In a career that spanned almost four decades, Barry Chasen led the Windsor High School baseball program, located in Windsor, Connecticut, to 403 wins, 10 league titles, two regional titles and two state championships in his 28 seasons at the helm of the Warriors. Along with his 102 wins coaching summer baseball, Chasen finished his 38-year coaching career with a record of 505-171 (.747). In 2020, Windsor High School’s baseball field was branded “Barren Chasen Ballpark.”
Chasen, who began his career at New London (Conn.) High School in 1969 as an assistant football, basketball and baseball coach, took over the Windsor baseball program in 1975, leading the Warriors to 27 state tournament appearances in a 28-season stretch. In 1979 following his first state title, Chasen's Warriors finished the season ranked No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball national poll. His teams also won 40-straight regular season games between 1984-86 and were crowned Battle of the Windsors champion six times.
While at Windsor, Chasen also coached football and basketball, guiding the girls' basketball team to a runner-up finish in the Class LL state championship in 1980.
In his career, Chasen has coached over 100 players who have gone on to play anywhere from the junior college level to NCAA Div. I, with five playing for professional organizations.
In his community, Chasen has been an advocate for growing the sport. In 2012, he worked with city administrators to bring the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program (RBI) to Hartford, Connecticut where, with the help of the Ripken Foundation, three new multi-sport turf fields were constructed for the over 500 youth participants. The program also includes clinics put on by local college and professional teams.
The recipient of numerous coaching honors, Chasen was named the ABCA/Diamond High School Division II National Coach of the Year in 2000 as well as the ABCA/Diamond Region I Coach of the Year in 1992 and 2000. The two-time National High School Coaches Association Region I Coach of the Year was also named the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1986. A former recipient of the Gatorade Coaches Care Award, Chasen was also named Easton Sports/Collegiate Baseball Master Coach of the Year and a Hartford Courant 20th century Multi-Sport Coach of the Century.
Chasen served as the Baseball Chairperson for the Central Connecticut Conference from 1985-2004 and was a voting member of the Hartford Courant, Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America high school polls. He was also the secretary and a consultant for the Connecticut High School Baseball Coaches Association.
In his 41 years as an ABCA member, Chasen was voted to serve as a State and Regional Chairman and was as a member of the High School All-American and Coach of the Year Committees. The Lifetime ABCA member was also an original member and longtime Chairman of the ABCA High School Rules Committee.
Chasen has also served the game as an umpire for over 50 years. The recipient of the 2007 Connecticut American Legion Umpire of the Year Award has worked eight NCAA Div. III Regionals and 15 Amateur World Series, including the Babe Ruth and Babe Ruth Senior World Series.
His induction into the ABCA Hall of Fame will be his sixth, as he is currently a member of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Norwich, Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame, the New York Military Academy Hall of Fame, the Windsor Diamond Club Hall of Fame and the Windsor High School Athletics Hall of Fame.
Prior to his career as a coach, Chasen attended Marietta College, where he played for ABCA Hall of Famer Don Schaly from 1966-69.
