On Sunday January 29th, a memorial service was held in the RHS gym to honor Mr. Cecil Layman, the very first principal we ever had, who served from the time the school opened in 1962 until his retirement in 1988. He passed away earlier this week at the age of 94 and many former students and teachers turned out for the event.
Of particular interest to football fans, even including some of those from other schools, was the appearance from former football coach Tony Demacio. He was one of the first speakers today and had some fond memories of being hired for the job as well as his working relationship with Mr. Layman.
Although the much more recent Coach Casto was the longest-tenured and by far most successful coach at Riverheads, Coach Demacio was the one to first develop a winning program and take us into regional playoff action. I believe his years of service were from 1972 to 1983. Prior to his arrival, we had never even sniffed at any playoff appearances, but by his third or fourth season, he had developed some "pride" in the program and led us to back-to-back regional games in 1975 and 1976.
The highlight of the 1975 season was the infamous Fog Bowl with Wilson, a 7-7 tie that was still good enough to earn us our first-ever regular-season title. In 1976, we improved upon that with our first-ever 10-0 regular season. We lost in the first round of the regionals each of those years but it was enough to put the winning taste in the minds of the community and it was not too many more years before Coach Casto came along and made playoff football an annual thing for the Big Red.
I realize that many of the readers on here are too young to remember those times or would have no particular interest in this, but I thought quite a few folks would remember him, perhaps some Parry McCluer fans in particular, since we had some epic battles with them during that time period.
When Coach Demacio left Riverheads, he eventually became a pro baseball scout, a career he enjoyed for over 25 years. I did not get the chance to ask him today what he is currently doing, so it is entirely possible that he is still involved in sports to some degree.
Of particular interest to football fans, even including some of those from other schools, was the appearance from former football coach Tony Demacio. He was one of the first speakers today and had some fond memories of being hired for the job as well as his working relationship with Mr. Layman.
Although the much more recent Coach Casto was the longest-tenured and by far most successful coach at Riverheads, Coach Demacio was the one to first develop a winning program and take us into regional playoff action. I believe his years of service were from 1972 to 1983. Prior to his arrival, we had never even sniffed at any playoff appearances, but by his third or fourth season, he had developed some "pride" in the program and led us to back-to-back regional games in 1975 and 1976.
The highlight of the 1975 season was the infamous Fog Bowl with Wilson, a 7-7 tie that was still good enough to earn us our first-ever regular-season title. In 1976, we improved upon that with our first-ever 10-0 regular season. We lost in the first round of the regionals each of those years but it was enough to put the winning taste in the minds of the community and it was not too many more years before Coach Casto came along and made playoff football an annual thing for the Big Red.
I realize that many of the readers on here are too young to remember those times or would have no particular interest in this, but I thought quite a few folks would remember him, perhaps some Parry McCluer fans in particular, since we had some epic battles with them during that time period.
When Coach Demacio left Riverheads, he eventually became a pro baseball scout, a career he enjoyed for over 25 years. I did not get the chance to ask him today what he is currently doing, so it is entirely possible that he is still involved in sports to some degree.
