Steve Christy enjoyed a storied coaching career, including three decades in Monroe, where he taught children the game, guiding Monroe Lions’ youth football teams to years of dominance; and served as offensive coordinator for the Masuk Panthers, before his journey eventually brought him back as Masuk’s head coach.
Christy, who retired at the end of last season, went out on top when the Panthers pulled off a dramatic upset over Windsor in the 2024 CIAC Class MM Football Championship game at Central Connecticut State University’s Arute Field on Dec. 13.
During a fundraiser for the players’ championship rings, held at Whitney Farms Golf Club Friday night, Christy told guests how his longtime assistant coach, Eric Giordano, mentioned driving through Ansonia, where he saw a sign that said, “Welcome to Title Town: Ansonia.”
“Damn, I want something like that,” Christy said from behind the podium. “I lose sleep over it.”
He said the Masuk Football State Champions sign on Monroe Turnpike was among the things that spurred his decision to move to town with his family years ago.
“I drove by that sign and I would be like, ‘oh my God, I want to be part of that,'” Christy recalled. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I’d have something to do with putting 2024 on there. I get chills.”
But now the old sign is bent. Christy notes how it displays “1998” and “2008” in recognition of those past championship teams, while 2010 was never added and the Panthers just brought home a new title in 2024.
The coach said he wants the town to repair and update the sign. “Bend it back,” a former player called out from his table.
“I’m just hoping for the rest of my life I can drive up this street, I can see that sign and think, ‘yeah, I had something to do with that,'” Christy said.
Masuk alumni were invited to Friday’s fundraiser, which included a dinner, bar and raffle for Masuk 2024 State Champion caps and other football memorabilia.
The event’s table sponsors were Peck Electrical Contracting Services, Perimenis Dental Group, BTX Global Logistics, the First Selectman Rooney Foundation, and the Zerella-Christy Team of William Raveis. Larry Cass of Glen Ro Spirit Shoppe also showed his support.
Jerry Peck, a Monroe native, owns Peck Electrical, a successful family business in town. Peck played on Masuk’s 2008 and 2010 state championship teams and served as an assistant coach during last season’s title run.
“When we all won, it was such an incredible feeling,” Peck said, “and to be able to provide these kids with rings and say, ‘hey guys, you did a great job. Rings are on your supporters,’ I don’t think there’s a better way to say, ‘we’re proud of you’ as a group of alumni in the town than that.”
Peck said he was a troubled teen growing up.
“I fully accredit Masuk football with turning me into the man I am today,” he said. “Football totally turned my life around. It kind of set me on a path. As Coach Christy says, ‘you choose your own destiny.'”
Among the guests were First Selectman Terry Rooney, members of Masuk’s 1998, 2008 and 2010 championship teams, current and former coaches.
Rooney reflected on Masuk’s winning tradition. “It’s a small town, but whatever it is, I just think it’s grit in this town — I think it’s just the drive for success,” he said. “It’s just in our blood. I’m just proud to be part of it.”
A storybook season
Christy’s two sons, Brian and Scott, who both had played for him on the Monroe Lions, before going on to have successful careers on the gridiron at Masuk attended the Friday’s dinner.
Scott played for legendary Masuk Coach John Murphy. In Scott’s four seasons, the Panthers only had five losses — all to Bunnell High School, including two in state championship games. The last loss was a 22-14 heartbreaker.
Scott who served, unofficially, as an assistant coach on his father’s staff last season, will finally get a state championship ring.
“After the game ended I was so happy and proud,” he said of the Panthers’ win over Windsor.
Murphy had told his players, “when you win a championship, you don’t know how to describe it.” Now, Scott said he knows what his former coach meant.
“The passing of my mother and what he went through last year …” Scott said of losing his mother, Cathy, two years ago and of his father’s season long suspension in 2023, while the school board investigated the culture of the football program. “It was a storybook ending. It was a fairytale. You look into the man’s life, turn it over nine months and find nothing.”
Scott said Christy stepped back in to coach the team last year without missing a beat. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever seen,” Scott said of his father.
Scott said he believes his father’s knack for getting the best out of his players is his biggest strength as a coach.
“He’ll rip into a kid and love him up moments later,” Scott said, explaining that Christy can be tough on a player when he’s teaching a life lesson.
Scott is launching a podcast with his father called, “The Coach’s Corner.” Every episode will feature a high school head coach as a guest. Scott said the “godfathers of coaching” will share inside stories of their experiences in the game.
Christy calls game
Prior to coaching football in Monroe, Christy was an assistant at Stratford, then Harding, which made it to the States two seasons.
Christy said he coached the players on his last Masuk team since they were in sixth grade.
“It meant the world. It was amazing,” he said of winning the title together. “I went out on my terms and I wish the next guy all the best. I’m a Masuk Panther through and through. My two boys went through the program.”
Of the last players he coached, Christy said, “they bought in and when you buy in, there’s a nice prize at the end — and that enabled us to reach the goal: the state championship. We took the first drive 10 plays, 65 yards and, ultimately, the defense was unwavering and gutty. They were seniors and they figured you out.”
“They’re my sons of football and I’ll be forever grateful to them,” Christy added. “It’s like the game of basketball. We hit a three and I called game.”
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