Donald ‘Don’ Maley Sr.

Burlington

Multi-sport coach/athlete/official

Inducted 2024

Don Maley did it all in an award-winning career throughout Vermont. He was an excellent athlete at UVM, went on to teach and coach several sports for over three decades at several high schools, pausing to serve in World War II and in Korea. He also was a well-respected basketball and football official, and later had a successful sporting goods business.

Between 1941 and 1973, Maley taught and coached at several high schools, including Woodstock, Cathedral (now Rice), Burlington and South Burlington. He primarily coached boys basketball where he won 414 games and at one stretch his record was an incredible 266-42. His teams won 17 league championships and his 1955 Burlington High state championship team had a strong finish at the New Englands. 

He could have coached longer but he served in the Army during WWII (1943-45) and his unit was called up during the Korean Conflict (1950-52). He also was the Swanton High principal in 1952-53. He resumed teaching/coaching at Burlington High from 1953 to 1961, reaching the state basketball title game twice, winning the 1955 crown. He moved to the new South Burlington High in 1961 where he coached until 1973. 

At every school he played a major role in mentoring student-athletes and young coaches, including VSHOF inductee Jack Leggett at SBHS.

Maley came to Vermont from western Massachusetts, earning a scholarship at the University of Vermont. He was a three-sport standout for the Catamounts, serving as a two-time all-state basketball player in 1940 and 1941, and as a starter in football and baseball, graduating in 1941.

Even in retirement, he remained busy in sports operating Maley’s Wholesale Tackle, started in the 1960s.

Maley was named to five halls of fame:  UVM in 1977, Cathedral/Rice Memorial High in 1997, the VPA Hall of Fame in 2007, the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association in 2007 and South Burlington High in 2009. In 1974, the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association presented him the Ralph Lapointe Award for outstanding contributions to Vermont sports.  

Maley died at age 89 in Burlington in 2007.

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