Rye Historical Society is staging an exhibit at the Square House on the history of sports in Rye. The exhibit features the impressive history of sports in our town from 1908 through the present.

By Kevin LaManna

 

Rye Historical Society is staging an exhibit at the Square House on the history of sports in Rye. The exhibit features the impressive history of sports in our town from 1908 through the present.

 

A panel discussion at Rye Middle School April 17 began with archival films of basketball and football games from the era of panelists Steven Feeney and Dino Garr; the 8mm footage was transferred to video for the event. Playful debate ensued over whether or not the tape featured former School Board President Steven Feeney in his glory days in Garnet and Black.

 

The air was rich with nostalgia and local pride as the coaches scanned their collective memory to illuminate the nature of the exhibit’s underlying theme: Why are Rye Sports so special?  

 

Athletic Director Rob Castagna gave interesting statistics about our community to explain that 75% of high school students and 80% of middle school students are involved in Rye’s various athletic programs, of which there are a total of 70 teams in 27 sports.

 

Castagna fired his first question at lifetime resident and Westchester County Hall of Fame Coach Dino Garr: “Coach Garr, in Hollywood, teams which excel are usually from humble blue-collar areas where sports are the only way out. Why is it that Rye, such a fortunate community, should excel as they do?”

 

Garr replied, “Rye has long been known as the Notre Dame of Westchester, and the families from this city are very successful and proud in their own right. I believe that students inherit their taste for success and that standard of excellence from their parents generationally. As I have always said, ‘Tradition Never Graduates’.”

 

The discussion moved to Coach Rick Savage and his state champion soccer team: “Girls varsity soccer had never won a state title, we played in spring, and many girls couldn’t balance their club obligations or lacrosse with scholastic soccer. We moved the sport to the fall and within three seasons had won the state championship.”  

 

Del Layne is a retired gym teacher of 35 years with an extensive and impressive history of involvement in Rye athletics. She coached seven different sports during her tenure at Rye High. Layne answered diplomatically when asked to pick a favorite. “Every team was special in its own right,’’ she said.

 

Coach Layne is an Ohio native, a state steeped in athletic pride, from Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State University to professional baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.

 

Comparing the two regions was the greatest compliment Coach Layne paid our humble city: “I was intimidated by the reputation of the (Rye) area when I moved here

being as affluent as it is, but I was pleasantly surprised how much like home it felt when I saw how rich the athletic culture was in the town.”

 

Feeney was equally hard pressed to single out a single greatest Rye team, though he did state that Hall of Fame coach Ben Bedini’s football dynasty in the late 1950s

to early 1960s was the most impressive and successful for his money.  

 

Catching up with Castagna at the artifact table, Feeney expressed his admiration for the 1953 football marked with Rye’s 38-0 score over the Harrison Huskies on it: “When we build the new fieldhouse, I want to see if I can snatch some of these pieces for a display case in it,” Feeney said with a covetous glint in his eye.