High school coach who died in N.Y. car crash had close ties to Bristol

Chuck Drury coaches at a Bristol Central varsity wrestling match during the 1973-74 season. | TheTorch

Posted By: David Fortier February 25, 2024

By David Fortier

The Pomperaug and Southington High football coach who died in an accident earlier this week had close ties to Bristol where he lived and coached, off and on for the past five decades most recently when he helped out with the Bristol Central High School freshmen football team this past season.

“I was shocked when I heard the incredibly sad news of Chuck’s passing,” said Brian Godbout, BCHS class of ’76. “In the 70’s he was a great role model to me.”

Coach Chuck Drury, 77, died in a car accident Tuesday in New York state. Drury coached at both Bristol Eastern High School and Bristol Central High School

He was an assistant football coach at Bristol Eastern High School early in the 1970s before coaching in the football, basketball and wrestling programs at Bristol Central High School. From 1972 to 1976 he was varsity wrestling coach at Bristol Central. He left to become the head varsity football coach at Pomperaug High School, a position he held for 27 years.

“In high school he would always be there to listen to you,” Godbout said. “I recall him often joking about how the lineman made the running backs look good. It was always great to see him through the years and talking about the old days.”

Godbout played football for the Bristol Central High School in the early to mid-1970s, where as a running back he earned conference and statewide honors.

More recently Drury coached JV basketball at Bristol Central in the 1990s, when his own children played at Bristol Central, and for the last 12 years, he assisted in the Southington High School football program, where his son coached the varsity team, before leaving to spend more time with his family.

This past football season Drury assisted with the Bristol Central High School freshmen football program, where a grandson played.

Jerry Daniels, another BCHS grad, wrestled for Drury and went on to his own successful career as varsity wrestling coach at Terryville High School.

“I still can’t believe it,” Daniels said. “Chuck was always there for me, even after high school. He was the person that encouraged me to apply for the head wrestling coach at Terryville, where I coached for 20 years.”

“If I ever had any questions as a young coach, which I did, he was always there for me. He was one of the most giving and honest men I have ever knew,” Daniels said.

Drury’s influence extended beyond sports. For local businessman Tim Bobroske, also a 1976 graduate, Drury went the extra mile.

“I had Mr. Drury as a PE teacher,” Bobroske said. “What he did for me was, when I started cleaning chimneys in 1977, he hired me. He told me he never used his fireplace just wanted to help me out.”

BCHS grad Bill Whitman, who coached with Drury in the Bristol summer baseball league, credited Drury for his down-to-earth and common-sense approach.

“One summer I coached Pony League baseball with him,” Whitman said, “and the team was using some pretty foul language. So I said, ‘Coach, you hearing this?’ and he said, ‘Coach, this is baseball.'”

Richard Caruso, BCHS grad, said that Drury hired him as a teacher at Pomperaug in 1981.

“We taught together that one year,” said Caruso. “He had the gift of connecting with every type of student.”

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