Cliff Landry was a proud contributor to on and off the athletic field.  He was the first person Al Pelligrinelli, the winningest football coach in school history, cited in an interview with The Hartford Courant about the line of Berlin coaches he had tried to follow with distinction.

Landry coached football from 1954-60.  The crowning point was the 1955 football season when Berlin (6-0-1) was the only undefeated Class C team in Connecticut.

He came to BHS from East Hartford where he was on the football, track and wrestling teams.  After attending Cushion Academy, he graduated from Springfield College with a degree in physical education and a minor in biology and chemistry. He then became a physical education teacher at Berlin High.  His love of sports brought him to coaching.  In addition to his football duties, he was an assistant boys basketball coach and junior varsity coach 1955-56.  His JV teams went 12-5 and 15-1. 

His interest in Berlin High and the town community extended beyond any athletic fields and courts. He was the youngest vice principal (25) at the time in Connecticut in 1956.  He served in that position and was Dean of Boys until 1970. 

“Dad wasn’t about awards or titles,” said his daughter Nancy Landry Sylvester.  “His goal was not just to coach athletics.  It was to develop young students into successful adults and contributors to a larger community and family.”

The senior class gave this tribute to Landry in its last will in the 1955 BHS Yearbook: “We leave, wishing, he had come sooner.”

Landry left BHS in 1970 to pursue other professions, which included real estate.  He later worked for the state of Connecticut as personnel director for the DOT where he eventually retired. 

Through the years he never stopped contributing to Berlin.  He was active in many civic organizations and served in various program director positions for the town.  He helped to obtain a grant for Berlin for Sage Park and oversaw its early construction.  He was proud to see it expand from a football field to the home of multiple athletic venues. 

Landry passed away November 2, 2002.