TOM DOHERTY
Pearl River Track, Cross Country Coach
Pearl River Athletic Director
Meet Administrator/Announcer
Few individuals have had a more lasting impact in the world of Rockland County track and cross country than Tom Doherty. The same might be said for his influence on Pearl River athletics, and indeed his imprint on Rockland County sports in general has endured for some five decades.
Starting from his days in the late 1960s working at the St. Agnes Home and School for Boys in Sparkill; to his long tenure as physical education and health education teacher, coach and athletic director in the Pearl River School District; to his dedicated work in meet administration and public-address announcing in track and cross country; to his consummate efforts to promote Rockland sports overall, Tom Doherty may well be Rockland County athletics’ most recognizable ambassador.
“Go Pirates” – Boosting Pearl River Athletics
Tom was entering his sophomore year at Manhattan College when he moved with his family to Pearl River from Hollis, Queens, in 1967. He immediately got a job as a child care worker/counselor at St. Agnes. Upon graduating from Manhattan in 1970, he earned a position as a physical education teacher at the Pearl River Middle School. For more than three decades thereafter, Tom was actively involved with every aspect of Pearl River sports. He was a teacher, coach, athletic director, and Pearl River's biggest fan. He knew every student on every team, and went out of his way to encourage them and cheer them on.
Building A Powerhouse in Track & Cross Country
Tom's coaching career was relatively short but brilliant by any standard. His introduction to coaching at the high school level was inauspicious, to say the least. He had anticipated becoming assistant coach for the 1973 Pearl River boys' spring track team after having served as middle school coach. However, the varsity head coach quit the first day of practice and the athletic director, Max Talaska, promptly appointed Tom to the head position on the spot.
He endured an 0-10 dual-meet season in '73 and a 3-7 mark in '74, but the Pirates gradually developed from a team of less than 20 boys into a championship squad under Tom's motivational leadership. His 1976 and '77 teams each went 10-0 and won the RCPSAL dual-meet championship, back when dual meets really meant something. The Pirates also captured Section 9 Class B crowns in 1977 and '78, and from 1976 to '78 his teams went 29-1 in dual meets.
In 1973,Tom became the varsity winter track head coach in Pearl River. Within four years he steered the Pirates to a Rockland County championship (1977) – Pearl River's first in winter track – as well as the Section 9 Class B title. In 1980, Pearl River finished third in team scoring at the NYSPHSAA State championships. Tom also coached two individual State champions – Brendan Murphy in the pole vault, in 1977, and Andy Kohlbrenner in the 1,600-meter run, 1980.
The River Delivered
Tom took the reins of the boys' cross country team in 1978 and, building upon the foundation set by his predecessor, Bob Wood, immediately propelled Pearl River to another level. During his brief but luminous four-year stint, Pearl River won two Rockland County championships and three Section 9 Class B titles, and was ranked in the state every year. The gold standard for the Pirates was the memorable 1978 team, which won both the New York State Class B and NYS Federation championships, and established the still-standing record for fastest 5-man average time (15:19) over the Bear Mountain State Park 3-mile course. The Pirates were named one of the top 25 teams in the country by The Harrier magazine, an authoritative cross country publication. In 1980, Pearl River repeated as State Class B champion and was named as an honorable mention All-America team. Among all his teams' accomplishments during that meteoric four-year run, Tom is the most proud of his team's consistently high finishes at the season-ending Federation meet – first, second, fourth and fourth – never out of the top five.
Innovative Athletic Director
In 1982, Tom took on a bigger job at Pearl River, that of athletic director. For more than 10 years with Tom at the helm, Pearl River became a leader and innovator in Rockland County athletics. Through Tom's efforts Pearl River added an athletic trainer and an equipment manager, and he was instrumental in the construction of an all-weather track and field facility, as well as a game field with a sprinkler system. New teams were added to the high school program during Tom's tenure as AD. He started the boys’ ice hockey and girls’ lacrosse programs, and added to existing programs by instituting tournaments or invitationals in field hockey, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ tennis, golf, baseball, softball, winter track, girls’ basketball, and modified cross country. In track, he founded the popular Pearl River Holiday Festival indoor track carnival in the late 1970s, drawing teams from throughout the metropolitan area.
Success in athletics was important to Tom, but success in life for the Pearl River students came first. From 1982 to 1992, Pearl River was a pioneer school in the Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse program. Pearl River High School was an early participant and winner in the NYSPHSAA Scholar Athlete Team award program, and Pearl River HS athletes dominated the selections in The Journal-News Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Week program.
Advocating for Rockland’s Student-Athletes
Tom never confined his activities just to Pearl River. Through his devoted efforts, all of Rockland County and Section 1 benefited. Tom worked very hard to achieve parity with realignment by school size in Rockland and Section 1. He scheduled and coordinated the required BOCES coaching certification courses and the First Aid and CPR programs in Rockland. He was the longtime co-meet director (with Ralph Coleman) of the Rockland County boys’ and girls’ cross country, winter track and spring track meets. He also assisted in various capacities at Rockland and Sectional track events for many years and was a certified official in New Jersey. Tom is a former member of the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame board of directors, and was one of the founding members of the Rockland County Coaches Association.
Doherty At The Microphone: The Voice of Track & Field
To many in the local and regional sports community, Tom became known as the “voice” of Rockland County track, serving as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable public address announcer at Rockland County and Section 1 meets, as well as meets at the 168th St. Armory in NYC and Ocean Breeze facility in Staten Island. On the college level, his unmistakable gravelly tones have called the action at Army men's and women's winter and spring track meets at West Point as well as Patriot League meets and a pair of Big East championships hosted by Army.
Of all his announcing gigs in 20-plus years at the microphone, the most satisfying assignment to him was the Warrior Games, a multi-sport event for wounded, injured or ill service personnel and veterans organized by the U.S Department of Defense, and held at West Point the year that Tom announced. The event was organized as a team competition among the branches of U.S military service and included British forces as well. Tom not only did track but also cycling, swimming and the bronze medal game in wheelchair basketball. “The courage these guys had, competing without limbs, blind athletes … just to be a part of it was very special,” Tom says with admiration.
Sports Historian, Multi-Award Recipient
Tom also is a Rockland County sports historian who delighted the local sports community with his e-mailed seasonal “Rockland Sports Updates” and has kept the athletic community informed with regular e-mailed bulletins on upcoming sports-related events, health status updates on local sports figures, and other noteworthy activities.
In 2002, Tom was inducted into the Pearl River High School Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2005 he earned enshrinement into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame. In 1992 he was recipient of the Bill Markiewicz Award for his longstanding contributions to Rockland County cross country, and in 1996 received the Dick Teetsel Award in recognition of his significant role in advancing the sport of track & field in Rockland.
Tom, who is 74, retired from the Pearl River school system in 2003 after a distinguished 33-year career in the Land of the Pirates. His always-upbeat disposition has been barely dimmed by a succession of health setbacks, including a heart attack in 1990 and a quadruple bypass in 2001. He is currently participating in a clinical study at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx for heart failure patients who are candidates for a device that improves heart function.
Tom lives in Park Ridge, N.J., with his wife, Katie. Tom and Katie celebrated their golden anniversary with 50 years of marriage last August! They have four grown children – Brigid, Meghan, Nora, and Brendan, and four grandchildren, whom Tom adores: Jack, Connor, Tommy and Emmy Mae.
Reflecting With Pride on Pearl River Legacy
Tom cherishes the many memories he forged from his time at Pearl River. He offered the following reflections as he enters what he calls the “Gun Lap” of his career:
“I am so happy that the Pearl River School District has continued to improve our track & field facilities, making it among the best in the state.
“I am so pleased that our current athletes and coaches have continued the Pirate level of extreme success. Recently our boys and girls XC and Track teams have cleared the 500 milestone of combined championships in League, County, Section, State and Federation competition.
“That so many of the athletes that I coached in the late '70s and early '80s have gone on to become very successful coaches themselves.
“And I am most honored that so many of the athletes that I coached have gone on to become lifelong friends and successful people, husbands, and fathers.”
Congratulations to one of the greatest contributors to Rockland track & field and cross country, “Mr. Pirate” Tom Doherty.
Starting from his days in the late 1960s working at the St. Agnes Home and School for Boys in Sparkill; to his long tenure as physical education and health education teacher, coach and athletic director in the Pearl River School District; to his dedicated work in meet administration and public-address announcing in track and cross country; to his consummate efforts to promote Rockland sports overall, Tom Doherty may well be Rockland County athletics’ most recognizable ambassador.
“Go Pirates” – Boosting Pearl River Athletics
Tom was entering his sophomore year at Manhattan College when he moved with his family to Pearl River from Hollis, Queens, in 1967. He immediately got a job as a child care worker/counselor at St. Agnes. Upon graduating from Manhattan in 1970, he earned a position as a physical education teacher at the Pearl River Middle School. For more than three decades thereafter, Tom was actively involved with every aspect of Pearl River sports. He was a teacher, coach, athletic director, and Pearl River's biggest fan. He knew every student on every team, and went out of his way to encourage them and cheer them on.
Building A Powerhouse in Track & Cross Country
Tom's coaching career was relatively short but brilliant by any standard. His introduction to coaching at the high school level was inauspicious, to say the least. He had anticipated becoming assistant coach for the 1973 Pearl River boys' spring track team after having served as middle school coach. However, the varsity head coach quit the first day of practice and the athletic director, Max Talaska, promptly appointed Tom to the head position on the spot.
He endured an 0-10 dual-meet season in '73 and a 3-7 mark in '74, but the Pirates gradually developed from a team of less than 20 boys into a championship squad under Tom's motivational leadership. His 1976 and '77 teams each went 10-0 and won the RCPSAL dual-meet championship, back when dual meets really meant something. The Pirates also captured Section 9 Class B crowns in 1977 and '78, and from 1976 to '78 his teams went 29-1 in dual meets.
In 1973,Tom became the varsity winter track head coach in Pearl River. Within four years he steered the Pirates to a Rockland County championship (1977) – Pearl River's first in winter track – as well as the Section 9 Class B title. In 1980, Pearl River finished third in team scoring at the NYSPHSAA State championships. Tom also coached two individual State champions – Brendan Murphy in the pole vault, in 1977, and Andy Kohlbrenner in the 1,600-meter run, 1980.
The River Delivered
Tom took the reins of the boys' cross country team in 1978 and, building upon the foundation set by his predecessor, Bob Wood, immediately propelled Pearl River to another level. During his brief but luminous four-year stint, Pearl River won two Rockland County championships and three Section 9 Class B titles, and was ranked in the state every year. The gold standard for the Pirates was the memorable 1978 team, which won both the New York State Class B and NYS Federation championships, and established the still-standing record for fastest 5-man average time (15:19) over the Bear Mountain State Park 3-mile course. The Pirates were named one of the top 25 teams in the country by The Harrier magazine, an authoritative cross country publication. In 1980, Pearl River repeated as State Class B champion and was named as an honorable mention All-America team. Among all his teams' accomplishments during that meteoric four-year run, Tom is the most proud of his team's consistently high finishes at the season-ending Federation meet – first, second, fourth and fourth – never out of the top five.
Innovative Athletic Director
In 1982, Tom took on a bigger job at Pearl River, that of athletic director. For more than 10 years with Tom at the helm, Pearl River became a leader and innovator in Rockland County athletics. Through Tom's efforts Pearl River added an athletic trainer and an equipment manager, and he was instrumental in the construction of an all-weather track and field facility, as well as a game field with a sprinkler system. New teams were added to the high school program during Tom's tenure as AD. He started the boys’ ice hockey and girls’ lacrosse programs, and added to existing programs by instituting tournaments or invitationals in field hockey, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ tennis, golf, baseball, softball, winter track, girls’ basketball, and modified cross country. In track, he founded the popular Pearl River Holiday Festival indoor track carnival in the late 1970s, drawing teams from throughout the metropolitan area.
Success in athletics was important to Tom, but success in life for the Pearl River students came first. From 1982 to 1992, Pearl River was a pioneer school in the Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse program. Pearl River High School was an early participant and winner in the NYSPHSAA Scholar Athlete Team award program, and Pearl River HS athletes dominated the selections in The Journal-News Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Week program.
Advocating for Rockland’s Student-Athletes
Tom never confined his activities just to Pearl River. Through his devoted efforts, all of Rockland County and Section 1 benefited. Tom worked very hard to achieve parity with realignment by school size in Rockland and Section 1. He scheduled and coordinated the required BOCES coaching certification courses and the First Aid and CPR programs in Rockland. He was the longtime co-meet director (with Ralph Coleman) of the Rockland County boys’ and girls’ cross country, winter track and spring track meets. He also assisted in various capacities at Rockland and Sectional track events for many years and was a certified official in New Jersey. Tom is a former member of the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame board of directors, and was one of the founding members of the Rockland County Coaches Association.
Doherty At The Microphone: The Voice of Track & Field
To many in the local and regional sports community, Tom became known as the “voice” of Rockland County track, serving as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable public address announcer at Rockland County and Section 1 meets, as well as meets at the 168th St. Armory in NYC and Ocean Breeze facility in Staten Island. On the college level, his unmistakable gravelly tones have called the action at Army men's and women's winter and spring track meets at West Point as well as Patriot League meets and a pair of Big East championships hosted by Army.
Of all his announcing gigs in 20-plus years at the microphone, the most satisfying assignment to him was the Warrior Games, a multi-sport event for wounded, injured or ill service personnel and veterans organized by the U.S Department of Defense, and held at West Point the year that Tom announced. The event was organized as a team competition among the branches of U.S military service and included British forces as well. Tom not only did track but also cycling, swimming and the bronze medal game in wheelchair basketball. “The courage these guys had, competing without limbs, blind athletes … just to be a part of it was very special,” Tom says with admiration.
Sports Historian, Multi-Award Recipient
Tom also is a Rockland County sports historian who delighted the local sports community with his e-mailed seasonal “Rockland Sports Updates” and has kept the athletic community informed with regular e-mailed bulletins on upcoming sports-related events, health status updates on local sports figures, and other noteworthy activities.
In 2002, Tom was inducted into the Pearl River High School Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2005 he earned enshrinement into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame. In 1992 he was recipient of the Bill Markiewicz Award for his longstanding contributions to Rockland County cross country, and in 1996 received the Dick Teetsel Award in recognition of his significant role in advancing the sport of track & field in Rockland.
Tom, who is 74, retired from the Pearl River school system in 2003 after a distinguished 33-year career in the Land of the Pirates. His always-upbeat disposition has been barely dimmed by a succession of health setbacks, including a heart attack in 1990 and a quadruple bypass in 2001. He is currently participating in a clinical study at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx for heart failure patients who are candidates for a device that improves heart function.
Tom lives in Park Ridge, N.J., with his wife, Katie. Tom and Katie celebrated their golden anniversary with 50 years of marriage last August! They have four grown children – Brigid, Meghan, Nora, and Brendan, and four grandchildren, whom Tom adores: Jack, Connor, Tommy and Emmy Mae.
Reflecting With Pride on Pearl River Legacy
Tom cherishes the many memories he forged from his time at Pearl River. He offered the following reflections as he enters what he calls the “Gun Lap” of his career:
“I am so happy that the Pearl River School District has continued to improve our track & field facilities, making it among the best in the state.
“I am so pleased that our current athletes and coaches have continued the Pirate level of extreme success. Recently our boys and girls XC and Track teams have cleared the 500 milestone of combined championships in League, County, Section, State and Federation competition.
“That so many of the athletes that I coached in the late '70s and early '80s have gone on to become very successful coaches themselves.
“And I am most honored that so many of the athletes that I coached have gone on to become lifelong friends and successful people, husbands, and fathers.”
Congratulations to one of the greatest contributors to Rockland track & field and cross country, “Mr. Pirate” Tom Doherty.