Coach Lou Giani Plaque Dedication on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Lou Giani stands alone as New York State’s all-time greatest high school wrestling coach. His unparalleled career as Huntington High School’s mat mentor landed him in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he was enshrined as a Distinguished Member, one of only a handful of American high school coaches to be so honored.

Louis D. Giani’s name is already affixed atop the Huntington High School gym, which was named after the Blue Devil great more than 20 years ago. But until now, there was no dedication plaque at the facility. That will change on Saturday morning (May 4) at 10 a.m. when a ceremony will be held in Lou Giani Gym and a large bronze plaque and adjacent framed biographical profile of the mat legend will be unveiled in the gym lobby.

The community is invited to attend Saturday’s 10 a.m. ceremony in the school gym. Short remarks will be offered by several of Mr. Giani’s coaching colleagues, former wrestlers, friends and family members after which the bronze plaque struck by United States Bronze and funded by the Huntington Booster Club will be unveiled. A gorgeous framed profile of Mr. Giani was donated by Huntington School Board President Xavier Palacios.

Mr. Giani was Huntington’s first Suffolk champion when he won the 141 lb. county title in February 1953. He went on captured the 1959 Pan Am Games gold medal and represented the United States in freestyle wrestling at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Lou Giani’s love affair with wrestling began as a junior at Robert L. Simpson High School as Huntington High School was then known. On the horsehair filled mats in a dusty old practice room in the building’s basement, the sport took hold in the teenager’s life, propelling him to the 1960 Olympics and a National Wrestling Hall of Fame coaching career.

Mr. Giani’s interest in wrestling and Huntington, his alma mater, never waned nor did his belief in the value of sports and the benefits of working hard and striving to attain a worthwhile goal. The coach’s own work ethic was second to none.

The first ever county wrestling champion from Huntington High School, Mr. Giani won the 141 lb. Suffolk mat championship before graduating in June 1953. He went on to work for the Grumman Aircraft Company and competed for the New York Athletic Club, developing into a world class athlete. He placed in the top four at the 1956 US Olympic qualifying tournament. A Pan Am Games gold medal followed in 1959 along with multiple national YMCA championships.

Mr. Giani represented the United States on the 1960 Olympic team in freestyle wrestling and was 2-1 before a mastoid infection ended his dreams of a medal. He later turned his attention to coaching, first at Eastern Military Academy and then at Huntington High School, where he developed a nationally ranked program.

After transitioning to a career as a teacher and coach, he obtained a bachelor’s degree at C.W. Post College and a master’s degree at Adelphi University.

Mr. Giani and his wife, Rosemarie sent three children through Huntington UFSD, including Lou Jr., who was the Blue Devils’ first state wrestling champion and later a coach, Joseph, who was the school’s first NCAA wrestling champion and who later served as Huntington’s director of athletics and assistant superintendent for personnel and Rosemarie, who kept the wrestling team’s scorebook and helped direct tournaments for decades.

Mr. Giani’s teaching career in Huntington followed two decades at Grumman, where he rose to the position of group leader and worked on the lunar escape module (LEM) project that allowed man to travel from the Apollo spaceship to the moon and back to the capsule for the return trip to Earth.

Desire, Discipline, Determination – these three words summarize the philosophy that carried Mr. Giani to a lifetime of achievement as both a wrestler and coach.

In 2003, the district announced the naming of the high school gym in honor of Mr. Giani, who was a master at arranging his wrestling line-up to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents.

The coach’s system of drilling was revolutionary and helped reinforce key offensive and defensive moves from every position. Every practice included a set of rotating “reaction drills” that reduced wrestling to reflect movements and led to decades of individual and team championships. Twice Mr. Giani’s teams rode winning streaks of more than 100 dual meets.

Mr. Giani’s coaching accomplishments include:

A lifetime coaching mark in 40 seasons of 436-36-1.

A league dual meet coaching mark of 231-15

A record of 23 state champs and 49 all-state wrestlers.

28 undefeated league seasons and 20 undefeated seasons overall.

Nine Suffolk County team championships.

61 individual Suffolk County champions.

Nine of his teams won New York State championships. (Six state tournament – five public, one private - and three first place state poll rankings.)

63 individual state tournament qualifiers.

Member, National Wrestling Hall of Fame

Member, New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame

Member, New York State Wrestling Hall of Fame.

On three separate occasions Giani was chosen as the National High School Wrestling Coach of the Year.

Mr. Giani passed away on January 19, 2021, but he will always be remembered by his wrestlers, colleagues and the Huntington UFSD community.