SPORTS HALL of FAME COACH
Doug Fessenden
Known to one and all as "Fess" or "Fessy", Doug Fessenden showed his versatility in athletics by his involvement on coaching five sports during his tenure at Sidney, 1957-1989. In all 33 of those years, he coached at least one varsity sport annually!
Raised in Candor, Doug was a three year player in football, basketball and baseball before graduating in 1951. Candor won its first league title in baseball with Fess behind the plate, a position also manned by his son Steve at Sidney and his grandson Drew at Maine-Endwell. Doug also was selected to play in a high school all-star baseball event in Cooperstown in his senior year.
Cortland State was the next venue where Fess showed his athletic skills while he earned his BS degree in Health and Physical Education. He played two years of football and basketball and joined the gymnastics team. During the spring of his junior year, Doug did his student teaching under Francis Redmond at Sidney. He also coached baseball under Al Drake.
Upon graduation, Doug's first job was in Governeur, NY in 1955. While a phys. ed. teacher at Governeur, he also became an assistant football coach and added track and bowling to his coaching resume.
The next year meant moving to Sidney full time as a gym teacher in the Masonville and Sidney Center schools - which didn't always have an actual gymnasium! Eventually he moved to the Junior High School, where he taught boys P.E. and "a little 8th grade science".
With the start of the 1956-57 school year "Coach Fessenden" embarked on one he longest coaching journeys of anyone on the history of the district.
Along the way, Fessy was a varsity assistant and/or JV head coach in football; varsity boys track (1957-59) with a league championship in 1959; varsity golf (1960-62); varsity boys basketball (1959-68); varsity baseball (1968-82); and varsity girls basketball (1978-89). One of those basketball seasons in the 1960's actuary saw Doug direct BOTH the varsity and the JV teams, a chore not even considered by today's coaches.
As evidenced by the induction of Kim Jones and Kris Smith, Doug's best era of coaching came with the girls basketball teams of the 1980s. Five Sidney teams in that decade won Susquenango Western Division titles. The 1987 squad, won the overall Susquenango Association crown.
Two Section IV titles were won, in 1983-84 and 1986-87. The former team also won the Central Regional Championship before losing in the State Quarterfinal game in Rochester. The latter team's remarkable success came despite having a roster of only 7 girls.
Five of Doug's Lady Warriors - Shirley Pierce, Kim Jones, Kris Smith, Diane Rowe and Michele Mancini - scored their 1000th career point in a Sidney uniform.
The Daily Star newspaper named him Coach of the Year twice. He was the Press & Sun-Bulletin All Metro Coach in 1987 as well.
Long before soccer came to Sidney, Fess was a soccer referee, a position he kept for 22 years. His request for teams to "play with class" earned him instant respect around the soccer fields of Section IV.
For several summers Doug was a Driver's Education instructor. Other than that job his only other vocations has been painting - as in interior and exterior house painting. Originally a way to make money during the summer hiatus, it became his "real job" after retiring from teaching in 1989.
This biography would not be complete without mentioning his camp in Candor, where he loves to hunt and fish. Candor is also where he holds a "Fessy Golf Open" every August, followed by cards and a cookout at the camp. And poker? Well that could also be considered a passion.
But the real passion for Doug is his family. He and Dottie have been married for 51 years. Doug and Dot are the parents of four children - Susan, Stephen, Pamela and Jill. They are also proud of their seven grandchildren - Meghan, Brittney, Andrew, Valene, Tyler, Kelly and Rachel.