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 Hall of Fame |
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11 th Annual PYA Hall Of Fame Dinner Dance
Kathy Gallagher Doughty
Before there was Title IX or the WNBA or even girls soccer, there was
Kathy Gallagher. A Port Washington native, Keg has spent her
lifetime on the playing fields and in the classrooms of this community, working with children.
As a child she was one of the early pioneers of the PYA girls sports
program and played softball and basketball. Later in Schreiber High School
she excelled in varsity field hockey, basketball and club lacrosse. In
those days the girls didnt play for trophies or championships -- they were given milk and cookies when the season was over. At Slippery Rock State Teachers College, where she earned her degree in education, Kathy was an outstanding lacrosse and water polo player.
While many college athletes view graduation as a time to hang it up
Kathy obviously viewed it as a time to give something back. For ten years she coached varsity and JV lacrosse and field hockey at Schreiber. Her teams were always highly competitive and produced numerous All-Americans, All County and All-Conference players. More importantly, she provided young women athletes with guidance, support and a positive role model at a time when women athletes played in the shadows of their male counterparts.
Kathys involvement with PYA began in 1989 when she developed the girls lacrosse program. Starting with only a handful of girls 12 years ago the
program has grown to now serve over 70 players in five age groups. Her
competitive spirit is tempered with nurturing and encouragement as she
doesnt concern herself with running up scores or only playing the
superstars. Her focus is on teaching the game.
In addition to her work on the field Kathy has been an active member of
PYAs Board of Directors since 1991. She has served as Secretary of the
Board, Lacrosse Commissioner and has been a contributing member of the
Harborfest, Dinner Dance and Ethics & Sportsmanship Committees.
Kathy has been a teacher in the Port Washington School District for 24
years. She has taught at the middle school, the high school and for 12 years has taught physical education at Sousa Elementary School. She spends the hours between 9-3 (and often later) working with the youth of this community, teaching them skills and values and providing them with a firm foundation of teamwork and sportsmanship. So many of Port Washingtons finest athletes are able to look back and proudly say that they had Miss Gallagher for gym.
In 1998 Kathy married Chuck Doughty and now has Bobby and Laurie as
children. She is an outstanding golfer and, when shes not teaching or
coaching, you can usually find her tearing up the links -- though lately
most of the tearing has been done on their house as she and Chuck go through the joys of renovating.
Kathy Gallagher Doughty is PYAs first female Hall of Fame member but she surely will not be the last. The seeds she has sown as a coach and as a teacher have already sprouted. Many of todays top womens college lacrosse players got their start on Lions Field with Kathy. Hopefully, they too will decide to give something back to the community. When one of them steps up to make her acceptance remarks she will certainly want to thank Coach Keg for all that she has done.
Guy Crawford
When considering the countless volunteers who have been a part of PYA over the past 38 years, not to mention those Hall-of-Famers that have been so honored in the last 11, Guy Crawford is the perfect example of the selfless dedication of an individual who prefers to remain behind the scenes while helping hundreds of our local young people develop athletic skills, self confidence, and the impetus to pursue success well beyond the fields of Port Washington.
Guy has been involved with PYA for more than 12 years, and has coached at the various levels of our baseball programs for the last 10. He has given of his time to our field maintenance, fund raising, and youth development efforts.
Prior to the current ambitious Field of Dreams project , for many years our organization got by with periodic stopgap maintenance projects with limited manpower. These projects included the rebuilding of bleachers, painting of baseball backstops, rebuilding and regrading of some baseball fields on an as needed basis, the annual cleaning of the field house, and field preparation for game day activities. Guy performed such a yeomans service just so he could then get down to business and proceed with his first love - - coaching baseball.
A rarity among local sports circles (an athlete who was raised in Manhasset who did not play lacrosse) Guy started the traveling baseball program at PYA back in the early 1990s. An early proponent of year-round preparation for development and improvement in a sport, Guy originated the fall baseball program at PYA as well. He started the program to extend PYA baseball beyond the 12-year old level, and continued the expansion of the program and coaching of these youths until they reached the age of 18.
As the baseball program began to span three seasons of the year, to alleviate the expense that a teen would incur to play nearly all year long, Guy generously took on the costs of league fees and uniforms by self-sponsoring the teams that he coached. As the baseball program continued to mature, the young men of PYAs baseball program were enrolled in winter clinics at local batting cages, complete with professional hitting coaches. Guy also was the benefactor of these expanded efforts.
The results of this nearly year-round program were highlighted by his two years of coaching PYAs Little League National Tournament team, and the five championships won by his traveling youth baseball teams. As Guys coaching and clinical efforts were fully implemented, these traveling teams became the most successful in Port Washington to date. Guy is especially proud of having four local boys from these teams play in all-star games at Shea Stadium.
Having been born in Tennessee, the term Volunteer epitomizes Guy Crawfords key contributions to PYA over the last 12 years. His impact on the development of a burgeoning baseball program mirrors his success as a managing director with the R. F. Lafferty & Co. brokerage house in Manhattan. Still a resident of Port Washington, Guy and his wife Janice have one son, Guy, Jr., who attends the University at Stony Brook.
Guy exhibits an unassuming pride in his tenure of coaching over 500 baseball games over a 10-year period. This has led to a previously unprecedented seven players that have come through PYAs baseball programs and have gone on to play college baseball. By many accounts, such a record should be sufficient enough to warrant recognition for his contributions. But, it is truly his other behind-the-scenes efforts of time and energy via his unselfish devotion to PYAs local involvement in Harborfest, fundraising drives, the annual Hall of Fame Dinner Dance, and our Golf Outing, that his induction into the Hall of Fame illustrates what the true volunteer spirit of PYA is all about.
Ames D. Ressa
Ames Ressa came up through the ranks of the early PYA programs of the 1960s, starting with football in pre-PYA 1961, baseball and basketball in 1962, and lacrosse five years later. While this comprehensive involvement is certainly noteworthy, Ames claimed to be a late bloomer athletically. By the early 1970s, he matured into one of the finest all-around athletes and scholars that Port Washington has ever produced.
In his steady progression from Schreiber freshman football, to JV and then varsity stardom in that sport, as well as well as wrestling and lacrosse, he captained all three teams. As a senior in high school, he was voted to the 1971 All-New York State football team, won Schreibers Scholar-Athlete Award, and was class Valedictorian in 1972. He also managed to find the time to be active in the local Boy Scout troops throughout his secondary school years.
The multi-talented Ames followed this outstanding high school experience as he moved on to Brown University where he played football all four years there, including three on varsity. He also developed into quite a rugby player while a pre-med major at Brown, active on the Bears club team for four years. The athletic honors continued at Brown as he was awarded the Class of 1912 Trophy, symbolic of the football player with the highest GPA. From a team standpoint, his rugby club won the Ivy League championship in 1975.
Ames continued his rugby exploits as a team captain of the club team while enrolled in medical school at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he graduated in 1980. He has successfully pursued his career in medicine, and is now a Partner and General Surgeon with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, with whom he has been associated since 1985. He also is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California at San Diego.
During his induction into the Port Washington High School Athletic Hall of Fame a few years ago, Ames noted how fondly he looks back to his PYA sport days. He noted how lucky he was as a child to have been a beneficiary of the PYA parents volunteer efforts as they coached him in various participatory sports. He emphasized that those coaches, notably Harvey Cohen (a 1991 Hall of Fame inductee) who taught him and his teammates the fundamentals of athletics, helped them to grow into fine young men via the discipline, confidence, and encouragement instilled on Lions Field more than 30 years ago.
Ames now resides in San Diego, California with his wife, Mona Lisa Ascoli, and children Ames Edward, 16, Thomas Michael, 13, and Francesca Elyse, 10.
The PYA Field of Dreams Project has made rapid progress. Please log on to PYAs website -- www.portyouthactivities.org or www.pyaonline.com to see the progress that has been made thus far. If you would like to help PYAs Field of Dreams Project, through a tax-deductible contribution or by assisting with fundraising activities, please call Jimmy Kallenberg at 883-8800 or Ron Henderson at 944-3077.
10th ANNUAL PYA HALL OF FAME DINNER DANCE HONORS INDUCTEES
by Julius Picardi
On the night of June 16, 2000 at the Polish
American Citizens Center, for the tenth consecutive year, the Port Washington Youth Activities inducted three outstanding individuals into its Hall of Fame. This event, the culmination of the organizations sports year, honors past volunteer administrators, coaches, and athletes who have grown to lead productive lives, and are using their talents to foster the development of youth sports in their community. This years honorees were Jimmy Cosolito, Marty Bergin, and Dan OConnell.
JIMMY COSOLITO
Jimmy has the distinction of the holding the office of President of PYA for the longest term in our 37-year history. Under his leadership, the organization has realized unprecedented growth in terms of number of children served, programs developed, and fundraising results.
As part of only the second father-and-son legacy inducted into the PYA Hall of Fame (his father Bart was honored in 1994), Jimmy has brought to the organization a resurgent intensity, vision, and passion for growth ever since he first took on the responsibility of leading PYA in 1989.
First stepping onto Lions Field himself at the age of 8 in 1963, Jimmys athletic career began in peewee football, and for the next 4 years saw him learn the team basics in basketball and baseball as well. In 1967, he was part of the All-Star District Baseball Champions, a level Port Washington would not reach again until almost 30 years later. This early success propelled Jimmy to a fine athletic career at Schreiber High School, where he earned a total of 7 Varsity letters (again in football, basketball, and baseball) by the time he graduated in 1972. He being named to the All-League team in his senior year highlighted his scholastic baseball career.
Jimmy ultimately headed north to Ithaca and graduated from Cornell Universitys School of Industrial Labor Relations. From that point, he continued to be active in post-graduate club sports (football, basketball, and baseball, of course) for a number of years.
In the late 1980s, as his young family (which includes his wife Theresa, and their sons Jim, Michael, and Christopher) grew, he began to offer his skill and expertise to the youth sports programs in town, including the struggling PYA. At that point, our organization was in a steady state of decline over the previous decade, with facilities suffering from a lack of maintenance, programs stagnating from lack of attention and growth, and an eroding capital base. It was at this point at a board of directors meeting in June 1989 when Harvey Cohen (PYA HOF 91) and the late Marty Rybecky (PYA HOF 92) convinced Jimmy that his energy and drive to salvage PYAs future would rest squarely in his hands.
The new president went to work immediately, drafting numerous colleagues, local businessmen, and long-time friends with young children in town to volunteer involvement and board membership. While he is often the first to give credit for team successes where it is due, he was in fact one of the key people who initially conceptualized this PYA Hall of Fame and Dinner Dance fundraiser, and now the Field of Dreams project.
For all his administrative achievements, he still managed to coach PYA football for 6 years, serve as baseball commissioner ever since 1988, and as basketball commissioner for a time as well. His development of the instructional level in this sport and coordination of all levels of the program was the initial catalyst to PYAs gradual return to fiscal prosperity during the first few years of his presidency.
While other volunteers have helped PYA for valuable brief periods of their childrens involvement, as Mr. President, Jimmy has given a continuous and dedicated 12 years (and counting) to one of the most successful volunteer organizations in town.
MARTY BERGIN
One of the finer lacrosse players to ever come from Port Washington and the PYA program, Marty has also distinguished himself as a key volunteer contributor to our organization. Epitomizing the true meaning of what the PYA Hall of Fame is about, Marty enjoyed tremendous success on any team or sport of which he was a part. 8 years of PYA football culminated in an undefeated Pop Warner football season. He might have also attained greatness pitching on the baseball diamond had not Harvey Cohen yanked him off of the mound and onto a lacrosse field. His 6 years of youth lacrosse provided a springboard to 4 varsity seasons at St. Marys High School in Manhasset, where he also excelled in 2 years of varsity basketball, and 2 years of varsity track.
Team and individual honors followed wherever Marty traveled. During his St. Marys years he was a member of the Catholic High School Athletic Association J.V. and varsity basketball league champions, and was invited to attend the prestigious Top 50 camp. He was also named a to the high school All-American lacrosse team as a senior.
Moving onto Johns Hopkins University, Marty played varsity lacrosse for 4 years, and varsity basketball for 1 season (at one point facing NBA legend Ralph Sampson as a young collegian). At Hopkins, he became a 1st Team All-American, and was a member of their 1980 NCAA Championship lacrosse team (he played in a total of 4 NCAA lacrosse finals from 1980 1983).
After graduation, Marty was named a Team USA alternate for the 1986 World Lacrosse Games, and was a perennial all-star with the North Hempstead Lacrosse Club for 11 years. His summers were also filled playing for Harveys LAX Club in the famed Cantiague Park league.
Martys volunteer spirit began at JHU during a 4-year involvement with the Anita Lynne Home Volunteers. Following this, Marty came back home to contribute his time to the PYA programs. He has been a lacrosse coach (a total of 8 years, 2 as a head coach) and an assistant football coach (5 years). He has also refereed and instructed various PYA sports and clinics. Currently a 6-year member of the PYA board of directors, he has used his career experience to benefit the PYA Endowment Committee.
Now a vice president with J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York, Marty resides in Manhasset with his wife Barbara and children Kelly, Michaela, Ryan, and Timothy. He is also an active member of the St. Peters Parish Council in Port Washington.
DAN OCONNELL
As a PYA program alumnus who enjoyed a solid athletic career at Chaminade High School and Villanova University, Dan has been involved with PYA as a long-running two-sport coach in our football and lacrosse programs, and has proudly served on the PYA board since 1983. A lifelong resident of Port Washington, there are not many more volunteer coaches, commissioners, or directors that can match Dans 17 year tenure with PYA who are still looking ahead to their 40th birthday.
Throughout grammar school, Dan played PYA football (5 years), lacrosse (5 years), and baseball (1 year), oftentimes with his across-the-street neighbor, Marty Bergin. Continuing to develop his athletic prowess at Chaminade, he spent 4 years playing lacrosse (2 with the varsity), 2 years wrestling (1 varsity), and 2 playing football (1 varsity). Lacrosse being his best sport, Dan moved on to Villanovas Division I program where he started all 4 of his varsity seasons at midfield.
Back home after graduation in 1983, he joined Merrill Lynch, and played 1 year with the North Hempstead Lacrosse Club. At this point, he began his involvement as a PYA volunteer with his initial head coaching stint for PYA football, followed by his first lacrosse head coaching assignment the following spring. Dan moved quickly up the administrative ladder at PYA. He served as commissioner of the senior football division for 8 years, and of the lacrosse program for 12 years. He was the PYA/Port Washington representative to the Long Island Midget Lacrosse League for 12 years, and co-founded (along with Harvey Cohen) the PYA developmental lacrosse program for 6 and 7 year olds.
Dedicated to lacrosse, Dan coached the indoor (winter) league high school team for 4 years, and a high school summer league team for 2 years. In giving back to PYA since that fall of 1983, he has assisted many of our young lacrosse players in focusing on their scholastic and collegiate potential by initiating contacts with top-level high school and college coaches on their behalf.
Dans loyalty is further exemplified by his 17-year steady rise through the ranks of Merrill Lynchs Garden City branch where he is currently a First Vice President. He and his wife Susan are parents to budding PYA athletes Molly, Daniel, Jack, and Moira.
PYA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
Harvey Cohen 1991
Pete Van Dusen - 1992
Marty Rybecky - 1992
Bill Cronin - 1992
Al Bonelli - 1993
John O'Leary 1993
Jim Vigilis - 1993
Bob Stuart- 1994
Bart Cosolito - 1994
Ed Clark - 1994
Chris Kane - 1994
Tom Brown - 1995
Rudy Hortarek - 1995
Tom Roberstson - 1995
Robert Dayton - 1996
Micheal Griffen - 1996
Gene Sheridan - 1996
Bob Busby - 1997
Jack Eaton -1997
Vinnie Sombrotto - 1997
Frank Giordano - 1998
Julius Picardi - 1998
Jack Sommerville - 1998
Barry Cohen - 1999
Marty Kramer - 1999
John Meehan - 1999
Jimmy Cosolito-2000
Dan 0'Connell- 2000
Marty Bergin- 2000
PYA Alumni
Please submit to us your old team photos and articles about PYA's history. We will post it here.
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