page_title: Lou Vairo
section_title: Legacy and awards
hierarchical_section_title: Lou Vairo / Legacy and awards
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Hockey Hall of Fame, 801 Hat Trick Avenue, Eveleth, Minnesota, USA. Viewed from the east-northeast.
context_page_description: Louis Joseph Vairo is an American retired ice hockey coach and administrator. He served as head coach of the United States men's junior team at five IIHF World U20 Championships, and the United States men's team at four Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1984 Winter Olympics. He was an advance scout for the United States gold medal team at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and was an assistant coach on the United States team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has also served as head coach of the Netherlands men's team and the Italy men's team at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Vairo has coached in professional hockey leagues in Europe, won a Serie A championship with HC Milano Saima, and served as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. In junior ice hockey, he won five Metropolitan Junior Hockey League championships and the New York State junior championship, and coached the Austin Mavericks to two Midwest Junior Hockey League championships and one national championship.
  Vairo showed an early interest in the European style of hockey, and attended a coaching clinic taught by Anatoly Tarasov of the Soviet Union national team.
context_section_description: Vairo is referred to as the "Godfather of American Hockey" due to his strong Brooklyn Italian accent. Pat LaFontaine who played for the United States national team described Vairo by saying, "his passion for New York, for his roots in Brooklyn, for the game — he wears it on his sleeve". New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said, "I think it's evident in where the game has come today that you might say Lou was ahead of his time".
  In 1994, Vairo received both the John "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association, and the Walter Yaciuk Award from the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program. He was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy in 2000, for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. The IIHF named him the Paul Loicq Award recipient in 2010, for contributions to international hockey. In 2014, Vairo was inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame, and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
caption: United States Hockey Hall of Fame building in Eveleth, Minnesota
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