Soccer Sailors celebrate 50 years since historic win

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On Long Island in the 1960s there were no Nassau County divisions for soccer players. Club teams? Forget about it.
Oceanside, however, was different. “In the 60s we had our own version of club soccer,” said Jerry Capone who initially cut his teeth in the sport in junior high through Oceanside United, a club that was founded in 1962 with a lone team of 15 boys. “Today,” he said, “everyone’s got it.”
Many of those boys would come under the tutelage of coach Arthur Wright when they went to play for Oceanside High School where in 1968 his team would go on to make history, capturing the Nassau County championship and subsequently the Long Island championship in soccer, defeating Longwood, the Suffolk County champions. The team would replicate the accomplishment again the next year, and again the year after that, and yet again in 1973.
It was the third-ever Long Island championship in soccer, and the first in more than 20 years. The previous time it had happened was in 1947 when Bayport defeated Sea Cliff, and in the previous year Bellport beat South Side, making the 1968 Sailors the first-ever Nassau County team to prevail in the championship.
Now, 50 years later, the team is getting back together — coming from all corners of the country — for a reunion this November to celebrate the historic win. In particular, Capone said, the members wanted to honor the man who made it all possible — coach Wright.

“He was a dynamic guy, a great motivator and he was very funny,” Capone said. “We all loved playing for him.”
Through his illustrious 27-year OHS coaching career ranging from 1953 until his retirement in 1980, Wright’s teams had a combined 315 wins versus 80 losses, securing 18 divisional titles, 11 South Shore Athletic League crowns, 11 Nassau County and four Long Island championships.
Wright was inducted to the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame in 2007 — his alma mater — his bio for which noted that his teams’ Long Island championship titles were particularly noteworthy given that during his first 14 years of coaching, Long Island had not featured intercounty championships.
In addition to the C-Club Hall of Fame, Wright was also inducted into Oceanside’s athletic Hall of Fame and its Circle of Pride. He died in 2005 at age 78.
The reunion is set for 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 at Macarthur Park in Rockville Centre, all former OHS classmates are welcome. In the lead up to the reunion, the former players are being interviewed in podcast format by Jerry’s brother, Tom Capone, a fellow former team member and recently retired School No. 2 principal. Those interested can give them a listen at https://bit.ly/2NVXv2Y

For more information contact Jerry Capone at jerrycapone@comcast.net or (302) 547-5605.