Will be constructing a home upstate
The game didn’t want to end. After every overtime period, the teams were tied.
A local television station was covering the game, and the Cornwall gym on Main Street was packed. The Dragons were facing their archrivals from O’Neill.
Cornwall’s Tom Howe was coaching against his wife’s uncle, Jerry Kaplan.
Finally as the fifth overtime was coming to an end, the Dragons’ Gary Romaine stole a pass, dribbled once and launched a shot from midcourt. As the ball went in, the local fans erupted.
It’s one of Tom Howe’s favorite memories from his 38 years as a Cornwall coach and teacher. He will be retiring at the end of the school year.
He came to Cornwall in 1984 after enrollment dropped at Pearl River High School, causing the newest teachers to be let go. But Mr. Howe had a connection. He was in a coaching class led by Tom McDonald, the Dragons’ athletic director. When Cornwall had an opening for a physical education teacher, Mr. McDonald recommended him.
It was the start of a career that involved several sports. Coach Howe is in the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame after leading a girls’ team to back-to-back appearances in the state semifinals, and guiding the Cornwall boys to four section championships. “It was a really nice honor,” the Hall-of-Famer reflected, “but a lot of people had a hand in it – the players and assistant coaches deserve a share of the credit.”
Mr. Howe, a club champion, has coached golf since the 1985-86 school year. He was a volleyball coach in the 90s, and an assistant football coach for Tom Pinder in the 80s.
The marathon game with O’Neill wasn’t his only unusual experience. His Dragons were battling Peekskill for the regional title when the lights went out in the SUNY New Paltz Arena. A timer was controlling the lighting. So when 9 o’clock arrived, the facility became dark. Spectators used their cell phones to illuminate the stands, but the players had to wait a half hour until it was bright enough to finish their game, which Peekskill won by a narrow margin.
“You remember the games and the wins,” Coach Howe explained. “But the relationship with coaches, opponents and managers who volunteer their time – those are the things you really have fond memories of.”
Several of Coach Howe’s former players have become teachers and coaches. Baseball coach Tom Fanning, basketball coach Chris Miller, and athletic director Mike Kroemer were all protégés of Coach Howe. The same is true for Washingtonville’s Todd Rose and Danny Malvey. One of Cornwall’s most talented basketball players, Bertram McDowell, has become an attorney with his own firm in Connecticut.
Their former coach feels good about their success.
“It makes you feel you might have helped them along the way,” he told me.
Tom and Janna Howe are building a home on the St. Lawrence River, not far from a seasonal family home they’ve visited for many years. They hope to have the new residence completed by the fall. But we haven’t seen the last of them. “We’ll be back to visit and to watch a basketball game or two,” Coach Howe promised.
Then he thought back to his many years at Cornwall.
“I truly enjoyed going to work every day,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky.”
