Join us for a Mass and reception celebrating the life of Don Guide, the longtime head coach of Prep Volleyball and a 2013 Athletic Hall of Fame honoree, on Saturday, May 3. We will gather in the Hammer Heritage Room at 10 am. Our Mass will include an opportunity for family, friends, and former players to share memories of Don and celebrate his legacy. A reception with light refreshments will follow in the Faculty Dining Room.
Don and his wife Helen – who was a steadfast fan at Prep games during his coaching career – were married 63 years before Helen’s passing in 2021. They had four children, six grandchildren and one great grandson. Don passed away at age 93 on February 12, 2025.
In his 15 years at the helm of the program, Coach Guide led Prep Volleyball to an .806 winning percentage, six county championships, five state sectional championships, and four consecutive Tournament of Champions final appearances. But beyond the impressive numbers, he was also a friend and mentor to a generation of Prep Volleyball players, capping off a legacy in the game that began during his military service in the Korean War.
All are welcome at Mass and the reception, at no charge. However, for planning purposes we ask that you email Mike Murcia, ’08 if you plan to attend: MurciaM@spprep.org.
To celebrate Don Guide’s lasting impact, gifts made to Saint Peter’s Prep in Don’s memory will be divided between the volleyball program and a scholarship in memory of Don and Helen Guide. Gifts can be made online (spprep.org/give) or by check to Saint Peter’s Prep, 144 Grand Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302.
For online gifts, check the “honor/memorial” option and indicate “Don and Helen Guide” as the honoree. For gifts by mail, simply note “In memory of Don and Helen Guide” on your check.
Following is the text of Don Guide’s biography from his 2013 Hall of Fame induction:
In 1998, Don Guide arrived at Grand & Warren to become just the second head coach in Prep Volleyball history, bringing decades of experience to the young program. Over the next 15 seasons Prep would post a 345-83 record, earning six county championships, five state sectional titles and four straight appearances in the finals of the state Tournament of Champions – a fitting conclusion to a volleyball career that had begun in the 1950s.
Don discovered volleyball while serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. He continued to play and coach throughout the 1950s and 1960s – “before there were high school and collegiate teams,” he notes. He helped to organize both men’s and women’s teams that crisscrossed the country to play in YMCA and USVBA tournaments, and as schools began to add volleyball to their athletic programs, he supported many new coaches as a volunteer. He served as USAV Commissioner for New Jersey & New York. While coaching at Fairleigh Dickinson, he brought the program into Division I play en route to a winning percentage over .700. Buisiness demands kept him from continuing to coach full time, but he still performed one-year stints at Kean, Ramapo & Upsala, started the Bergen Volleyball Club, and served as Assistant Director of the USVBA National Championships.
After retiring in 1995, Don re-dedicated himself to the sport, coaching Paramus Catholic to three girls’ state titles in five years – overlapping with the start of his Prep tenure. An NJSIAA Hall of Famer and NJSIAA Legends honoree, he has numerous Coach of the Year awards to his credit, and humbly states, “I have been very lucky.” So, too, have the players and colleagues who have benefited from his dedication and wisdom, on the court and off.