The second of two Distinguished Letter winners in thisyear’s Hall of Fame Class. Cacciola was a three-year letterwinner for the football team as an interior lineman and served as aco-captain during his senior season where the Cadets opened theseason winning three of their first four games, including an 8-0win over rival Coast Guard in the Little Navy-Army Game. The CoastGuard was coached by NFL Hall of Famer Otto Graham of the ClevelandBrowns.
“In my senior season, I thought we had one of the bestfirst teams in New England,” Cacciola said. “We hadguys like Bobby Mirabelle, John Luzzi, Robert Lincoln and BrendanCleary, however, we had a ton of injuries during the year and wenever got a chance to really play together the wholeseason.”
Cacciola was also part of the 1960 squad that orchestrated oneof the most historic upsets in Norwich football history by beatingMiddlebury 26-0 after they came in undefeated and ranked No. 1 inNew England.
“I had a great experience at Norwich and I think what setsit apart is the balance you get at Norwich as opposed to some otherschools,” Cacciola said. Norwich was good to me and I enjoyedmy time there considerably.”
Following Norwich, he served two and a half years of active dutyand then almost 30 years in the US Army Reserves before finallyretiring in Sept. 1993 as a full colonel. His military decorationsinclude National Defense Service Medial (NDSM), Armed ForcesReserve Medal (AFRM), Army Commendation Medal with Oak LeafClusters (ARCAM OLC), Army Services Medal, the Army Overseas Medal,the Army Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.
While in the Reserves, Cacciola served as a Senior VicePresident of Liberty Bank in Middletown, Conn. from 1979-1992. Heholds graduate degrees from Connecticut School of FinanceManagement, Graduate School of Savings and Banking at BrownUniversity and Management Development Program at FairfieldUniversity after getting a bachelor’s from Norwich inEnglish.
Phil lives with his wife Marie in Middletown, Conn. and has twodaughters, Susan and Nancy Cacciola-Tarantino.
