Celebration Set for Winnacunnet's Ed Beattie

The accomplishments of much-heralded Winnacunnet High School girls' basketball coach Ed Beattie will be celebrated this weekend at the 401 Tavern, and the public is invited to mingle with Beattie and enjoy food at the downtown Hampton pub.

Event co-organizer Cassie Turcotte, who took over for Beattie earlier this year, has posted in Hampton-North Hampton Patch's Events section that 401 Tavern owner Desi Lanio has donated his restaurant for the celebration, which begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5.

Guests won't be charged an admission fee, and Turcotte reportedly told the Hampton Union there is no agenda or set end time for the party.

“He’s not the kind of guy who wants to sit down and give formal speeches,” Turcotte told the Hampton Union, reportedly adding that she has reached out about the event to alumni, families of former players, other coaches, referees and others who know Beattie. “The 401 has generously donated the tavern for Ed to be there and mingle and for people to stop in and say hello.”

Beattie, a social studies teacher at WHS who had been the head coach of the girls' basketball team from the 1981-82 season to the 2011-12 season, led the Warriors to seven state championships (including a record-tying five straight from 2007 to 2011), 29 winning seasons, a Division I record 75-game winning streak, and an overall record of 519-173.

The Hampton Union has reported that Beattie, the son of well-known boys’ coach Bryce Beattie, also won a state title in 1983 while coaching the WHS girls’ soccer team, which he led from 1979 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1998.

Beattie resigned as head coach of the girls' basketball team last fall.

Lanio, the 2012 Hampton Rotary Club Citizen of the Year, is one of the girls' basketball team's biggest supporters, and Lanio often holds special events and celebrations for countless local high school and other sports programs.