Amo Bessone

Amos "Betts" Bessone (November 22, 1916 – January 9, 2010) was a collegiate ice hockey player and head coach.

Bessone was born in Sagamore, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and raised in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where he learned to play hockey.

Bessone was graduated from Kents Hill in 1939.

After prep school, he played college hockey from 1940 to 1943 at the University of Illinois under legendary coach Vic Heyliger.

He was team captain his senior season of 1942–43.

In addition to hockey, Bessone earned letters in baseball and basketball.

Following Illinois, Bessone played minor league hockey in the AHL for the Providence Reds.

He made his professional debut with the Reds on March 16, 1943, in the first game of the opening round of the AHL playoffs against the Cleveland Barons.

His career in the AHL was cut short by serving in World War II.

Bessone also played for his hometown Springfield minor league baseball team of the Eastern League.

Bessone was head ice hockey coach for Westfield High School for three seasons following his playing career.

Bessone got his first collegiate head coaching job on September 13, 1948, when he was hired by Michigan College of Mines and Technology (now Michigan Technological University).

He coached at Michigan Tech for three seasons compiling a record of 20–31–2.

Following the 1951 season, Bessone accepted the head coaching position at Michigan State University after Harold Paulsen resigned.

Bessone would remain at MSU for the next 28 years.

When Bessone arrived at Michigan State, the ice hockey program was just beginning its third season and its youth was evident with a 6–25 record over two seasons.

The Spartans struggled with six losing seasons before Bessone turned things around in his seventh season as coach.

In 1957–58, Michigan State enjoyed its first winning season.

The following season, Bessone guided MSU to a Big Ten championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

The Spartans lost the 1959 national championship game in overtime to North Dakota.

Following 1959, Michigan State became a charter member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), which was a reincarnation of the loosely affiliated Midwest Collegiate Hockey League and Western Intercollegiate Hockey League that disbanded following the 1957–58 season.

Bessone and MSU struggled during the first five seasons of the WCHA.

Again, Bessone turned things around with a winning season in 1964–65.

The following season, Bessone coached Michigan State to an improbable NCAA national championship.

MSU began the 1965–66 season 4–10, but rebounded winning 12 of their last 15 games including both WCHA playoff games which earned MSU a spot in the NCAA tournament.

In the national semifinals, Bessone squeaked out a 2–1 victory over highly favored Boston University.

In the national championship game, Bessone and the Spartans faced Len Ceglarski's Clarkson team that owned the national-best record of 24–2.

Michigan State shocked Clarkson with a dominant 6–1 victory sealing MSU's first national championship.

As a hockey coach, Bessone is best remembered for winning a national championship as a heavy underdog in 1966 with the "Cinderella Spartans."

He was one of the most colorful college coaches of his era with a trademark whistle he used to signal line changes.

As intense as Bessone was behind the bench, he was warm and endearing off the ice.

During his coaching days, he regularly invited fellow coaches, officials and reporters out for drinks or back to his house for spaghetti following games.

Bessone played high school hockey in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and for two preparatory schools in Maine, Hebron Academy and Kents Hill School.

Bessone also played hockey for Association Saint-Dominique, a Lewiston amateur team.

During his days in Maine, he was described as cocky but one of the best defensemen in high school hockey.

Len Ceglarski and Bessone shared the Spencer Penrose Award as the national coach of the year in 1966.

The national title and coaching award cemented Bessone's legacy as a coach.

To this day, Bessone's 1966 Michigan State team remains one of the biggest underdog stories in NCAA ice hockey history.

The total number of team victories (16) and team winning percentage (.551) is the lowest of any NCAA ice hockey champion.

MSU made the NCAA tournament again with a strong WCHA playoff finish in 1967, but lost in the national semifinals.