Former Hall of Fame player and coach was one of Wakefield’s all-time greats
BOB BISACRE, JR., a former WMHS head football coach, instructs two of his captains during the 1975 football season. Bisacre passed away on Wednesday, March 1 at the age of 79. (Item File Photo)
Published in the March 3, 2017 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Former Wakefield High football player, former teacher and coach, Bob Bisacre, Jr., passed away on March 1 leaving a big loss in the Warrior sports community.
Bisacre was 79 years old.
Bisacre was a 1956 graduate of Wakefield High and is thought to be one of the most talented Warrior football player of the 1950’s and one of the finest Wakefield football players ever to play the game.
Bisacre was a four-year varsity football player and captain his senior year in 1955. He played both offense and defense and was outstanding at both. Out of the fullback position he ran for 1,000 yards his senior year, averaging seven yards per carry while scoring nine touchdowns for 56 points in 1955 and accumulating 114 career points.
Winchester’s Joe Bellino was picked by the Boston Globe as one of the top 10 area athletes of the century and was the Globe’s Class A All-Scholastic in 1955. In the game of the decade, undefeated Wakefield lost to Bellino’s Sachems at Walton Field, 31-25. Bellino scored three touchdowns, Bisacre two. Bisacre was runner-up to Bellino as Class A All-Scholastic and was an All-Scholastic for the Boston Post newspaper that year.
Bob’s football jersey is the only retired jersey hanging in the Charbonneau Field House.
Following his graduation from Wakefield High, Bob Bisacre received a full scholarship to Rose Bowl Champion Michigan State and later transferred to Wyoming University and was the first local athlete to appear on television in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, starting as a linebacker.
He also played in the North-South game that year and was captain of the Wyoming University football team his senior year that went 6-1-2 under the famous coach Bob Devaney. He earned three varsity letters in 1959, 1960, and 1961 and was the leading ground gainer for kickoff returns in 1961 averaging 17.8 yards per carry.
After college he became a professional football player and played four years in the Canadian Football league. Bob Bisacre was also a former physical education teacher at Wakefield High School and coach for seven years of the Warrior football team.
Bisacre taught physical education at Wakefield High School for over four decades and was an assistant football coach beginning in 1967 and then later head coach of the Warrior football team from 1972-1978. Bisacre posted a record of 27-38-3 during that time with two winning seasons.
After being a head coach football coach, Bisacre was an assistant football coach during the 1980s and 1990s for Wakefield, Saugus, and Marblehead.
The former Warrior great also coached JV baseball and boys’ gymnastics at WMHS. Bisacre was the JV baseball head coach for 19 years as he took over the JV post on a volunteer basis in 1969 and was named the permanent coach in 1970. He also coached boys’ gymnastics, but stepped down in 1974 to have a break during the fall and spring seasons.
He was elected into the Wakefield High School Athletic Hall of Fame as member of the seventh group of inductees on Nov. 6, 1999.
In addition to his many years at Wakefield Memorial High, Bob was very active in supporting the town to include serving on the Wakefield High School Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and as the director of the American Civic Center for 10 years.
Bob Bisacre is survived by his sons, Michael Bisacre and Brian Bisacre, and their wives, Paula and Cyndi. He is also survived by eight grandchildren: Jennifer, Amanda, David, Alyson, Kaitlyn, Cameron, Kevin, and Craig, and two step grandchildren, Tyler and Trevor.
He also the brother of David, Damon, and Donna Johnson.
He was preceded in death by his wife Ethel, to whom he was married for 57 years; his daughter Lee Ann, son-in-law Barry, daughter-in-law Pamela, and sister Charlotte O’Flannigan.
