By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — Fordson High School has proposed naming its gymnasium floor to honor coach Guy DelGiudice who has been at his alma mater since 1981.
A nine-person committee was created for the proposal and presented the idea to the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education May 14.
DelGiudice is the varsity boys’ basketball assistant coach and is also the boys’ and girls’ golf coach at FHS.
His coaching career began in 1981 at FHS, and during those 37 years, DelGiudice has coached basketball, tennis for both girls and boys along with girls’ soccer.
In his 52 total seasons coaching, DelGiudice won 245 games as a varsity girls basketball coach, including five league championships, nine district championships and three regional finals appearances.
“He’s coached a little bit of everything,” FHS Assistant Athletic Director Chuck Silver said. “Guy is one of those people, he’s a pure coach with lots of enthusiasm and has a lot of passion for coaching and is such a good person. He’s always willing to help and do anything. He has a passion for coaching, he just loves to coach and loves people.”
DelGiudice graduated from FHS in 1966 where he was the captain of the basketball team, third team all-state and three-year letter winner.
The FHS gym is named after coach John McIntyre who also coached DelGiudice in the 1960s. FHS varsity boys’ basketball coach Osama Abulhassan said that when he was named coach at 25 years old he brought DelGiudice on as an assistant.
“He’s been assisting me since the beginning and we’ve been somewhat successful, winning four district championships in seven years,” Abulhassan said. “He’s really showed me the ropes and taught me a lot about the game. Everything I know.
“Calling him just an assistant almost doesn’t do it justice. He’s really been a co-head coach for the last seven years.”
Abulhassan went on to praise DelGiudice’s passion for coaching.
“Really, without him I don’t think our program would be where it is today,” Abulhassan said. “Absolutely, the caring and passion for the kids and the relationships he develops with the kids on and off the floor. His impact has been immeasurable.”
Plans for the gym are to hang a sign on the gym wall commemorating the naming next to the John McIntyre Gym sign which Silver said would be updated.
The stickers for the court feature DelGiudice’s signature and will be placed on each side of the court facing the stands.
Silver told the board that the $1,100 cost for the sign and stickers would be covered by the Fordson Varsity Alumni Club.
The stickers can be added to the court when FHS floors are stripped and new wax is added during resurfacing in July and a naming ceremony would take place at first home basketball game in December.
“Fordson High School Principal Heyam Alcodray was the catalyst behind this,” Silver said. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time and we never moved forward with it and I’m glad Heyam got the ball rolling on this.”
The board of education said the proposal would be included on the next meeting agenda on June 11 where a vote would take place for the gymnasium naming.
Also during the board meeting, trustees took a moment of silence for former DPS Supt. Brian Whiston who died from cancer on May 7.
“Brian was a champion of public education and a friend to us all,” DPS Supt. Glenn Maleyko said. “He stood for our vision and he has had a tremendous, positive impact on the thousands of students he served in Dearborn as superintendent, Oakland County working with the ISD, Waterford as a school board member, president of the PTA and of course across all of Michigan as state superintendent.”
Trustees wore blue shirts to honor Whiston, who wore blue shirts with no suit jackets frequently during his time as superintendent in the district. A slide show filled with personal photos Maleyko found of Whiston played after he said a few words during the meeting.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)