MILLBURN, NJ — One of the greatest high school football coaching staffs, not only in New Jersey, but in the entire country, was located right here in Union County.
At Union High School. Right here in Union.
A member of that coaching staff, which exactly 30 years ago captured a third consecutive North 2, Group 4 sectional state championship, was Carmen Guarino.
A most likable fellow with that classic coach “go get them” manner about himself, Guarino was a valuable member of head coach Lou Rettino’s staff at a time when the Union Farmers dominated high school football in these parts.
Guarino, who grew up in East Orange and then moved to Kenilworth at age 6, became a head coach for the first time in 2000, when he was hired at nearby Millburn to help improve the fortunes of the Millers. Wins or even the slightest bit of success was not as commonplace at Millburn as they were at Union, but Guarino more than welcomed the challenge.
A 1972 graduate of David Brearley Regional High School in Kenilworth and a health and physical education teacher for more than 40 years in the Union and Millburn school districts, Guarino’s legacy lives on now as it is celebrated every year at Millburn High School on the day after Thanksgiving.
The fourth annual “The Carmen Guarino Classic” will be at Millburn High School, 462 Millburn Ave., behind the parking lot, on Friday, Nov. 24, which is an annual post-Thanksgiving flag football tournament. It is scheduled to commence at 10 a.m. and run until 2 p.m.
What to bring: appropriate athletic attire, weather considerate, and a lawn chair during downtime.
Who can come: Anyone, but only those who have registered in advance can participate.
More information on how to register can be found at the website guarinoclassic.com.
The event pays tribute to the enduring legacy of Guarino, who died at the age of 64 on June 13, 2019. Guarino would have turned 69 on Nov. 1 of this year.
The inaugural event drew more than 150 participants and raised in excess of $10,000 for pancreatic cancer research. How to donate is listed at the guarinoclassic.com website.
The flag football tournament is a competition that brings together people of all ages.
The event includes referees, raffle prizes and refreshments available for purchase.
Guarino, a longtime gym teacher at Kawameeh Middle School in Union, guided Millburn to a winning season in just his third year at the helm in 2002, which was the program’s first in 29 years. Guarino also led the Millers to their first-ever state playoff berth in 2006. Millburn has only made the playoffs three times in its history and does not have a playoff win.
At Union, he was on a coaching staff that also included Gary Zakovic and John Quinn. Zakovic went on to become the head coach at Dover High School and guided the Tigers to the 1996 North 2, Group 2 state championship. Zakovic then came back to Union as head coach.
Quinn went on to become the head coach at Roxbury and New Brunswick high schools and Frank J. Cicarell Academy, Elizabeth, leading all three to state championships.
The height of the program was when Guarino was on Rettino’s staff in the early 1990s. Union three-peated as the North 2, Group 4 state champion in 1991, 1992 and 1993, beating Randolph High School all three years in the championship game.
Union went 11-0 in 1991 and came back in the second half to beat Randolph 24-14 at home to end Randolph’s then state record 59-game (58-0-1) unbeaten streak. Union trailed 14-0 at the half and then outscored Randolph 24-0 in the final two quarters.
The year before, in the 1990 North 2, Group 4 semifinals at Union, Randolph defeated Union 6-0 in the first-ever meeting between the state powers.
Union went 11-0 again in 1992 and again at Union’s Cooke Memorial Field defeated Randolph for the championship, this time winning 21-7.
Union went 10-1 in 1993, losing only at home to Irvington High School, 26-21, in its second game of the year, and this time won at Randolph for the title. Down 13-6 at the half and then 16-6 in the third quarter at Randolph’s field, Union went on to score the game’s final two touchdowns for a come-from-behind 19-16 triumph. That was the first time Randolph lost at home in eight years.
Guarino was an integral part of all of those Union football championships.
Union has won only one state championship since, when the Farmers captured the North 2, Group 5 crown in 2019.
Guarino also coached track and field, wrestling and bowling. Other coaching stops included East Side High School in Newark, as well as Manville, Bridgewater-Raritan and Livingston high schools.
Guarino’s influence on his peers, players, coaches and students will continue to carry his legacy on forever.
Photo Courtesy of Millburn Athletics