Basketball has been an integral part of Lombardi’s entire adult life.  Starting as a player at Cathedral Prep in the tough New York City CHSAA, Lombardi learned the game and competed against some of today’s legends, both players and coaches.

Lombardi attended Marist College in his hometown and played JV basketball.  Upon being cut from the varsity by Ron Petro, who became his lifelong friend and mentor, he helped out with the team and then put his efforts into rejuvenating a CYO basketball program at Mt. Carmel Church in Poughkeepsie.  This strong Italian Parish contributed to the team name – “The Fasuls”- and that program continued to flourish after he left. 

Upon his graduation from Marist College, where he had received the Cardinal Spellman Award for the Outstanding Graduate, Lombardi was hired as an English teacher, and JV basketball coach at John A Coleman High School in Kingston, NY.  He injected expertise and enthusiasm into his teaching while coaching basketball and track.  While at Coleman he introduced new educational technologies to the classroom including Instructional T.V. and video-taping.  He also took summer courses at the British Summer Institute at Oxford University and finished his M.S. in Secondary Education at SUNY New Paltz. 

Four years later after compiling an undefeated season, he moved on to Churchill High School in Potomac, MD to teach and coach its varsity basketball team.  Within five years the Bulldogs had won two consecutive AA County titles and a Maryland State AA Championship.  He was selected to coach the local Capital All-Stars in the 1978 McDonald’s Capital Classic.  It was the first time in their brief five year history the local team beat the U.S. All-Stars.  Lombardi has been part of the McDonalds All-American games ever since.
Coach Lombardi was then hired as head basketball coach of the Division III Delaware Valley College (D.V.C.) in Doylestown, PA.  During his seven year tenure he rebuilt the team back to respectability.  He also taught Speech and Mass Communications, headed the Liberal Arts Cultural Program and served as Director of Residence Life for two years.  During the summers he directed the D.V.C. Basketball Camp and lectured at basketball camps throughout the northeast. 

In January of 1987, after an 18 year basketball coaching career, building successful programs at every level and organizing four basketball camps, Lombardi was selected by John Stote, a former Coleman High School Player, to head up “The Rock” Team at Anaconda Sports.  Over the course of the next 30 years this team made “The Rock” synonymous with the word basketball.  He continues in that capacity now with BSN Sports. 

Thirty years ago, Ron Petro, Lombardi’s coach at Marist was instrumental in getting “The Rock” as the official basketball at the prestigious Great Alaskan Shootout.  As part of the sponsorship Lombardi was responsible for organizing the legendary Shootout Party at every Final Four.  A combination of unique venues, fresh Alaskan seafood and numerous celebrity coaches, including a Dick Vitale “speech”, have made this party the toughest ticket at many Final Fours. 

The MAAC was one of the first Division I Conferences to adopt “The Rock”.  Many others at every level of college play followed suite.  In addition to college conferences, “The Rock” became the ASAA (Alaskan School Athletic Association) state basketball, a big part of the McDonald’s AA games, the Holiday Festival and Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden and numerous other national high school and college tournaments. 

Lombardi however was not finished with his coaching career just yet.  In 2005, while in Ireland with his wife Mary Ann who was teaching there as a Fulbright Scholar, Lombardi established the international exchange program affectionately known as “Hoops Across the Ocean”.  With Coleman’s Coach Alex Albany and Coleman’s parents’ support, teams from Ireland and China (a diplomatic miracle) visited Kingston and lived with host families.  In exchange students from Coleman travelled to Ireland to play basketball and experience another culture “up close and personal”.  Once again Coach Lombardi’s organizational skills and relationships with nationally known coaches and players created life-long learning experiences and memories for all the participants.

Lombardi continues to spread “The Rock Gospel” by attending numerous games and clinics and building lifelong relationships.  He helps locally with his involvement in the Kingston Boys & Girls Club and newly formed Ulster County Italian American Foundation.
Les and Mary Ann reside in Kingston, NY and have two married children.  Joslyn and her husband Greg have a six year old son Nicholas, a star basketball recruit; Jared and his wife Amanda have a daughter Harriet, another basketball enthusiast.