Coach Tim Leary retires after 43 years

FRESH MEADOWS, NY - For 43 years, St. Francis Prep basketball has been defined by one man, Tim Leary. The long-time Terriers head coach announced last month that this would be his last season at the helm of the CHSAA Class "AA" school, and on Sunday the school gave him the sendoff that he rightfully deserved in front of family, friends, and hundreds of former players and alumni.

Always a packed crowd when St. Francis Prep hosts Holy Cross, the Battle of the Boulevard was even more special on Sunday as it was Leary's last home game coaching the Terriers, and even though they fell to their rivals 63-44, there was no one who left the gymnasium without a smile, and maybe a tear, as they got to enjoy The Prep one more time with Leary on the sidelines.

Amazingly enough there was a time when Leary wasn't thinking about being a teacher or a coach. From a family full of police officers, he admitted that there was a time he was leaning towards going into what had become the family business.

"I was going to be a cop like everyone else in my family even though I was a college graduate," Leary said. "I took the test and was just waiting to get on the job when I was a just out of school but I had just gotten married so while I was waiting I took a job as a teacher and I said hey I get paid well, I get summers off, so I never really looked back after that."

43 years after he decided to take that job as teacher and basketball coach, he is finally hanging it up. He won the CHSAA Class "A" Championship in 1992, and has touched hundreds, if not thousands, of people's lives along the way.

That was confirmed by the enormous turnout from alumni that came to Leary's final home game as both sides of the bleachers at St. Francis Prep were filled, with nearly all of them former Terrier alums wanted to bid their former teacher, and coach, a farewell.

Never one for much adulation, Leary said he was excited to be able to have a get together after the game with the alumni in the school's cafeteria where he could personally sit and talk with everyone, over something bigger such as a formal dinner which he with a laugh admitted wouldn't have been for him.

Almost everyone of importance in Leary's life was on hand on Sunday. The only one he said he wished could've been there was his wife Claudia, who over the summer passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Her passing was a definite reason that he decided to step down, a decision he said he notified the administration at St. Francis Prep of before the start of the season, though if it wasn't for her he admits he probably would've stepped away even sooner.

"I have been recited from teaching for 10 years now and I would've gave it up sooner for a variety of reason, one of which was my wife was very sick for four years so I was home and this was something to do, and she was always pushing me to be here or I would've been out of here by then," Leary admitted.

Now though Leary is leaving after over 600 career wins, and a long list of lives that were ultimately changed by his presence, being not just a coach, but a mentor to so many.

Former star guard Kevin Fitzgerald admitted that anyone who has played for Leary immediately became a part of his family, and that every player who played for has always looked up to him.

Leary's longtime assistant coach, and former Terrier player, Jimmy Lynch took those feelings a step further saying that it's not just the player he was, or the coach he is now that he owes to Leary, but in many ways the person he has become.

"Look at the response he got today from the community, look at his family out there, he not only teaches me and our kids how to play basketball, but he teaches you how to be a family man, a model citizen, and lessons we will take with us forever," Lynch explained.

Universal praise from everyone and anyone who has ever crossed paths with Leary, the coach after the game wanted to talk more about his team's performance than he wanted to enjoy the reception being thrown for him after the game, still frustrated about the loss and wanting to coach until the very end.

What happened next for Leary is still up in the air. He doesn't have set plans at the moment other than to enjoy as much time with his family as possible, though he says he will continue to always follow and root for The Prep.

It's in his blood as for the last 43 years, St. Francis Prep basketball has meant Tim Leary, and while he won't be roaming the sidelines anymore, he will always be there in the hearts and minds of everyone who loves the Terriers.

Never about him, and always about the team, Leary said he was going to try and enjoy the moments ahead as he coaches his final regular season game at Xaverian on Tuesday before the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese Playoffs, and then CHSAA Intersectional Playoffs begin, and even though he will surely get handshakes from many in the days ahead, he says it will always be about the team, and the players, who he feels made him who he is today.

"I have had enough success where I don't get too crazy anymore and I am trying to make them understand it's about them. It's not about me, it's never been about me, it's about them being a team," Leary closed with.

St. Francis Prep will always be Coach Leary's team as his legacy as a phenomenal coach, upstanding man, will remain forever.