When he looks back on his football coaching career, Dom Laurendi only vaguely remembers the scores of his games or which players scored the game-winning touchdowns.

However, he can vividly recall the memories of the players themselves and their families. By focusing on molding great men rather than great athletes, Laurendi’s legacy earned him an induction into the Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge, Hall of Fame.

Laurendi – already a CHSAA Hall of Fame inductee from 2010 – was enshrined March 9 at a ceremony at the school along with track runner Anthony Diaz ’79, basketball player Terence Mullin ’88, and the 1990 city championship baseball team.

He said he was humbled by receiving the honor and was glad he was able to promote the values of Xaverian through coaching at the school.

“I got into the Hall of Fame because the kids and families are great people,” he said.

Laurendi attended Our Lady of Grace parish, Gravesend, growing up and is currently a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor.

He played center and defensive end on the football team at Abraham Lincoln H.S., Coney Island. At age 18, he entered a training program to join the N.Y.P.D.

Laurendi still had a passion for football, so in 1968 at 20 years old, he was appointed as an assistant junior varsity coach at Lincoln, where he served until 1980.

He was also the first fullback on the police department football team, which he helped found 41 years ago. He became a player coach in 1976 and was the team’s head coach until his retirement from the force in 1988.

Each year, the police team played the F.D.N.Y. in an epic gridiron battle. Laurendi compared the police officer-firefighter rivalry to that of the annual Army-Navy showdown.

“We would pack about 10,000 people in the stadium,” he said. “This was war!”

When he was the coach, his team would practice three mornings per week before their shifts. The practices were intense, but since he said the game was serious business, he had to have his team prepared.

“I lost a few of those games, and I couldn’t sleep for a month after it,” Laurendi said.

In 1981, he founded the football program at Nazareth R.H.S., East Flatbush. He was still a police officer during his coaching stints at both Lincoln and Nazareth, but he was now a head coach, thus increasing his responsibility.

“We were very successful,” Laurendi said of his time at Nazareth. “It was very challenging but also very rewarding.”

Many of his players had never played football before trying out for the team, and the kids had to walk 1.5 miles everyday to practice since Nazareth did not have its own facility. Despite this, Laurendi built the Kingsmen into a top competitor in the league.

His teams won back-to-back CHSFL ‘A’ city championships in 1984 and 1985. In both those seasons, Laurendi was named the N.Y. Daily News Coach of the Year. The Kingsmen also captured the ‘AA’ Division crown in 1989, when Laurendi had the pleasure of coaching his son.

After he retired from the force, he taught government and social studies at Nazareth until 1995. But that same year when the football program at Xaverian was being formed, Laurendi applied for and got the head coaching job.

He said it was a much easier transition than starting the program at Nazareth, since Xaverian had more resources and a higher enrollment. He said his players wanted to work hard, and that led to success on the field.

“Sometimes we as coaches take too much credit,” Laurendi said. “The kids come from strong families of work ethic and sacrifice, and I had the luxury of coaching them. I’ve met some tremendous people at both Nazareth and Xaverian.”

The Clippers won the 2006 ‘AA’ CHSFL city championship but finished 0-8 after moving up to the ‘AAA’ Division in 2007. Laurendi wanted one more year, but he realized that it was time to hand over the team to the next regime. He finished with a 134-134-2 career coaching record.

“Good things have to come to an end,” he said. “If you continue to hang on, then you can’t control how it ends.”

He currently is the assistant athletic director at Xaverian and teaches in the school’s Ryken Education program for students with learning disabilities.

Xaverian will be going through another coaching transition, as Mike Jioia will take over the program this fall. Jioia was the offensive coordinator during the 2005 and 2006 seasons and said he’s thrilled that Laurendi will serve as a resource and mentor.

“He (Laurendi) really impressed me with the rapport he had with the families and kids,” Jioia said. “It gives me a lot of confidence knowing a coach who ran two programs is still there.”

As Laurendi said, statistics and touchdowns are trivial in the big picture, but he’ll never forget what truly matters about football.

“I remember the incidents of character from the kids,” he said. “There were so many good kids and families that passed through these walls.”

But part of the reason these kids became great men was that they followed Laurendi’s example as a positive role model.

“He (Laurendi) was a great guy to play for, and he was passionate about his job,” said Eric Hudson, a Xaverian Hall of Famer who played football for Laurendi in the late 1990s. “He really drove us to do our best on and off the field. It was a great all-around experience, and it helped me develop into the person I am.”