekend while shoveling snow dropped from the powerful storm that hit much of the state.
Longtime Duanesburg cross country and track coach Frank DeMasi, 70, was found dead of a heart attack early Monday outside his Scotia home, police said. He had gone outside to shovel Sunday evening, The Daily Gazette reported Tuesday.
In addition, Mike Ambrosio, 64, a long-time physical education teacher and football coach at Colonie, died of a heart attack Monday. He was 64.
DeMasi, a coach at Duanesburg since 1998 and Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons before that, most recently oversaw the boys modified cross country team. Duanesburg AD Penny Hardenstine recalled how DeMasi maintained lasting connections to his athletes.
"He could tell you dates and years and who ran in what race, what their times were and how they came in," Hardenstine said. "He was just an amazing man. He was very passionate about his sport."
Ambrosio took over the varsity football team in 1997 and compiled a 66-62 record with three appearances in Section 2 finals before stepping down in 2011. He took a sabbatical in 2008 in order to watch his son play quarterback at Shaker.
"Mike was a total family man. He really was. Mike loved Mark so much and always loved watching him play," said Colonie baseball coach Kevin Halburian.
Shaker football coach Greg Sheeler recalled meeting with Ambrosio for what should have been a run-of-the-mill film exchange in 2010.
"I was 30 years old. Most of the time, you do a film exchange in a parking lot or some other random spot," Sheeler said. "He invited me to have breakfast with him and his wife Vicki at the Circle Diner. We sat down for an hour and talked about everything but football. He just showed me what kind of guy he was. We had a big matchup, but the way he talked to me showed that he was just a real caring guy."
Two other deaths to report: Doug Calhoun, a teachers aide and coach at Charlotte Valley in Davenport from 1975 until his retirement in 2009, died Thursday at the age of 65.
Over the years he coached soccer, baseball and basketball at Charlotte Valley. Cahoun joined the Davenport Volunteer Fire Department as a teen in 1972.
• Les McMillen, who won more than 400 basketball games with New York Military Academy, died Wednesday from a rare form of multiple myeloma. He was 64.
The Wallkill teacher guided NYMA to seven Hudson Valley championships and 13 appearances in the New
