Hall of Fame
If the name on the press box doesn’t tell you, the performances that it overlooks will.
The action on Wayne Jamison’s field reflects the DNA that the late coach imprinted on the Bridgeport football program while racking up 230 wins and four state championships in 27 years.
“Coach was very, very meticulous about everything we did, especially with the offense. That’s really where our power run game came from,” said John Cole, who played for and coached with Jamison. “He was always on us about the little details that would make us better….and 9 times out of 10 when you played, if we did lose or didn’t play well, those were the things that we didn’t do well and possibly would beat us. You had to appreciate that.”
That attention to detail produced zero losing seasons, seven years of 10 wins or more and 19 playoff victories and a spot in the inaugural class of the Harry Green Bridgeport High Athletics Hall of Fame.
Yes, the playoff format was smaller and there weren’t four classes, but it’s hard to think about a Bridgeport program that had played in a grand total of one playoff game, yet that was the situation when Jamison took the helm in 1970.
He promptly ripped off 8 and 9 wins in his first two years, leading up to a 12-0 state championship season in 1972.
Bridgeport also put in perfect 13-0 state championship seasons in 1979 in Class AAA and 1988 in Class AA as well as a 12-1 state title campaign in AA in 1986.
Cole took over as head coach of the program in an hour of need from 2017 through 2020, with the blessing of his mentor.
“I never had an ambition to be a head coach, but it turned out that way,” Cole said. “I remember talking with him about it and he gave me some sound advice.”
Under Cole’s leadership, Bridgeport won a state title in 2019, a year after Jamison’s death, playing the same physical, ball-control, disciplined style that the legendary made The Bridgeport Way.
“He had a knack for putting players in the right place,” Cole said. “Keep it simple, be disciplined, do it right.
“That’s why the field is named for him,” Cole said. “He did a great thing.”
And why Bridgeport football, to this day, is a force to be reckoned with.
