Joe Biddy - Suffern Coach - 1969-2017
Suffern High School's track and cross country history is legendary. With Hall of Fame athletes such as as Ervin Levine, Ralph Consiglio and Tim St. Lawrence, and coaches like Joe St. Lawrence, Nick Mottola and David “Skip” Gaunt, the foundations of the programs were in good shape. Then along came Joe Biddy, and he brought the programs to new heights.
Joe arrived in Suffern in 1967 and served as an assistant coach for two years. In 1969 he was elevated to the position of head boys' cross country coach. After 49 years and a lot of miles, Joe's boys' cross country team had amassed a total of 762 career victories (655 dual meets and 107 invitationals), which is the New York State career record. His teams won an impressive 88.7 percent of their dual meets (655-83). During that time his teams won 15 Sectional Class A titles, 14 league titles, 13 County meet championships, 2 New York State Public School team titles (1993, 1999), and one New York State Federation crown (1993). From 1986 to 1995, Joe's harriers compiled a 132-dual-meet winning streak, which is still a record for a Rockland County boys' team. Individually, he coached more than 75 first-team All-County runners and one of his athletes, Justin Romaniuk, went on to win the New York State title in 1999.
In 1973, after only a year of the program's existence, Joe took over the reins of the boys' indoor track and field program. And, when the girls indoor track program was started in 1978, he was appointed head coach of boys' and girls' indoor track. He held both the cross country and indoor track coaching positions until stepping aside in 2017. Joe's boys' indoor track teams won 11 Rockland County championships, 10 Sectional Class A titles, 8 League flags, and had 37 other major meet victories. Individually, he coached 127 boys' County meet champs, 92 Sectional Class A titlists, 19 Sectional relay champs, 5 NYS Intersectional champions and 1 State Federation relay winner. He also coached Justin Romaniuk to a pair of national indoor championships in the mile, in 2000 and 2001.
The girls' indoor track teams under Joe won 29 Rockland County flags, 26 League titles, 16 Sectional Class A championships, and 92 team titles in other major meets. Individually, Joe coached 216 County champions and 117 Sectional Class A champs, 35 Sectional relay titleholders, 34 NYS Intersectional winners (including relays) and 24 State Federation champs (including relays), and 5 national champions. The girls' team won a State Federation relay title six years in a row (2001-2006), the only school – boys or girls – to achieve that feat.
In 2004 Suffern High started a girls' golf team and, because of his love of the sport, Joe became the girls' golf coach. In his five years at the helm, the Mounties won two Rockland County tournament titles, in 2006 and 2007.
If you put together all of Joe's championships, the record is astounding: 48 league meet titles, 53 County meet crowns, 41 Sectional banners. Individually, Joe was selected as Rockland County Coach of the Year no less than 49 times – 27 in girls' indoor track, 13 in boys' cross country and 9 in boys' indoor track. In 2000, he was chosen by a panel of County coaches as the boys' coach for the Rockland County All-Century Cross Country Team.
When you coach multiple sports at one school for close to five decades, you have nurtured the development of more than a thousand athletes. Choosing the best teams and individuals from all of those eras might seem like a daunting task, but Joe was able to select the following squads and individual standouts as the finest to wear Mountie blue during his tenure:
Boys' Cross Country: 1993 state and Federation championship team, led by Jim Gerhart, Frank Gagliano, Tom Ciccone, Matt Vilord, Zach Berbit, Jeff Dempsey and Mike Bernstein. The team lost only one meet, its first invitational of the season, before “running the table,” Joe says.
Cross Country Individuals: Mike Hagon, Joe Chisholm, Jeff Van Wie, Tim Cox, Jim Gerhart, Justin Romaniuk.
Girls' Indoor Track & Field: 2005 team, spearheaded by Dede and Kay Kay Richemond, Theresa Lardieri, Stacey Samora, Janelle Clayton, Deahna Vinson, Jackie Lennon, Kara McKenna, Caroline Heidt, Mary Consiglio and Shelby Greany, among others. After finishing third out of 100-plus teams in the Bishop Loughlin Games, this unit won the remaining seven major meets on their schedule including League, County, Section 1 Class A and New York State Federation meet. They swept the three relays at the State Qualifier, placing first, second and third at the State meet, using 12 different girls. They won the County meet by 77 points and placed 15 girls on the All-County squad. At Nationals, they won the 4x800 (9:11.07) , finished fourth in the 4xMile, fifth in the sprint medley (4:02.19) and sixth in the 4x400 (3:52.88).
Girls' Track Athletes: Lintz Rivera, Nancy Rosenfeld, Dana Dougan, Jessica Bernstein, Misty Scott, Rebecca Quimby, Taneisha Cantave, Dede and Kay Kay Richemond, Kara McKenna, Shelby Greany, Janelle Clayton, Sara Adler, Imani Solan. Among that group, Joe rated Lintz Rivera and Nancy Rosenfeld the “best of the best.”
Boys' Indoor Track & Field: 1977 team, headed by Ron Barrera, Dave Benjamin, Joe Chisholm, Jim DeLaunay, Jim Demers, Myron Diaz, Matt Dwyer, Gregg Lachow, John Nepolitan, Joe Rella, Jim Spangler. That year's Mounties team won the County meet by one point, over a very strong field. Four of the Suffern winners scored upsets en route to their victory. Nine athletes from the team qualified for the State meet.
Boys' Track Athletes: Mike Hagon, George Glover, Ron Barrera, Mark Overbey, Jeff Van Wie, Dan Munoz, Chris Lolagne, Justin Romaniuk, Myles Solan. Best of the Best: Mike Hagon and Jeff Van Wie.
Joe rates as his most satisfying moment in coaching the day in November 1993 when his team won the New York State Intersectional Cross Country meet, in his 25th year at the Mounties helm. Not far behind in terms of its importance to Joe was the upset of North Rockland in a much-publicized dual meet at Bear Mountain in 1991, in front of several hundred spectators. The victory kept alive a 70-plus dual-meet streak that continued for four more years, reaching a Rockland boys' record 132.
Joe readily acknowledges the dedicated assistance provided by his coaching staff over the years, including cross country assistants Ike McCormick, John Haines, Mike Waples, Wendell Hala, Pat Withers and Dana Dougan, and track assistants Pete Wendrychowicz, Steve Dugandzic, Ralph Coleman and Jeff Dempsey.
As an athlete, Joe was an outstanding half-miler at Ithaca College, breaking a 12-year-old school record in 1963 and running on the school-record-setting mile relay. He also captained the cross country team in '63 and was spring track co-captain in 1964.
After graduating from Ithaca, Joe taught physical education in the New York City school system for two years and at New Rochelle High School for one year before embarking on a 49-year teaching career at Suffern. 47 ½ years as a physical education instructor. Joe currently serves as an assistant coach for cross country, indoor and outdoor track at St. Thomas Aquinas College.
The Track hall of fame honor comes on the heels of his Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame induction in 2009, Armory Track & Field Hall of Fame recognition in 2015, and Suffern High School Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2017. He was also nominated for National Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2014.
Joe, who turned 77 on May 18, and his wife, Barbara, reside in New City. They will be celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary on June 23. Joe and Barbara have two children, Marci, 44, and Greg, 41.
Encapsulating his long coaching career, Joe says simply: “You better love it and you had better have your family behind you. I had both and consider myself lucky because of it.”
Suffern High School's track and cross country history is legendary. With Hall of Fame athletes such as as Ervin Levine, Ralph Consiglio and Tim St. Lawrence, and coaches like Joe St. Lawrence, Nick Mottola and David “Skip” Gaunt, the foundations of the programs were in good shape. Then along came Joe Biddy, and he brought the programs to new heights.
Joe arrived in Suffern in 1967 and served as an assistant coach for two years. In 1969 he was elevated to the position of head boys' cross country coach. After 49 years and a lot of miles, Joe's boys' cross country team had amassed a total of 762 career victories (655 dual meets and 107 invitationals), which is the New York State career record. His teams won an impressive 88.7 percent of their dual meets (655-83). During that time his teams won 15 Sectional Class A titles, 14 league titles, 13 County meet championships, 2 New York State Public School team titles (1993, 1999), and one New York State Federation crown (1993). From 1986 to 1995, Joe's harriers compiled a 132-dual-meet winning streak, which is still a record for a Rockland County boys' team. Individually, he coached more than 75 first-team All-County runners and one of his athletes, Justin Romaniuk, went on to win the New York State title in 1999.
In 1973, after only a year of the program's existence, Joe took over the reins of the boys' indoor track and field program. And, when the girls indoor track program was started in 1978, he was appointed head coach of boys' and girls' indoor track. He held both the cross country and indoor track coaching positions until stepping aside in 2017. Joe's boys' indoor track teams won 11 Rockland County championships, 10 Sectional Class A titles, 8 League flags, and had 37 other major meet victories. Individually, he coached 127 boys' County meet champs, 92 Sectional Class A titlists, 19 Sectional relay champs, 5 NYS Intersectional champions and 1 State Federation relay winner. He also coached Justin Romaniuk to a pair of national indoor championships in the mile, in 2000 and 2001.
The girls' indoor track teams under Joe won 29 Rockland County flags, 26 League titles, 16 Sectional Class A championships, and 92 team titles in other major meets. Individually, Joe coached 216 County champions and 117 Sectional Class A champs, 35 Sectional relay titleholders, 34 NYS Intersectional winners (including relays) and 24 State Federation champs (including relays), and 5 national champions. The girls' team won a State Federation relay title six years in a row (2001-2006), the only school – boys or girls – to achieve that feat.
In 2004 Suffern High started a girls' golf team and, because of his love of the sport, Joe became the girls' golf coach. In his five years at the helm, the Mounties won two Rockland County tournament titles, in 2006 and 2007.
If you put together all of Joe's championships, the record is astounding: 48 league meet titles, 53 County meet crowns, 41 Sectional banners. Individually, Joe was selected as Rockland County Coach of the Year no less than 49 times – 27 in girls' indoor track, 13 in boys' cross country and 9 in boys' indoor track. In 2000, he was chosen by a panel of County coaches as the boys' coach for the Rockland County All-Century Cross Country Team.
When you coach multiple sports at one school for close to five decades, you have nurtured the development of more than a thousand athletes. Choosing the best teams and individuals from all of those eras might seem like a daunting task, but Joe was able to select the following squads and individual standouts as the finest to wear Mountie blue during his tenure:
Boys' Cross Country: 1993 state and Federation championship team, led by Jim Gerhart, Frank Gagliano, Tom Ciccone, Matt Vilord, Zach Berbit, Jeff Dempsey and Mike Bernstein. The team lost only one meet, its first invitational of the season, before “running the table,” Joe says.
Cross Country Individuals: Mike Hagon, Joe Chisholm, Jeff Van Wie, Tim Cox, Jim Gerhart, Justin Romaniuk.
Girls' Indoor Track & Field: 2005 team, spearheaded by Dede and Kay Kay Richemond, Theresa Lardieri, Stacey Samora, Janelle Clayton, Deahna Vinson, Jackie Lennon, Kara McKenna, Caroline Heidt, Mary Consiglio and Shelby Greany, among others. After finishing third out of 100-plus teams in the Bishop Loughlin Games, this unit won the remaining seven major meets on their schedule including League, County, Section 1 Class A and New York State Federation meet. They swept the three relays at the State Qualifier, placing first, second and third at the State meet, using 12 different girls. They won the County meet by 77 points and placed 15 girls on the All-County squad. At Nationals, they won the 4x800 (9:11.07) , finished fourth in the 4xMile, fifth in the sprint medley (4:02.19) and sixth in the 4x400 (3:52.88).
Girls' Track Athletes: Lintz Rivera, Nancy Rosenfeld, Dana Dougan, Jessica Bernstein, Misty Scott, Rebecca Quimby, Taneisha Cantave, Dede and Kay Kay Richemond, Kara McKenna, Shelby Greany, Janelle Clayton, Sara Adler, Imani Solan. Among that group, Joe rated Lintz Rivera and Nancy Rosenfeld the “best of the best.”
Boys' Indoor Track & Field: 1977 team, headed by Ron Barrera, Dave Benjamin, Joe Chisholm, Jim DeLaunay, Jim Demers, Myron Diaz, Matt Dwyer, Gregg Lachow, John Nepolitan, Joe Rella, Jim Spangler. That year's Mounties team won the County meet by one point, over a very strong field. Four of the Suffern winners scored upsets en route to their victory. Nine athletes from the team qualified for the State meet.
Boys' Track Athletes: Mike Hagon, George Glover, Ron Barrera, Mark Overbey, Jeff Van Wie, Dan Munoz, Chris Lolagne, Justin Romaniuk, Myles Solan. Best of the Best: Mike Hagon and Jeff Van Wie.
Joe rates as his most satisfying moment in coaching the day in November 1993 when his team won the New York State Intersectional Cross Country meet, in his 25th year at the Mounties helm. Not far behind in terms of its importance to Joe was the upset of North Rockland in a much-publicized dual meet at Bear Mountain in 1991, in front of several hundred spectators. The victory kept alive a 70-plus dual-meet streak that continued for four more years, reaching a Rockland boys' record 132.
Joe readily acknowledges the dedicated assistance provided by his coaching staff over the years, including cross country assistants Ike McCormick, John Haines, Mike Waples, Wendell Hala, Pat Withers and Dana Dougan, and track assistants Pete Wendrychowicz, Steve Dugandzic, Ralph Coleman and Jeff Dempsey.
As an athlete, Joe was an outstanding half-miler at Ithaca College, breaking a 12-year-old school record in 1963 and running on the school-record-setting mile relay. He also captained the cross country team in '63 and was spring track co-captain in 1964.
After graduating from Ithaca, Joe taught physical education in the New York City school system for two years and at New Rochelle High School for one year before embarking on a 49-year teaching career at Suffern. 47 ½ years as a physical education instructor. Joe currently serves as an assistant coach for cross country, indoor and outdoor track at St. Thomas Aquinas College.
The Track hall of fame honor comes on the heels of his Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame induction in 2009, Armory Track & Field Hall of Fame recognition in 2015, and Suffern High School Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2017. He was also nominated for National Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2014.
Joe, who turned 77 on May 18, and his wife, Barbara, reside in New City. They will be celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary on June 23. Joe and Barbara have two children, Marci, 44, and Greg, 41.
Encapsulating his long coaching career, Joe says simply: “You better love it and you had better have your family behind you. I had both and consider myself lucky because of it.”