Scasserra Elected to Princeton Day School 
Athletic Hall of Fame

This is reproduced from the Saturday, May 17, 2008 PDS booklet Building on Tradition and the PDS web site.

Kenneth Scasserra 
Princeton Country Day School '53

Ken Scasserra has had an enormous impact on the development and growth of area ice hockey. He has instilled a love of the game in countless players as a coach and manager of high school, college and recreational teams. In 1969 he co-founded the Princeton University Hockey Association and has served as its treasurer since its inception.

Summary
Kenneth Scasserra '53 has been unable to play hockey since surviving polio at age 16, but he has continued to participate in the sport he loves as a coach, manager and co-founder and president of the Princeton University Hockey Association. At Princeton, he managed the hockey teams all four years and was named manager emeritus his senior year. He coached and managed several area teams, serving as treasurer of Lawrenceville School's Invitational Hockey Tournament.

Ken Scasserra has loved the game of ice hockey all his life. The fact that he has been unable to play it since he was struck down by polio at the age of 16 has not ended his participation, it has only redirected his talent and energy. His contributions as a coach and manager and his role in co-founding and guiding the Princeton University Hockey Association have had an enormous impact on ice hockey throughout the area. 

Mr. Scasserra grew up next door to PCD classmate Peter “Picky” Cook and they took advantage of the cold winters to perfect their skills on ponds and lakes. “He played very well,” Mr. Cook says. “He was a good athlete. Our nickname for him was Skinny because he was built like a fire hydrant. He was a good defenseman.” 

The PCD teams traveled to New England to compete against area prep schools and Mr. Scasserra remembers the bone-chilling cold of those outdoor rinks, but he also remembers the fun they had. ‘There was a huge snowstorm at Canterbury School the night before we got there,” he recalls. “They couldn’t clear all the snow off the ice so constantly the puck would get lost in these piles of snow. It was great fun. It really was. 

The next year he enrolled at Canterbury as a sophomore and made the very competitive hockey team. In junior year Mr. Scasserra was playing football when suddenly he could not make an easy run into the end zone. “After the game I felt terrible and ended up in the infirmary and was taken to the hospital the next day,” he says. 

He was almost totally paralyzed and spent four months in an iron lung in a New Haven hospital. He was out of school for a year and regained most of his mobility. When he returned, he lost no time getting back in the game as a varsity team manager and freshman team coach. “Hockey was something I fell in love with and I just couldn’t get away from it,” he says. 

He went to Princeton University where he managed the hockey teams all four years and was named manager emeritus his senior year. After graduation he coached and managed several area teams. For 25 years he served as treasurer of Lawrenceville School’s Invitational Hockey Tournament. He has served as treasurer of the PUHA since he helped found it in 1969 and was its president for 15 years.

He says “working hard and sticking with it” are values he learned at PCD. “I’ve had great times with hockey. I’ve met a lot of great people.” 

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