At left, former Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education member Joe DiMaio is ready to hand out a diploma at a Jamestown High School Graduation. In back is Paul Abbott, current board president. Submitted photo

Joe DiMaio proudly served the Jamestown Public Schools District for 45 years.

And on Tuesday JPS Board of Education members remembered the former member and longtime district teacher and coach.

DiMaio, 78, passed away Monday, Nov. 17.

Board members also wore the Jamestown High School colors, red and green, in his honor.

Board President Paul Abbott said that he first met DiMaio at Jamestown High School when Abbott was a student, and later served with DiMaio on the school board.

“The first time I got to know ‘Coach’ was in high school,” Abbott said. “I remember how he treated everyone with respect and wanted to make football fun for us. He had a genuine love of the sport and the way he treated all of us will always be remembered. Even after we graduated, if you saw ‘Coach’ DiMaio you were always greeted with a smile and a pat on the back.”

Abbott recalled while on the board, he had a difficult time not addressing DiMaio as “Coach.”

“I still had a hard time not calling him ‘Coach’ when I’d see him, even when we were colleagues on the board together because that was our foundation,” Abbott said.

Abbott added that he had been in contact with one of DiMaio’s former players, and that player said he would not be who he is today without the guidance of DiMaio.

“I think that is a story that could be told by hundreds of people, and not just football players. Joe worked tirelessly as a board member. … And helped raise many generations of young men in that capacity,” Abbott said.

When Abbott was thinking about running for a school board seat, it was DiMaio, Abbott added, who approached Abbott about the duties of a school board member.

“He was a beacon of light on this board. He was someone who took me under his wing,” Abbott noted.

Board Member Christine Schnars echoed Abbott’s thoughts.

“Joe was a wonderful board member and a terrific board president. … I think that we have lost someone that was very special. But what we all need to remember is everything that he added to this district, and we need to carry on the things that he added to this district because he was a wonderful, caring individual who put all of our kids first,” Schnars said.

When Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker began his tenure in the district, he said DiMaio was one of the first people he met.

“His impact on students, parents and the community has been both powerful and meaningful,” Whitaker said. “I last spoke with him just last week as he continued his commitment to kids by participating in a Veterans Day event at Jefferson Middle School. Joe was a Jamestown institution and his efforts for our community, our school district, and our kids will not be forgotten.”

A 1965 graduate of JHS, DiMaio served as a health teacher in the Jamestown Public Schools system from 1972 until his retirement from JHS in 2003. He served as an assistant football coach at then-Lincoln Junior High School from 1976 to 1979 and served as the head football coach from 1979 to 1981. In 1981, he joined the varsity football program at JHS as an assistant coach, serving in that capacity until 2003. In that time, he helped lead the program to a state title appearance in 1993 and three state championships in 1994, 1995, and 2000.

Following his retirement, DiMaio was elected to the board of education in 2004, spending 12 years as a board of education member and serving as the board’s president for four of those years. As a board member, he played an active role in the New York State School Boards Association. His passionate advocacy in the fight for equitable funding for small city school districts, including Jamestown, helped to put the lawsuit in the state and national spotlight, leading him to serve on the Board of Directors of New York State Association of Small City School Districts, including one year as president of the organization.

DiMaio was honored in 2016 with NYSSBA’s prestigious Everett Dyer Award for Distinguished School Board Service and honored in 2015 by the Western New York Educational Service Council with an Award of Excellence for Board of Education Member. A beloved member of the school community, he was a regular presence at JHS football games and athletic events and regularly visited classrooms to share his experience and memories from his service in the Vietnam War. In 2019, his portrait was installed on the district’s “Distinguished Contributor” wall in the Kathman Administration Building.

The board also acknowledged Leanna Herrera, 4, who died after she was struck by a Panama Central School bus making an out-of-district drop-off Monday morning outside Fletcher Elementary School.

The area around the school was closed while parents were dropping off their children Monday morning while the Jamestown Police Department investigated the accident. The New York State Police were also on the scene. Jamestown police said Tuesday that upon completion of the preliminary investigation, there are no charges at this time for the operator of the school bus. A memorial was put up in front of Fletcher Elementary for the child later on Monday, and a Go Fund Me has been started for the family. The Go Fund Me can be found at gofund.me/276a5c798.