2003 -- H 6447 ======LC03264 ======STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2003 ______

H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING DOMENIC N. "ZIP" RAIOLA ON BEING SELECTED THE LA BELLA SICILIA MAN OF THE YEAR

Introduced By: Representatives Anguilla, Malik, and Gallison

Date Introduced: May 15, 2003

Referred To: House read and passed

1 WHEREAS, The La Bella Sicilia Society has named Domenic N. “Zip” Raiola as its

2 2003 Italian Heritage Award recipient; and

3 WHEREAS, Mr. Raiola, coach of the Mt. Hope High School boys basketball team, is the

4 Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s elder statesman and winningest basketball coach. He has

5 been coaching high school basketball for 50 years and has won more games and championships

6 than any other schoolboy coach in Bristol history; and

7 WHEREAS, A retired schoolteacher, Mr. Raiola began coaching at Colt Memorial High

8 School in 1953 as an assistant under the late Artie Pansa. Named head coach in 1959, Mr. Raiola

9 coached the Colts to the Class C Championship in 1966-1967 and has been part of at least one

10 championship in each of the last six decades, with more than 500 career victories. He has recently

11 coached the Mt. Hope Team to the 2002-2003 Division II State Championship; and

12 WHEREAS, Mr. Raiola served as an assistant under friend and coach Joe Mullaney at

13 Brown University, and as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, Providence College. He scouted

14 for Mullaney during the time Mullaney served as coach of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, and

15 worked at many of Mullaney’s summer basketball camps; and

16 WHEREAS, An outstanding athlete himself, Mr. Raiola is a 1947 graduate of the former

17 Colt Memorial High School who was an All-Class C selection in basketball as a senior, finishing

18 third in the state in scoring. Mr. Raiola also excelled in football and baseball, helping to carry on

19 the legacy of his late brother Pasquale, a star athlete who died while serving in World War II; and 1 WHEREAS, Mr. Raiola taught high school English for 25 years in Bristol and was a

2 longtime advisor of the school’s Green & White Yearbook. He was the Administrative Director

3 of Educational Media and Technology for many years before retiring in 1991 after 40 years of

4 service; and

5 WHEREAS, Mr. Raiola is a 1990 Bristol Athletic Hall of Fame inductee and has been

6 named High School Basketball Coach of the Year on several occasions and has been honored by

7 numerous local and state groups, including the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island Order of Sons of

8 Italy who inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame last year; now, therefore be it

9 RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

10 Providence Plantations hereby congratulates Mr. Domenic N. Raiola on being selected by the La

11 Bella Sicilia Society as their 2003 Italian Heritage Award recipient. We wish him, his wife

12 Lucretia, children and ten grandchildren the very best health and future happiness; and be it

13 further

14 RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he is hereby authorized and directed to

15 transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Domenic N. Raiola.

======LC03264 ======

2