The winningest two-sport, two-level coach in North Shore history, Ken Perrone, turned 90 years old last summer. It marked a milestone that made those of us who were fortunate enough to cover his teams recognize our delicate aging process as well.
Perrone is filled with gratitude for the athletes, their families and the support staff that made his illustrious career coaching Salem High football and Salem State baseball possible.
His 22-year tenure as Witches’ head football coach produced a 157-64-7 overall record, tying him with the legendary Bill Broderick for most wins in Salem football history.
Guiding the Salem State varsity baseball team for 30 years, Perrone posted a 674-394-5 record, numbers which most likely will never be duplicated.
Before arriving on the North Shore in 1973, Perrone coached in Maine. The Brewer High Witches football program went 45-13 under Perrone, and John Bapst HS football went 47-6. Spectacular records, to say the least.
Both Maine schools boasted two undefeated state champion teams each. The 1970 Brewer team was ranked No. 1 in their enrollment level in Maine, New England and the East and fifth in the country. ESPN ranked the 1970 squad the greatest Maine high school football team ever.
“You can describe my life rather simply,” said Perrone, who lives in the same Summer Street home near the St. John’s Prep campus in Danvers he bought more than a half-century ago. “God always put me in the right place at the right time.”
Example No. 1: “I’d just graduated college (from the University of Maine),” he said, “and gotten some basic coaching experience as an assistant football coach and freshman baseball coach at UMaine. When the John Bapst football job opened; a job nobody wanted, I took it and got off to a promising start in my coaching career. I knocked on doors all over town to get more boys interested in playing. Brewer turned into a good move, too.”
Example 2: “Ron Plante (Salem School Committee member, 1966-74) was visiting John Carr, the former Salem superintendent of schools, at the time on the same job in Olde Town, Maine,” Perrone recalled. “But he made a point to visit me in my home before returning to Salem. We had a nice chat, and next thing you know I was invited to visit Salem.”
Memorable teams, victories
Perrone had the coaching bug at a young age. He coached youth basketball when he was 15.
“I thought I would be a basketball coach,” he recalled. “But once I got to coach the Lawrence High (in Fairfield, Maine) freshman football team, I was football all the way.”
Perrone’s first gridiron squad at Lawrence went 7-1. “We used all kinds of crazy formations and they often worked,” he recalled.
Perrone’s Salem High tenure was historic. He coached five undefeated teams and won five Northeastern Conference titles.
His two biggest wins — of many — leading the Witches?
“My second year at Salem vs. Gloucester at Bertram Field,” he responded without hesitation of the 1974 all-time North Shore classic. “I recall the game like it was yesterday. We were both 8-0. Two great football towns. Huge buildup. Bertram Field was packed, maybe 12,000 jammed in. The biggest crowd I’ve ever seen. It was a toss-up game, but Gloucester had that fabulous pass-receiver combination of Jay Pallazola at quarterback and Mike Cusamano at flanker.
“Gloucester went ahead late in the game, 12-7, when Pallazola ran for maybe 35 yards and a touchdown. Thankfully we had a fair amount of time on the clock when we started our drive after that on the 20. Billy Pinto quarterbacked the drive, Tim Mroz had some good gains, and Steve Pinto made a catch or two moving down the field.
“But it came down to one last play with 13 seconds left,” he continued. “Billy looked for his brother, but passed to Alan Larrabee (no relation to this author) in the end zone. We win, 13-12.”
Perrone’s other ‘most memorable’ Salem High game he coached was his second-to-last one in 1994.
“We had a bunch of memorable Beverly-Salem games, like in 1979 and ’81 when kicker Kevin Keon beat Beverly twice with his toe, 21-20, then 22-21 with a last-minute field goal.
“The final Beverly-Salem game for me was in ’94, the year of the (Salem) teachers strike. “We led, 13-10, with under two minutes left when Jim Fultz ran for a long touchdown for Beverly. We responded when quarterback Sean Stellato completed a long pass to Manny DePena to the Beverly 6-yard line. Elvin Rodriguez then ran it in with seconds remaining and we won, 17-13.”
Savoring every day
Perrone, whose team went on to the Super Bowl against Whitman-Hanson at Boston University’s Nickerson Field (a 13-0 loss), was 59 at the time and retired as a physical education teacher in the Salem school system.
He had gradually transitioned into the Salem State baseball coaching post five years earlier. He led the Vikings for another 25 years with outstanding success, winning more games than any coach in any sport there.
He was 78 when he stepped out of the Vikings dugout for the last time.
“Great times at Salem State as well,” Perrone made clear. “Two knee operations made the decision easier.”
Perrone savored every win by his Salem High and Salem State teams. Even better, he savored every day he had the blessing of coaching either group of players.
His two greatest honors as a teacher/coach in Maine and Salem?
“No. 1,” Perrone replied, “was when the Salem Witches played at the Brewer Witches (in September 2024) and they honored me by naming the new Brewer football field press box the Ken Perrone Press Box. That day connected me to the two schools like never before.”
His second most important honor occurred when current Salem High football coach Matt Bouchard named the Iron Witch Award after his former coach, Perrone. The award is given annually to Salem players who do not miss even a single day of practice during the long football season.
The other highest honor was even more personal, Perrone — a member of nine Halls of Fame in Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts — said.
“The opportunity to coach so many wonderful young men and have relationships with their families was the greatest gift of all, even beyond all the victories on my record,” he revealed in an emotional tone. “Such a privilege.”
It may be forgotten that Perrone also coached the North Shore Lady Spirit professional women’s baseball team for five seasons. In the national championship tournament the Spirit won five games and lost only to Chicago, 1-0, in extra innings, finishing second in the country. In following years the Spirit swept the Canadian, Australian and Dominican Republic teams in a five-game series.
Perrone has been in his Danvers home for 54 years, in retirement gardening, golfing, playing bocci and hitting the gym when time allows.
“Keep active and stay around people,” Perrone advises. “Keep busy and it will pay off.”