The first coach of what became one of the dominant hockey programs in Connecticut was Connecticut High School Hockey Hall of Famer Marty Roos.

Taking over a club team in 1971, he cultivated the program into a Division II championship team in 1977 and ultimately to a powerhouse in the Division I ranks.

With Roos at the helm, the Jesuits went to four consecutive CIAC Class LL championship games and won the last three (1979, 1980 and 1981). He coached the Jesuits until 1990 and then moved over to Notre Dame-Fairfield, where he stayed until stepping down after the 2012 season (he won two more state titles with the Lancers).

In all, 265 of his 536 career victories came with the Jesuits. At the time of his retirement, the 536 wins were the most in state history.

In 2006, the CIAC hockey tournament was named in his honor.

Roos was elected to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009, the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017 and the Connecticut High School Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024. 

The late Ed McCarthy quarterbacked Fairfield Prep’s 1960 football team that went 10-0, posted six shutouts and was awarded the Waskowitz Trophy, emblematic of the “official” state championship.

A 6-foot-2, 180-pounder, McCarthy threw 11 touchdown passes that season and was named to the all-state team by the New Haven Register.

He and fellow Prep all-staters Gene Skoronski and Frank Grywalski were named to the Nutmeg Bowl All-Star Game in 1961 at Harding’s Hedges Stadium, with McCarthy serving as captain for the victorious West squad.

McCarthy, who was president of his senior class, also lettered in basketball for the Jesuits. However, his football prowess earned him a scholarship to Yale, where he played under the legendary Carm Cozza. He helped guide the Bulldogs to a 6-2-1 record as a senior in 1964 and played lacrosse for Yale as well.

McCarthy tragically died in an auto accident that winter at the age of 21. 

Fairfield Prep’s success in hockey, even from the very beginning, was cemented by steady and stellar goaltending.

The first of those netminders was Kevin Martin. He took over between the pipes early in his freshman season and ran with it from there.

He was the backstop for four straight CIAC Division I finalist teams from 1978 (Prep’s first year as a Division I participant) to 1981. The Jesuits rebounded from a one-goal loss to Cheshire in the 1978 final to win three consecutive championships for the first and only time in school history. Over his four seasons, the Jesuits went 71-19-3 in the regular season and 13-1 in the pla

Martin, a tri-captain his senior year, was named to the New Haven Register’s Division I all-state team in 1980 and 1981 and was also selected as the Division I Player of the Year in 1981. He was elected to the Connecticut High School Hockey Hall of Fame in 2024.

When you’re playing on a line with perhaps the greatest hockey player in Fairfield Prep history, it’s easy to get overlooked.

But John Sather more than held his own playing alongside Athletic Hall of Famer Ted Drury ’89; in fact, Sather was an all-state forward for the Jesuits two straight years (1987 and 1988) and captained the team in his senior season.

While a state championship eluded him at Prep, Sather went on to have a fine career at Yale, where he played four seasons, logging 32 goals and 51 assists in 101 games, with highs of 14 goals and 19 assists in the 1991-92 season. He was the recipient of the Malcolm G. Chace award for hockey sportsmanship in 1992.Sather played professionally in Europe for a bit after graduation before attending medical school. He is now a Yale School of Medicine Emergency Medicine Assistant Professor and physician at Yale New Haven Hospital.

Another of Fairfield Prep’s many multi-sport standouts, Nick Crowle served as captain of both the football and wrestling teams. All told, he earned seven letters between football (3) and wrestling (4).

At fullback, the all-stater rushed for 1,118 yards on 183 career carries and scored 21 touchdowns. He also made 284 tackles (48 for loss) and had five sacks at linebacker, on the way to multiple state and national awards. They included theUSA Today Defensive Player of the Year, a Walter Camp All-State Scholar Athlete and the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Year in 2013.

As a wrestler for the Jesuits, he placed 4th in the Class LL and 4th in State Open heavyweight champion in 2014.

After graduation, Crowle played football at Yale for five seasons, where he was a four-year varsity starter on the defensive line and captained the Bulldogs his senior year. He was granted an extra year of eligibility due to medical reasons. He was a member of the 2017 Yale team that won the Ivy League championship.