For Immediate Release

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Greater Lawrence Tech Awarded Silvio Cella Family Foundation Grant

ANDOVER — Superintendent John Lavoie is pleased to announce that the Greater Lawrence Technical School football program received a grant from the Silvio Cella Family Foundation this week.

GLTS football was awarded a $3,000 grant during a ceremony at the school on May 7. The grant was given with the intention of improving the GLTS football program and inspiring student athletes to keep up their hard work and dedication in the classroom and on the field.

The Silvio Cella Family Foundation awards grants to four football programs from high schools across Massachusetts each year. Grant funds serve a variety of purposes and are used to improve playing conditions, increase player safety and purchase needed equipment required by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. Officials also hope to use the funding for team-building activities.

“We are overcome with gratitude to the Cella family for their generosity and for choosing GLTS for this year’s grant,” said Tony Sarkis, GLTS head varsity football coach. “Our student athletes are very dedicated to football and will grow in their physical, intellectual and emotional abilities, something that I am sure would make Silvio Cella proud.”

The Silvio Cella Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in April 2010. Its mission is to carry on the legacy of renowned Massachusetts high school football Coach Silvio Cella by giving football programs the support they need for success. One of the main goals of the foundation is to aid young men on and off the field by preparing them for college, careers and a family. Since its inception, the Silvio Cella Family Foundation has donated more than $100,000 to high school football programs throughout the state.

About Coach Cella
Silvio Cella had a distinguished career in high school and college athletics as a student/athlete, coach and administrator. He began his professional career at Revere High School as a mathematics teacher in 1950. Cella was appointed athletic director at Revere High School in 1959, where he also served as head football coach for 28 years.

During his tenure as head football coach at Revere High School, Cella achieved many distinctions, including being named Massachusetts Coach of the Year and National Sons of Italy Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Coaches Hall of Fame and the National Football Federation Hall of Fame. He retired in 1983 as Revere High’s all-time winningest coach, and died in April 2010 at age 87.

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