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Mike McGovern In the Fall of 1991, my wife and I attended Deacon Len Sclafani’s dedication of the new “Family Room” and I received a handout that explained “What is Family Ministry?” #4 in the handout entitled “Developing Families” stated that “those with growing children would benefit from programs and activities relating to sacramental preparation, educational, social and athletics.” I remember thinking …Athletics! Now that was a ministry I could get involved in! In November, we signed Michael up for Kindergarten soccer with the OLSAA soccer program and we received a notice home explaining their need for new volunteers. Darlene encouraged me to attend the meeting, but as I sat in my easy chair I told her that I had just finished two years as President of the glen Oaks Little League and it was time for someone else to step up and volunteer. Of course, Darlene still insisted that I go and so I went! After the meeting, a group of people met in the Rectory parking lot and the conversation centered on it being too bad that at OLS we didn’t have basketball, swimming and a sports program in general. Among those in that impromptu meeting that I remember included Pete Groner, Bob Fristachi, Tom Lynch and Katharine Brosnan. Just a day or so prior, I had read a Tablet article written by Bill Reel telling about how volunteers had banded together to begin a CYO sports program at St. Anthony’s in Greenpoint. I remember saying to the group that we could have anything that other parishes had – all it would take would be volunteers to make it happen. I promised to think further about our discussions and to formulate a plan to possibly start the ball rolling. I remember typing up a letter to our pastor, Fr. Jim Tugwood. In the letter, I told Fr Tugwood that I wanted to meet with him to discuss the program that I wanted to bring to the families and children of the parish. I told him that I wanted to take the initiative to build a complete CYO program at Our Lady of the Snows Parish. I wanted the program to embrace all of the people of the parish, one that would bridge the “gap” that seemed to divide Parish School and Religious Ed families and one that would enhance the overall spirit of our parish. I remember dropping the letter into the mailbox outside of the rectory and thinking that my life might never be the same again. Not knowing the pastor too well and not being involved in anything at Our Lady of the Snows, I was a bit hesitant to follow up Fr. Tugwood. I had these thought that he might tell me that I was crazy or something. When Deacon Lenny encouraged me to contact the pastor, I learned that I could not have been more wrong. Fr. Tugwood told me of his excitement in opening and reading my letter. He told me that it was the best letter he had ever received in his years as a priest and pastor. He also vowed to support me in any way that I needed. On January 2, 1992, I mailed out a letter to the people who had met in the parking lot on that Autumn night and to a few others that I knew would be interested in helping. As we had no initial funding, Fr Tugwood paid for the printing and mailing of a flyer that I wrote up asking the people of OLS “Do you want to be part of an exciting new program designed to benefit our youth and help bring us all closer together?” “We can build an athletic program and more for the children of our parish. We can build our parish spirit at the same time.” The flyer announced the very first meeting of the new OLSCYO organization on January 27th, 1992 at 8pm in the white room. Amazingly, over one hundred volunteers showed up at that meeting. They listened to my presentation about what I hoped to begin at OLS and then they committed to coaching and helping so that we could plan and start the program. Based on the success of the intial volunteer meeting and the commitments that our first volunteers had made, we decided to go ahead and hold a registration for programs that would commence in the new school year. The very first registration was held in March of 1992 and 202 children were registered assuring that there would indeed be an OLSCYO program in the new school year. The original athletic directors by sport in 1992 were as follows: Basketball – Ann Trainor Swimming – Pete Groner Soccer – Nick Pellegrino Volleyball – Ellyn Hausdorf Track – Joe Reid Cheerleading – Jacy Magurno Girls’ Softball – Mike McGovern Ellen Legg took over the cheerleading program during that first season when Jacy was unable to continue. Bill Araujo founded the Bike Club several years later. George Harrison Jr. became the AD of the clinic basketball program when the basketball program continued to grow. The very first team to take the field under the new OLSCYO program was an Intermediate Girls’ softball team coached by Mike McGovern, Rich Nicolois and Al Clemente. The team was formed at the last minute and entered into CYO competition. This team made it all the way to the Diocesan Championship game in that first season and would go on to appear in 5 straight Diocesan Title games, winning the last three in succession! There were many early successes enjoyed by OLS athletes that helped to fuel enthusiasm for the new CYO program. Our Cross Country track teams began running to questions of “who is Our Lady of the Snows”. By the time the first Cross Country season came to a conclusion, OLS was an established track powerhouse. Johnny Trainor won virtually every cross country race he entered and Johnny and his teammates captured the first Cross County Diocesan title for OLSCYO! The volleyball program played its first season with a court laid out with orange tape that was placed on the floor rather than taped to the PS191 gym floor. The lines would move throughout these early games. Our first volleyball Diocesan Champion was a fourth grade team coached by Sharon Faso in 1994. The volleyball program has seen many OLS Champions in the ensuing years, most recently was Coach Sheila Hannigan’s 4th grade girls with their 2003 Championship win. In January 1997, Pete Groner’s Boys’ Swim team reached the pinnacle of boys’ CYO swimming by defeating perennial powerhouse St. Francis DeSales to take the Diocesan Championship. The team remained virtually undefeated in dual meets for the next four years, winning their 2nd Diocesan title and then following a close 2nd place finish, came back to capture their 3rd Championship in 4 years in January of 2000. In March of 2000, Coach Bob Fauth’s Novice boys’ basketball defeated St. Mark’s of Brooklyn to win the first ever OLSCYO basketball Diocesan crown. In February of 2003, Coach Mike McGovern’s Bantam girls became the first Snows’ girls’ basketball team to reach the Diocesan finals. Coach Fauth’s high school division girls’ team also finished as Diocesan runner-ups for the 2003 season. There will be many fun and exciting seasons yet to come thanks to the YES!!!! that the original volunteers answered when asked to make a commitment for the youth of Our Lady of the Snows parish, and thanks to the continued dedication and commitment of all of our volunteers! |
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