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.