The career arc of Daniel Alvino, Sr. was forged on a strong Central Maine upbringing, an outstanding college athletic record at a major university and a return to his home state to enjoy a long and successful tenure as a coach and administrator.
Danny Alvino was born in Livermore Falls, Maine in 1909 and graduated from Livermore Falls High School in 1928 where he starred in football, baseball, basketball and track.
After a post-graduate year at Hebron Academy, Alvino entered Fordham University on a baseball scholarship. He earned letters in both baseball and football and his exploits on the diamond caught the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Drafted by the Dodgers following his graduation in 1933, Alvino played several years in that organization, including a stop at Tupper Lake, New York where he was a teammate of Chuck “The Rifleman” Connors.
When his professional playing days came to an end, Alvino returned to Maine and embarked on a lengthy and successful coaching career. In 1938 he was hired by the Winslow High School to coach baseball, football and basketball. Following up with a 3-sport coaching stint at Gardiner High School, Alvino won state championships in all of those sports. After coaching stops in Montpelier, Vermont and Quincy, Massachusetts, where his teams also attained championship status, he made a final return to Maine and accepted a coaching position at Sanford High School.
While at Sanford, Alvino was a founder of that town’s first Little League organization and was also instrumental in starting or strengthening Little Leagues in Livermore Falls, Jay, Wilton and Farmington.
Alvino continued to be an active ballplayer during his coaching career. He was a prodigious hitter and outfielder during the 1940’s for the semi-pro International Paper Company team in Livermore Falls and Bath Iron Works. In the 1950’s he was a player-manager for Goodall-Sanford, a very competitive semi-pro club.
In 1956, Alvino moved from the coaching ranks into administration and served 13 years as principal of Jay, Livermore Falls, and Biddeford High Schools in Maine, Canton (Massachusetts) High School and headmaster of Newark (New Jersey) Academy.
Alvino died of a brain tumor in 1969 at the age of 60. He was married to the late Anita DiBona Alvino of Quincy, Massachusetts. He is survived by his daughter Betty Ann Porcaro of Waltham, Massachusetts and his son Daniel Alvino, Jr. of Westerly, Rhode Island.
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