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09/15/2016 12:00 AMLouis Anastasio, Jr., was born and raised in East Haven and always did everything he could to help make the community he loves a better place.
Louis, a Class of 1958 graduate, was a captain of the swim team and also played football for the Yellowjackets, but Louis really made his mark as a coach and spent 34 years teaching both swimming and life lessons to his athletes. For his years of commitment to guiding East Haven’s youngsters in the water, Louis has earned the ultimate honor of induction into the East Haven High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame.
“I’m not sure I’m in the Hall of Fame for my athletic ability. I was a good swimmer, but not the best. I think I did a lot for turning around the program, so I think coaching was my big thing,” says Louis, who will be inducted in November. “We started in the YMCA swimming three days a week and I helped get us our own pool and started a five-day swimming program. I believe I did a pretty good job of getting the best out of any swimmer I had and helped them reach their potential. I had two swimmers go on to coach in college and another two coach high school, so that is what I’m really most proud of. Helping people is more important than records.”
Louis did more than just coach the boys’ and girls’ swim squads at East Haven. He also started the girls’ team, as well as Swim America, an instructional program designed to teach children of all ages how to swim and hone their craft competitively. On top of that, Louis founded Big Blues Swim Club and coached the team to several championships, he served on the CIAC Boys’ Swim Committee, and also chaired the Summer Nutmeg Swim League.
“It’s not just swimming. I just love the water and everything associated with the water,” Louis says. “I like fishing; I started the water polo team, which was successful; and I’ve always liked sports involved with the water. My dad was a diver and he got me into it at a young age and I got attached to it.”
After his retirement in 1997, the Big Blues Swim Club disbanded and so Louis formed East Haven Aquatics, which has 60 competitive swimmers and many more who are developing and learning how to swim.
“I think that is one of the things I’m really proud of is developing the feeder programs. You have to get kids swimming young,” Louis says. “When we built the pool, we formed an organization called the East Haven Swim Club, which led the way to the Big Blues and now East Haven Aquatics. We teach all age groups and work with athletes. Over the years, we’ve have had some nationally ranked swimmers and a relay team ranked and, at [age 75], I still enjoy teaching young people to swim today.”
Louis worked hard to bring East Haven swimming to prominence while raising his daughters Alicia and Julie, the latter who swam for him in high school and later captained the women’s swim team at Southern Connecticut State University. He even helped make the town pool a reality. Louis still volunteers as both the aquatic coordinator for the pool and the director of East Haven Aquatics.
“Louis is very passionate, dedicated, hardworking and, if it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have had our own pool,” says former East Haven High School Athletic Director Steve Narracci. “He had a great rapport with both the boys and girls and was an outstanding coach. He pushed the kids to be their best, which included my son Michael, who became an All-State swimmer with Louis’s help. He started so many programs, was very selfless, and everyone respected him.”
To say Louis’s athletes respected him is an understatement. Louis always demanded the best from his swimmers and, in exchange for that, he got the best from them both in the pool and in life.
“Louis is one of my favorite people in the world,” says three-time East Haven All-State swimmer and current Darien YMCA swimming coach Henk Jansen. “I started swimming for coach when I was 10 years old until I graduated in 1993. He is the only person I still refer to as coach when I see him and, out of respect for him, I don’t call myself a coach. I don’t have my swimmers call me coach because he is the only one to me. He got me to perform to the best of my abilities, better than I ever thought I could, and, he didn’t just teach swimming—he taught us lessons in life at the same time. I can’t think of a better person or someone more deserving to be honored in the Hall of Fame.”
As he gets ready for his induction into the East Haven Hall of Fame, Louis appreciates being recognized in a community that features so many giving people who he’s met through the years.
“A lot of people do a lot of good things for East Haven and they don’t get recognized and they should,” says Louis. “It’s great to get nominated and inducted into the Hall of Fame. I guess I helped a lot of people in East Haven and it feels really nice to have people notice my accomplishments. I’m very happy to be recognized and I think a lot of other people deserve to recognized, as well.”