Above: Willy Miranda has coached multiple high school teams to victory. Photo courtesy Brandywine High School.
By Chuck Durante
No living coach has mentored more high school athletes than Willy Miranda. Proficient since childhood in one sport, he coached five others, leaving a heritage that this spring earned him induction into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.
A shortstop from Baltimore who helped the Blue Hens reach the 1970 College World Series, he found a state that welcomed him. Miranda became a teacher whose day never stopped at 3 p.m., coaching for five decades, typically three seasons a year. Although his name carried international cachet in baseball, his greatest success was in sports he never played.
After learning field hockey as an adult, he took 38 Brandywine teams to 470 victories, 10 conference titles and a state championship. To give Delaware girls exposure to artificial turf and recruiters, he started the Turf Bowl, which for 30 years has raised funds for women’s cancer research.
After starting the first upstate public school lacrosse program, he led Brandywine to 13 Blue Hen titles and two state championship games. His girls basketball teams at Wilmington High and Brandywine produced league titles and all-state players. Counting swimming and softball, his teams have won 1,200 games, including at P. S. duPont and Mount Pleasant.
His father and namesake, a legendary shortstop in Cuba, was a deft fielder for a decade in the American League.
Willy’s public service has been honored by the Delaware Women’s Alliance for Sports and Fitness, and the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association.
— Founded in 1976, the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame is located on the Wilmington Riverfront at 801 Shipyard Drive on the first base side of Frawley Stadium. Sports fans can tour the museum for free each Saturday from 10am to 1pm and for two hours before every Blue Rocks home game.
