University of Massachusets Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1997
Vic Fusia was the head coach from 1961 through 1970 and led UMass to five Yankee Conference championships.
Fusia's Redmen had their top season in 1964, when he guided them to their first-ever postseason appearance, the 1964 Tangerine Bowl, where UMass lost a heartbreaker to East Carolina 14-13.
Fusia compiled a 59-32-2 record as head coach and ranked as the winningest coach in UMass history, for nearly five decades before Mark Whipple surpassed the wins mark in 2017. Fusia also had an incredible 41-7-1 mark in Yankee Conference games, with his .854 winning percentage in league games ranking as the second-best mark in conference history.
Fusia produced some of the most outstanding players ever at UMass, including NFL stars Greg Landry and Milt Morin. He also directed the stingiest defense in UMass history in 1963, when Fusia's troops allowed only one touchdown the entire season and a total of only 12 points in nine games.
Fusia's teams were always competitive, and nothing illustrates that better than this amazing fact -- in 10 seasons at the helm at UMass and over 40 Yankee Conference games, only once did one of his teams lose a conference game by more than seven points.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Fusia passed away in 1991.
He was inducted into the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
