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"Up, up the long delirious burning blue; I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.

Where never lark, or even eagle flew; And while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high, untrespassed sanctity of space; Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR. '40, FROM THE POEM "HIGH FLIGHT"

Peter J. Mazza ’97

Man of Avon: Peter J. Mazza ’97

Peter Mazza, former Cheshire High, Yale football standout and federal prosecutor, dies at 42

By SHAWN MCFARLAND

HARTFORD COURANT 

SEP 02, 2020 AT 3:42 PM

Former Yale football coach Jack Siedlecki described his one-time captain Peter Mazza as unusual, the rare recruit who checked every box.

Siedlecki, who coached the Bulldogs from 1997-2008, began recruiting Mazza, a star quarterback and linebacker at Cheshire High, when he was still coaching at Amherst. When Siedlecki was hired at Yale in 1997, Mazza was his only early decision recruit. He had certain intangibles often unseen in other teenage football players.

Integrity. Humility. Leadership. In Siedlecki’s eyes, Mazza was wise beyond his years.

“I remember saying to Mazza, ’You’re not going to be a quarterback in college,’” Siedlecki told The Courant Wednesday. “That didn’t bother him. That would have bothered a lot of high school kids. He was just like, ’Hey, that’s fine.’ He just had all those attributes you want to have in every player you coach. ... He had no ego, he was everybody’s friend. He set the tone for the program from the minute he stepped foot on the field.

“He was maybe the best leadership kid I’ve ever been around.”

Mazza, who went on to serve as a federal prosecutor and was second-in-command of the U.S. Attorney General’s Office in Southern California after his career at Yale, died Tuesday at the age of 42 after a battle with colon cancer.

Mazza starred on the Cheshire team that compiled a legendary run in the late 1990s, finishing with a 46-0 record and winning a state championship all four years he played for the Rams. He earned All-State honors in football, baseball and skiing before playing a postgraduate year at Avon Old Farms.

As a linebacker at Yale, he helped revive the Bulldogs’ program, posting records of 9-1 and 7-3 in his final two seasons. Named the captain in his senior year, Mazza’s 303 career tackles still rank in the top 10 all-time at Yale. He was the 2000 recipient of the Connecticut Walter Camp player of the year award, given annually to the top college football player in each state.

Mazza’s class at Yale was the last to beat rival Harvard in three straight editions of “The Game.”

Siedlecki said that three of Mazza’s former teammates lived near him in Southern California, and kept in touch with him throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as he continued to battle colon cancer. On Sunday, they emailed Siedlecki and others associated with the program saying that they had just seen Mazza, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in April 2019. He was in hospice care. They organized a Zoom call for Monday night with former coaches and teammates.

Siedlecki joined the call on Monday, along with 50 others. The call lasted about an hour and a half, and the persistent theme was how good of a person Mazza was.

 

“I can’t tell you how many guys said, ’I want my kids to grow up to be like Peter Mazza,’” Siedlecki said. “I think that really says something ... [In a Facebook post], Scott [Wagner, a former teammate of Mazza] said that he made that impression on him when he was 18 years old. He was one of those guys, we didn’t even have to take a captain vote that year. You knew who the captain was going to be. It was going to be Peter Mazza.”

According to Siedlceki, Mazza was “extremely proud” to be from Connecticut. Mazza was the first Yale captain from Connecticut in decades, and on a roster made up of largely players from Texas and other football hotbeds, he took pride in the honor.

“Sometimes those Texas guys are tough,” Siedlecki said with a laugh. “Peter loved to rub it in on them.”

On Tuesday night, Siedlecki reached out to Steve Addazio, who coached Mazza at Cheshire before becoming the head coach at Temple, Boston College and now Colorado State. Siedlecki hadn’t spoken with Addazio in years. He wasn’t even sure if he had the correct phone number.

Addazio texted Siedlecki back within seconds.

“That’s kind of how Peter influenced people,” Siedlecki said. “He’s a pretty special guy.”

“His passion for the game was contagious,” said former teammate Than Merrill in a release from Yale. “He cherished and embraced the history of Yale football and he would convey his respect for the men who came before us in his speeches as captain of the team. Pete led by example and was always prepared for every situation. He was the wise old man amongst young men trying to find their way. Pete was equally successful and respected in his law career. Anyone who met him liked him and had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a lawyer, father, and husband. I will miss Pete and love him dearly.”

Upon graduating from Yale in 2001, Mazza received his law degree from the University of Michigan. In 2006, he began as a federal prosecutor in San Diego, working in the General Crimes Section, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Section and the Major Frauds and Special Prosecutions Section. In 2014, he joined the law office of Jones Day as partner.

In February of 2019, Mazza was sworn in as the second-in-command to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office in Southern California.

“Peter could have gone into private practice and made as much money as he wanted to,” Siedlecki said. “He went into the private sector for a very short time. .... He didn’t like it. Peter just had such integrity, such loyalty. He was just really unusual for an 18-year-old college kid. Even his teammates and classmates had an unusual respect for him.”

Mazza is survived by his wife, Megan, and their three children. His death comes days after actor Chadwick Boseman also died of colon cancer at the age of 43.

Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.

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